STRATEGIES AND EXPERIENCES FROM THE SWITCH-ASIA … · STRATEGIES AND EXPERIENCES FROM THE SWITCH-ASIA PROGRAMME ... Project Abbreviation CSR Vietnam ... Bangladesh, West Bengal in

1SWITCH-Asia | POLICY-MAKERS IN FOCUS

POLICY-MAKERS IN FOCUS STRATEGIES AND EXPERIENCES FROM THE SWITCH-ASIA PROGRAMMEScaling-up study 2013

SWITCH-Asia Network Facility is funded by the European Union.

SWITCH-Asia Network Facility is implemented by the Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production and Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy.

2 SWITCH-Asia | POLICY-MAKERS IN FOCUS

ABBREVIATIONS

APAEC ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC 2010-2015)ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian NationsAIACA All Indian Artists and Craft AssociationCE Circular economy CETP Central Effluent Treatment PlantCNIS China National Institute on StandardisationCPCB Central Pollution Control BoardCPI Cleaner Production InstituteCSR Corporate social responsibilityDNER Department of Environment and Natural Resources EE sectors Electrical and electronics sectorEE&C-SSN Energy Efficiency & Conservation Subsector Network EPR Extended producers‘ responsibility ETP Effluent treatment plantsEU European UnionF&B Food and beverageHWM Rules Hazardous waste management rulesIHT Iqbal Hamid TrustILSSA Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs MAIT Manufacturers’ Association for Information TechnologyMoU Memorandum of understanding

MoEF Ministry of Environment and ForestsMoST Ministry of Science and Technology MoHURD Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural DevelopmentNDRC National Development and Reform CommissionNISP National Industrial Symbiosis ProjectNGO Non-governmental organisationOHS Occupational health and safety PPC Public procurement centre PCSD Palawan Council for Sustainable DevelopmentRECP Resource efficiency and cleaner productionRoHS Restriction of the use of certain hazardous substancesRSC Regional steering committee SAC Standardization Administration CommissionSLTDA Sri Lanka Tourism Development AuthoritySME Small and medium-sized enterprisesSCP Sustainable consumption and productionSPCB State Pollution Control BoardSEP Strategic environmental planWEEE Waste Electrical and Electronic EquipmentZCR Zero Carbon Resort project

PUBLISHER SWITCH-Asia Network Facility Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP) Hagenauer Straße 30 42107 Wuppertal | Germany

Phone | +49.202.45 95 8.10 Fax | +49.202.45 95 8.31 www.switch-asia.eu [email protected]

COPYRIGHT The SWITCH-Asia Network Facility

AUTHOR Susanne Müller

SUPERVISION AND GUIDANCE Frans Verspeek (Team Leader, the Network Facility)

REVIEWER Wei Zhao

EDITOR Alison Eades

DESIGN Elmar Sander (www.elmarsander.de)

This publication has been produced for SWITCH-Asia programme and the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production (CSCP) and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.


Project Abbreviation

CSR Vietnam

Higher Efficient Transformers

Clean Batik Initiative

China Motor Challenge

WEEE Recycle

AEMAS

Get Green

Automotive SSCM

Greening Sri Lankan Hotels

Green products

GPIoS

Project Title

Adopt CSR (Helping Vietnamese SMEs Adapt and Adopt Corporate Social Responsibility for Improved Linkages with Global Supply Chains in Sustainable Production)

China Higher Efficiency Power and Distribution Transformers Promotion Project

Encouraging and Implementing Sustainable Production and Consumption of Eco-friendly Batik in Indonesia and Malaysia)

Electric Motor Systems Energy-Saving Challenge – Improving the Operating Efficiency of Chinese Electric Motor Systems

Establishing E-Waste Channels to Enhance Environment Friendly Recycling

Establishment of the ASEAN Energy Manager Accreditation Scheme

Get Green Vietnam (Sustainable Living and Working in Vietnam)

Greening Supply Chains in the Thai Auto and Automotive Parts Industries

Greening Sri Lankan Hotels

Green Products and Labelling (Green Products Development and Labelling in Mongolia)

Green Philippines Island of Sustainability

Location

Vietnam

China

Malaysia and Indonesia

China

India (Ban-

galore, Delhi,

Kolkata, Pune)

Multi-Country

Vietnam

Thailand

Sri Lanka

Mongolia

Phillipines

LIST OF SWITCH-ASIA PROJECTS (that started in 2009, 2010 and 2012)



ESEEC

SC in Urban China

REWIN

Industrial Symbiosis

VA 3

Eco-Jute

Lead Elimination Project

Low Energy Housing

MEET-BIS

EMAS Global China

Pro-Sustain

Soybean Processing (SCOPE)

Project Title

Improving Environmental and Safety Performance in Electrical and Electronics Industry in China

Implementing Sustainable Consumption in Civil Society of Urban China

Improving resource efficiency for the production and recycling of electronic products by adoption of waste tracking system

Implementing Industrial Symbiosis and Environmental Management Systems in Tianjin Binhai New Area

Improving energy-efficiency and environmental performance of Chinese SMEs and large companies facilitated by voluntary public-private partnerships

Jute: An Eco-friendly Alternative For a Sustainable Future

Lead Elimination Project

Low Energy Housing in Sichuan and Shenzhen, China – Enable and enforce energy efficient building construction

Mainstreaming Energy Efficiency Through Business Innovation Support

Premium Environmental Management for Companies in China

Promoting Fair Trade and Sustainable Consumption in India – PRO SUSTAIN

Scaling Sustainable Consumption and Production in the Soybean Processing Industry (SCOPE)

Location

China

China

China

China

China

Bangladesh, West Bengal in India

Multi country

China

Vietnam

China

India

Indonesia



MSME Clusters

SMART Cebu

Greener Construction Project

SEID

SUS Bird

Cotton Production(SPRING)

Biomass SP

Sustainable rattan

RE-Tie

SCI-Pak

Wood Processing and Trade

SUPP-Urb China

Project Title

Scaling Up Sustainable Development of MSME Clusters in India

SMEs for environmental Accountability, Responsibility and Transparency

Supporting a greener and more energy efficient construction industry in Mongolia

Sustainable and Efficient Industrial Development

Sustainable Building Interior Renovation and Decoration Initiative in China

Sustainable cotton production in Pakistan’s cotton ginning SMEs (SPRING)

Sustainable Production (SP) of the Biomass Industries in Malaysia: Optimising Economic Potential and Moving Towards Higher Value Chain

Establishing a Sustainable Production System for Rattan Products in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam

Reduction of environmental threats and increase of exportability of Bangladeshi leather products

Sustainable and cleaner production in the manufacturing industries of Pakistan

Sustainable and Responsible Trade Promoted to Wood Processing SMEs through Forest and Trade Networks in China, India and Vietnam)

Sustainable Public Procurement in Urban Administrations in China

Location

India

Philippines

Mongolia

Bhutan and Nepal

China

Pakistan

Malaysia

Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam

Bangladesh

Pakistan

China, India, Vietnam

China (Tianjin, Qin-

huangdao and

Lanzhou)



ACIDLOOP

Food & Beverages

SPIN-VCL

Bamboo

SusTex

Tourism in Bhutan

Train the trainers

VSBK

WtE in Rice Milling Sector

ZCR

Project Title

Sustainable production through market penetration of closed loop technologies in the metal finishing industry

Sustainable Production in the Food & Beverages Industry in Sri Lanka

Sustainable Product Innovation in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos

Sustainable Revival of Livelihoods in Post-disaster Sichuan: Enhancing Eco-friendly Pro-poor Bamboo Production Supply Chains to Support The Reconstruction Effort

Sustainable Textiles for Sustainable Development

Sustainable Tourism in Bhutan: An Integrated Approach to Production, Consumption and Livelihood Development)

Train the trainers: a proposal to train chinese construction sector SME‘s in energy saving Techniques and technologies

VSBK – Vertical Shaft Brick Kilns and other SCP – Sustainable Construction Practices

Waste to Energy for the Rice Milling Sector in Cambodia

Zero Carbon Resorts – Building Energy Autonomous Resorts Creating Appropriate Technology Solutions)

Location

India

Sri Lanka

Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam

China (Sichuan)

India (Jaipur)

Bhutan

China

Nepal

Cambodia

Philippines


Foreword 8

Executive summary 9

1. Introduction 13

2. Background 14 An introduction to an SCP policy framework 14 Policy-making in the SWITCH-Asia programme 15 Definitions: Policy-maker 16

3. Linking to policy-makers – an overview of strategies across the policy cycle 17 3.1. Problem framing stage – initiating policy changes 17 Recognising the problem – strategies employed by SWITCH-Asia projects 17 Putting an issue on the policy agenda 22 3.2. Policy-framing stage – developing policy options 25 3.3. Policy implementation 29 Capacity building with or within policy agencies 29 Motivating non-state actors to comply with new policies 31 3.4. Policy monitoring 34

4. Actors: Which policy-makers are involved in the SWITCH-Asia programme? 35 4.1. Policy-makers as implementing actors within project consortia 35 Local government as a project partner 35 Regional policy agencies as project partners 36 Further governmental agents 37 4.2. Further non-governmental change agents influencing policy 38 4.3 Institutional partnerships 38 Project advisory committees 38 Steering committees or national councils 39 Project associates 40 Defined partnerships using memoranda of understanding 41

5. Conclusion 42 Observed strengths 42 Observed challenges 44 Concluding remarks 46

Further Reading 48

TABLE OF CONTENTS


T he world has come to a point in develop-ment where behaviour has to be more environmentally friendly and more ‘sus-

tainable’. Sustainable consumption and pro-duction (SCP) has emerged in recent years, and is still taking shape, as an approach that both public and private sectors can follow, to improve resource use and efficiency and, for business, to generate alternative market opportunities at the same time. The European Union (EU) has invested heavily with its development funds in SCP in Asia, with 70 projects alone co-funded under the SWITCH-Asia programme. These projects, along with other initiatives in the region, are generating SCP tools and practices for use by industry, policy-makers, and consumer groups recognising the importance of going green. The problem now is that such innovations are not spreading fast enough. SCP is not being repli-cated sufficiently to create sustainable industries and it is not creating the impact we need. It is the same with policy. There are now SCP instruments in Asia that can help to provide an enabling en-vironment for business and consumers alike to SWITCH to green thinking and more sustainable behaviour. But they are often not being fully im-plemented, or enforced effectively, and their im-pact remains scattered. SCP has not yet become an everyday practice.Anticipating this challenge of limited ‘uptake’, SWITCH-Asia was designed from the start with a Network Facility to analyse the grant-funded projects, to distill lessons and, significantly, to share them broadly. In this way, the EU is seeking maximum impact for its SCP programme in Asia, and for SCP at large. Looking at what is preventing the spread of SCP practices the Network Facility found ‘barri-ers’ include lack of adequate financial resources and technical knowledge, lack of awareness, in-efficient flow of information, inadequate policy frameworks and peer pressure that favours un-

sustainable practices. In their project designs many projects include ‘leverage’ points where a relatively small effort can create a signifi-cant jump in the replication of SCP. Finally, the projects have been developing strategies that face the barriers, open up possibilities to over-come them, and enable specific sectors of socie-ty (namely, business and public services) to start using or intensify the use of SCP practices. Such scaling-up tends to be either horizon-tal or vertical. For horizontal scaling-up, projects roll out their practices within a sector or a geo-graphic area, for example, cleaner production in Bangladesh tanneries. For this, they partner with business membership organisations to make a business case out of SCP and build capacity for implementation amongst interested SMEs. For vertical scaling-up, projects engage with local, national or even regional policy-makers to influ-ence legislation and other ‘rules’ governing the behaviour of SMEs and consumers. A introduc-tory report `Framing of scaling-up SCP practices in the SWITCH-Asia Programme’ summarises the findings and places them in the context of other scaling-up efforts. The Network Facility identified five clusters of leveraging strategies based on the analysis of the project data and carried out continuous in-depth study on each: engaging with service providers, building partnerships within supply chains, linking with policy makers, engaging with consumers towards ethical purchasing and usage of goods, and enabling access to finance. The resulting reports, providing real-world experiences from the SWITCH-Asia projects, the barriers they faced and the strategies they em-ployed, are now available on the SWITCH-Asia website www.switch-asia.eu. The Network Facility hopes SCP practitioners, policy-makers, and researchers will be able to use the reports in a shared effort of pushing SCP in Asia for a more sustainable world.

FOREWORD


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

ALL SWITCH-ASIA GRANT PROJECTS LINK TO POLICY-MAKERS IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHERThe majority of grant projects link to policy-makers in national policy agencies. The forty-three projects operational at the end of 2012 were asked in a survey how they link to policy-makers. Nearly three quarter (74%) of respond-ents reported that they link to policy-makers on a national level. Only 12% link to them on a regional level and only 14% on a local level. En-vironmental agencies (either ministries or line departments on the regional or municipal level) are most often stated as the linkage point for SWITCH-Asia projects to policy-makers.

SWITCH-ASIA PROJECTS CONTRIBUTE TO AN ENABLING POLICY ENVIRONMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTIONThis study discovered a number of strategies, approaches and practices, used by the projects, that are worth sharing and can be noted by fu-ture applicants for grant funds. Among those worth noting are:• Various models of partnership with policy- makers, e.g. project associates, signing memoranda of understanding (MOU), having an advisory role for policy-makers, regular meetings with them, etc.;• Targeting specific stages of the policy cycle;• Building alliances with stakeholders to contribute to the policy cycle;• Targeting policy-makers, with analysis (issue assessment, benchmarking); evidence based communication; technical assistance; demonstrate impacts;• Aligning the project with the existing policy framework.

PARTNERSHIPS WITH POLICY-MAKERS IMPACTPOLICY ENGAGEMENTThis study reveals various partnership models projects created with policy-makers. A range of projects established institutional partnerships

with policy-makers by including having policy institutions in their project consortia. Twenty per cent of the SWITCH-Asia projects included policy-makers in their institutional set-up. In such a constellation, policy-makers function as project implementers. A quarter of the respond-ing projects engaged policy-makers right from the start of the proposal writing and included them as project associates. Another 20% de-tailed the cooperation between project and policy-makers in an MoU. Negotiating an MoU with a policy agency ensures their commitment and clarifies roles in project implementation. More than a third (35%) invited policy-makers to sit on steering committees and advisory boards. Such set ups make sure that policy-makers are updated on project progress on regular basis.

ENGAGING WITH POLICY-MAKERS ACROSS THE POLICY CYCLE DELIVERS RESULTSSWITCH-Asia projects engage at all stages of the policy cycle. The WEEE-Recycle project (see box 2, page 11) in India exemplifies the range of activities from identifying the problem, harvest-ing recognition of the problem, and putting the problem on the policy agenda, to framing the policy, drafting policy proposals and supporting their implementation. Strategic interventions include evidenced-based communication built on research, mapping and inventories but also stakeholder focus activities such as stakeholder analysis, coalition building, conflict manage-ment and facilitating dialogues.


APPROACHES TO LINK TO POLICY-MAKERSEstablishing the problem and policy-framing setting is a complex process. Following the di-verse objectives of the 43 SWITCH-Asia projects, a set of diverse strategies are used to link to policy-makers and to influence policy processes. Neither of the strategies below will, alone, auto-matically allocate policy-makers’ attention to a certain issue. But experience gained by SWITCH-Asia projects has shown the benefits of the dif-ferent approaches. SWITCH-Asia projects’ expe-rience includes: • building coalitions and alliances• using evidence-based communication• undertaking analyses from needs assessment to bench marking• choosing effective communication channels• promoting understanding by providing technical assistance• experiential learning and demonstrating impact• having discourse and trust management• enabling multi-stakeholder dialogue

MOST PROJECTS HAD LIMITED IMPACT ON POLICY-MAKING There might be an expectation that a SWITCH-Asia grant project can facilitate big changes to a national policy agenda. However, in most cases the size of the projects and the focus on SMEs limit the impact of the project interventions in the policy arena. Additionally, the policy links projects can make are mostly at one or two spe-cific stages of the policy cycle. The study found that only a very few projects could connect to more than one stage of the policy cycle, either at problem-framing, policy-framing, or policy im-plementation stages. None of the projects were involved directly in policy monitoring stage.

CONCLUDING FINDINGSThis study suggests that projects aligned to the national policy priorities achieve more impact than project activities that have no connec-tion to local, regional policy, and international policy processes or mandates. The policy work of projects should not start from scratch but should bring together stakeholders and strate-gies that are already addressing existing policies and action plans, before attempting to fill the gaps. When policy-makers believe projects are

implementing the policies they support, they become interested in the project and its results, and are more willing to use them to adjust the policy framework. Projects with a strong anchor in the existing political and legislative framework are more likely to have a greater chance of sustaining their results. Beyond the project partnerships, policy-makers can constitute an important tar-get group. Project experience shows that future projects should assess the added-value policy-makers could bring, and especially consider how they can help the project results become durable and lasting. As policy-makers are not just making new policies but also implementing them, projects can have an impact by partnering with implementing agencies. Projects link succesfully to policy-makers when the latter recognise the expertise of project staff and see the relevance of project ac-


BOX 1: LESSONS LEARNT – A GLANCE AT SOME EXAMPLES FROM THE SWITCH-ASIA PROJECTS

• Provide solid and credible analyses of the issue to be addressed• Build trust and close relationships with the relevant policy- makers• Assess policy choices and identify adequate policy options, include lessons learnt from other countries or regions• Serve policy-makers’ need – provide tailor made solutions.• Analyse the incentive structures of policy instruments for example next to financial incentives also consumer relevant policies create market pull• Provide technical assistance when required• Involve the right players in your project consortium• Identify change agents and policy champions as project partners• Involve relevant stakeholders throughout the policy process• Involve local actors and use local setting (e.g. universities)• Conduct an multi-stakeholder policy dialogue adapted to the specific setting• Use windows of opportunities for strategic policy work• Balance content not to overload thee policy dialogue, manage information carefully• Develop institutional capacity• Anticipate barrier in linking to policy makers• Limit objectives to what is realistic• Link policy intervention to other project activities and integrate policy goals in the whole project design


tivities. Policy-makers seek to receive document-ed impact – changes to the baseline, as meas-ured and monitored by projects. Tailor made communication in the form of show cases or a specific piece of research have provided proven strategic value for a number of projects. Project results can be inputs in up-coming environmen-tal policies in support of sustainable consump-tion and production (SCP) dialogues. By provid-ing show case or case stories, a project can show where SCP policies are lacking or are successful, or show case projects can deliver practical tools to contribute to policy formulation or imple-mentation. A detailed analysis of the level and quality of the existing policy framework and mix of policy instruments can determine the strength of a policy intervention of a SWITCH-Asia project. It makes a big difference if, in a particular country, environmental policies are limited to protection

and control or if economic or financial mecha-nisms are also in place. The type of implementing organisations in-cluded in a project design can be decisive for policy impact. Many projects with government agencies in their partnership have a mandate for policy development, or have a role in doing the preparatory work for policy-making, and these are best placed to enhance the policy environ-ment. This is particularly true when a project’s objectives are to influence policies. By directly involving policy stakeholders, the project se-cures a direct intervention in the policy process regardless of whether a project targets the local, regional, or national level. When working on the sub-national level, local project partners need to have good leverage over policy-makers for them to be able to create impact with their policy work. The current study showed that SWITCH-Asia projects can be used to test or practice


BOX 2: RANGE OF ACTIVITIES ACROSS THE POLICY CYCLE EXEMPLIFIED BY THE WEEE-RECYCLE PROJECT

Strategic Activities

Advocacy, Communication and Outreach

Policy and Politics

Increased capacity

Research

Evidence-basedCommunication

ProblemIdentification

Issue Reframing

Adoption of policy proposal

Increased knowledge

Coalition Buildling

PolicyFraming

Changed Attitudes among

policy-makers

FurtherAlliances

Industry Dialogue

Recognition of the Problem

Mapping and Inventories

CapacityBuildings

AgendaSetting

E-Waste Rules (2012)

Policy Imple-mentation

Additional Advocates

Multi-Stake-holder dialogue

Building relationship with

policy-makers

PublicCampaigns

Stronger Partnerships

Knowledge Transfer

Briefings and Presentations

Briefings and Presentations

Policy Framing

ImplementationGuidelines

Monitoring

New Donors

Conflict Management

One-to-One Negotiations

Implementation on Trainings

IncreasedTrust

Initial Outcomes

Policy Process


technical solutions within an already estab-lished national or sector policy or legislation. In order for a SWITCH-Asia project to achieve im-pact in the policy arena, it is important to set realistic project goals for policy intervention. Project experience has shown that often the right windows of opportunity can made it pos-sible to influence policy-makers. Project practice demonstrated that the right timing, convincing arguments, and hand-on results can be impor-tant success factors for influencing policy.

FUTURE OPPORTUNITIESThe review of the current 43 projects suggests further areas of opportunity that future project proposals could consider when developing new project designs. Opportunities are open for widening the spectrum of SWITCH-Asia project partners or beneficiaries. Local and regional gov-ernmental agencies could provide interesting entry points to influencing the policy agenda. Project experiences, including the identified needs for support of intermediary organisations and SMEs, can be used for feeding a policy dia-logue between the private sector and govern-ment institutions.Currently, a great number of projects are work-ing toward standards and labels while a few projects address economic instruments. Dur-ing the review, projects and their beneficiaries viewed economic instruments such as taxes, subsidies, and incentives as the most effective to promote SCP practices. Thus future projects should consider examining advocacy for policy instruments beyond just standards and labels. Most projects address SMEs or consumer groups for pushing SCP practices. The utilisation or creation of supporting macro level conditions

that are directly focused on a project’s objec-tives are also needed. The review of projects showed that random linkages to policy-makers to inform them about project results are not as effective as strategically planned interventions. Having policy instruments that directly support policy objectives, can help to transform a mar-ket. An analysis of the incentive structures of policy instruments, for example, helps to strate-gically target an entry point for initiating policy changes The majority of projects link to their country’s environmental agencies. SCP, however, is a cross-cutting issue that embraces all the tools and methodologies supporting sustainable develop-ment in the manufacturing and consumption of goods and services. In most countries many ministries or agencies share responsibility for SCP. Future cooperation beyond the Ministries of Environment can therefore widen a project’s influence on policy-making.


The Efficient Transformers project imple-mented Mini-mum Energy Performance Standards

Sri Lankas Minister of Environmentattends Networking Event in 2011

1


INTRODUCTION

The SWITCH-Asia programme seeks to enhance the uptake of SCP by work-ing simultaneously on both production

and consumption, and by employing a multi-stakeholder approach with strong and inten-sive working relationships with SMEs. The pro-gramme aims to shift policy-making towards improved sustainability by strengthening SCP-related regulatory frameworks, including in the business-related environment on environmen-tal and SCP issues, and by demonstrating effec-tive policy instruments. All three parts of the SWITCH-Asia programme – the Policy Support Component, the Network Facility and the grant projects – promote the uptake of SCP policies to varying degrees. In spite of their private sector focus, the SWITCH-Asia grant projects also con-tribute to the development of an enabling poli-cy environment by strengthening policies in the target countries that support and mainstream SCP. The objective of this thematic study, Policy-makers in focus, is to better understand what type of policy-makers is engaged with the grant projects, and how they affect the uptake of SCP-related policies. The main focus of the study is to identify the most successful means of inter-action between the projects and policy-makers that results in a good uptake of SCP policy. This should help future projects, and/or programme designers, to develop effective interactions and communications with policy-makers. This report consists of six parts. The first part provides a framing of policy-making in the SWITCH-Asia programme. It offers an over-view of projects involved in policy-making and presents an SCP policy framework. The second part analyses strategies employed by SWITCH-Asia projects to link to policy-makers at the dif-ferent stages of the policy cycle. Special focus is given to the stages of problem-framing, policy framing and policy implementation. The third part shows which policy-makers and which pol-

icy institutions are typically involved in SWITCH-Asia projects. Policy-makers can be linked to project activities in various ways. Part three also displays the institutional set-ups of projects engaging with policy-makers. The final section summarises observed strengths and challenges in contributing to an enabling policy environ-ment and presents initial conclusions. The study has been based on desk reviews of project reports and websites. The reviews were accompanied by a series of interviews undertak-en during field visits and conducted by experts of the SWITCH-Asia Network Facility in 2011 and 2012. Additionally, during the Networking Event 2012 a survey was conducted on policy engage-ment of the 43 SWITCH-Asia projects that start-ed in 2009, 2010, and 2012. With the 5th call for proposals being launched in 2013, the engage-ment of projects with policy-makers will contin-ue until 2017. As a living document this thematic study reflects only the current engagement and will not reach completion for a number of years. While the Network Facility is striving for trans-parency, the assessments in this report remain the view of the author.

LINKING TO POLICY-MAKERS – THE SURVEY

From November 2012 to January 2013, 43 operational projects were asked in a survey how they link to policy-makers. Projects were asked about their policy objectives and, if relevant, which policy instruments they contribute to. Further, they were asked how they link to policy-makers and which policy agencies they link to. Finally, projects were asked to rate their success factors for multi- stakeholder approaches when linking to policy-makers. All statistical data in this study refer to this survey.

1


AN INTRODUCTION TO AN SCP POLICY FRAMEWORKA policy is a principle to guide decisions or actions. Creating policy is an action by governments, par-ties, businesses or individuals. Policies are driven

by objectives. Some seek to implement a reform or change, others retain the status quo. SCP is a comprehensive approach to sustainable devel-opment, from a systemic and life-cycle perspec-tive. It is increasingly recognised as providing a

BACKGROUND2

Key production consumption clusters of highest environmental impact

Policies and policyinstruments in focus*

The overall national policy framework encouraging SCP and supporting implementation of SCP

Crosscutting economy-wide strategies, programmes and

action plansSCP targets and indicators

Institutional framework and stakeholder engagement

to support SCP

Food and drink (including the agriculture sector)

Housing (including the construction sector, appliances and ICT)

Mobility (including transport and infrastructure)

Tourism (including hotels and restaurants)

Clothing (including textile production)

ExtractionThe extraction, use and management of raw materials

ProductionLeaner and cleaner produc-tion and env. technologies sector

MarketBetter products and services at the market

UseSmarter consumption- Households cons.- Public cons.

End-of-LifeWaste management

Supply Demand

* For each element of life-cycle stages (extraction, production, market, use and end-of-life) and production-consumption ar-eas (food and drink, housing, mobility, tour-ism and clothing) these are the policies and policy instruments that will be considered.

Thematic strategies, programmes and

action plans

Regulatory instruments and

standards

Economicinstruments

Information-based instruments

Voluntary agreements

BOX 3: SCP POLICY FRAMEWORK

Key life-cycle stages of production and consumption


perspective that allows a sound understanding of the multiple social, economic and political drivers of environmental change in the world 1. SCP policies and instruments exist across the life-cycle of both products and services. Within each life-cycle stage (extraction, produc-tion, market, use and end-of-life) and within production-consumption areas (food and drink, housing, mobility, tourism and clothing) various kinds of measures may be taken by governments or policy-makers to promote greater sustain-ability. Such measures include thematic strate-gies, programmes, and action plans, regulatory instruments, labels and standards, economic in-struments, information-based instruments, and voluntary agreements. An SCP policy framework includes strategies and action plans that define quantitative tar-gets in order to stimulate actions towards SCP. They also include key SCP indicators and indica-tor sets to measure progress towards SCP. For further in-depth information on SCP policy tools and instruments please refer to the SWITCH-Asia policy toolbox available at www.switch-asia.eu/switch-info/publications/scp-policy- toolbox.html.

POLICY-MAKING IN THE SWITCH-ASIA PROGRAMMEThe SWITCH-Asia projects funded in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013 implement various activities re-lated to policy development or implementa-tion on the local, regional or national level. Such work is always complementary to their specific interventions with business, consumers and connected networks. As projects address various life-cycle stages, their individual foci means they link differently to policy-makers and engage them at different stages of the policy cycle. Changes in policy-making and policy imple-mentation rarely follow the strict formula when presenting research, displaying policy alterna-tives, making choices and implementing adopt-ed policies. Policy-making is rather an iterative process with non-linear interactions among dif-ferent stakeholders. SWITCH-Asia projects can be involved in all steps of this policy process and, therefore, have a multitude of entry points to the policy-making process and the link-up with policy makers. A simplified policy process model as a cycle (see Box 4) underlines the interactive

and possible repetitive nature of the process of policy-making that can include a variety of gov-ernmental institutions. The majority of SWITCH-Asia projects aims to change their policy environment rather than just inform policy-makers about their project results. Interventions generally occur with the fields of either problem-framing or policy-fram-ing. For categorising activities by SWITCH-Asia projects related to policy, this study works with a four-stage model of the policy cycle consisting of problem-framing, policy-framing, policy im-plementation and policy monitoring (see Box 4 above). Several projects engage in the first three stages of the policy cycle. National government agencies, such as ministries, are not eligible for funding under SWITCH-Asia so no project is in-volved in policy implementation in the sense of law enforcement. However, with their capacity building efforts many projects provide assist-ance for implementing policy – at a macro-level as in the case of energy conservation in China, or implementing e-waste rules, for example, at a municipal level in India. Due to the private sec-tor nature of SWITCH-Asia projects, none is di-rectly involved in policy monitoring (see Box 5). A very limited number address policy monitoring indirectly by developing indicators or building capacity of inspection officials.

BOX 4: CIRCULAR MODEL OF A POLICY CYCLE

ProblemFraming

PolicyFraming

Policy Monitoring

Policy Implemen-tation

1) Also see UNEP (2012).


DEFINITIONS: POLICY-MAKERPolicy-making differs across the 19 eligible coun-tries of the SWITCH-Asia programme. It happens within different settings and at different levels as the participating countries have diverse po-litical systems and forms of government. Due to different stages of development, policy-makers in the 19 countries have different needs for ca-pacity building or technical assistance when it comes to SCP 2. Generally, policy-makers are people who have the power to influence or determine policies and practices at an international, national, regional, or local level. This study understands policy-makers in a very broad sense – as individuals who have the authority to set the policy framework. This ranges from ministry officials to legislators, as well as technical experts in governmental institutions. Policy-makers were found to have different roles in the SWITCH-Asia projects. Some projects target policy-makers as the change-makers they

need to achieve their policy goals. In other projects, policy-makers, especially on the local, regional or sub-national level, are active project implementers who join forces with European and local partners from business, academia or various networks to achieve a set objective. A number of projects across the calls for proposals from 2009, 2010 and 2012 involve policy-makers as advisors in steering committees or advisory missions. And last, but not least, policy-makers in many projects are beneficiaries of capacity building or awareness-raising activities.

BOX 5: EXAMPLES OF SWITCH-ASIA PROJECTS AFFECTING POLICY AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF THE POLICY CYCLE

Problem-framing

• Efficient Transformers• WEEE-Recycle• Electric Motor Challenge• Waste to Energy• Elimination of Lead Paint• Industrial Symbiosis• ESEEC• Biomass SP• Food & Beverages• Jute: an eco-friendly alternative for a sustainable future

Policy-framing

• Efficient Transformers• WEEE-Recycle• Electric Motor Challenge• Low Energy Housing• Elimination of Lead Paint• Industrial Symbiosis• ESEEC• Biomass SP• Food & Beverages

Policy implementation

• Efficient Transformers• WEEE-Recycle• Electric Motor Challenge• Low Energy Housing• SUPP-Urb• Wood China• ESEEC• Re-Tie Bangladesh• Food & Beverages• Train the Trainers

Policy monitoring

(Note that due to the time-bound nature of the projects they can, but do not need to be, involved in more than one stage at a time. This list is not final.)

Steering Committee of the AEMAS project

3

2) Compare: Schandl, H. et al. (2012). Capacity Building and Policy Needs Assessment for Sustainable Consumption and Production. SWITCH-Asia Policy Support Component, UNEP.


Policy-making in Asian countries, although varying in process, has a shared thread: problems being acknowledged by policy-

makers, policy options being identified and im-plemented. SWITCH-Asia projects use different strategies to frame the problem, to develop pol-icy options (frame the policy), and to contribute to policy implementation.

PROBLEM FRAMING STAGE – INITIATING POLICY CHANGES

Asia’s developing nations have to consider dif-ferent dimensions including economic develop-ment, social development, raising the standard of living, and environmental integrity. Environ-mental issues are not always a priority in emerg-ing markets. Identifying a problem and getting it recognised is the first step in the policy cycle. In this process SWITCH-Asia projects frequently take the role of policy advocates and provide specific problem definitions, highlighting their concerns with research, impact, data and indica-tors.

RECOGNISING THE PROBLEM – STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY SWITCH-ASIA PROJECTS

Strategy: Raising awareness Awareness-raising activities facilitate informa-tion, communication, and interaction between policy-makers and those who want to push an issue on the public agenda. In India, fair trade is becoming more popular as a growing group of middle-class consumers are questioning the ‘conventional’ manufacturing process. There is no policy directly supporting fair trade or in-fluencing public procurement in favour of fair trade products. To promote sustainable con-sumption3, the PRO SUSTAIN project aims to cre-ate a consumer market for fair trade products. It seeks to convert corporate procurement and to get commitment from government to fair trade. The project employs various instruments to raise the awareness of policy-makers by showcasing fair trade products at various events and exhibitions. To inform policy-makers and the public, the project conducts fair trade road shows, in-store promotions, corporate exhibi-tions, a conclave on ‘redefining retail’, a fashion show, cultural programmes, movie screenings, advertisements on transport vehicles, and cam-pus campaigns.

Strategy: Persuasion through research and inventoriesResearch, mapping, and inventories have proved effective for the WEEE-Recycle project in India that worked on e-waste legislation. Already in 2004 GIZ (formerly GTZ), Toxics Link, and MAIT (now partners in the SWITCH-Asia project) con-sidered e-waste streams in India to be a major concern. Even though the damage caused by informal e-waste recycling activities in India is

Awareness Campaign of the PRO SUSTAIN project

LINKING TO POLICY-MAKERS – AN OVERVIEW OF STRATEGIES ACROSS THE POLICY CYCLE3

3.1

3) To learn more about sustainable consumption, please refer to the scaling-up study: Motivate Consumers available at www.switch-asia.eu or read the booklet “Challenges and Opportunities to Sustainable Consumption in Asia”


immense, no specific law was in place that regu-lated it although two regulations established under the provisions of the Environmental Pro-tection Act were applicable to some extent. The rules were inadequate to handle the generation, transportation, and disposal of this complex electronic waste, and the regulators were un-able to monitor and regulate the informal sec-tor. Therefore, stakeholders pushed for a specific regulation on e-waste seeing the existence of an adequate legal framework as a fundamental precondition for the establishment of a sound e-waste management system for India. Industry at the time did not want to accept e-waste as a major challenge. The lack of awareness about the handling processes of e-waste lead to the conclusion that e-waste recycling was not harm-ful to human health. Only a study undertaken by GTZ and MAIT in 2007 increased awareness of the existing e-waste processing problem. Vari-ous agencies, including GTZ, Toxics Link, and the state pollution control boards, mapped and in-vented e-waste activities. The data collected and inventories produced convinced the Pollution Control Board to finally put the topic of e-waste on the national agenda.

Strategy: Evidence-based communicationEvidence, such as sound information and data, can secure the attention of policy-makers, as an example from China shows. The project Imple-menting Industrial Symbiosis and Environmental Management Systems in Tianjin Binhai New Area (referred to as the Industrial Symbiosis project) aims to improve the enabling conditions for synergies to take place in the industrial park. In order to facilitate industrial symbiosis in their target areas the project conducts intensive surveys among the industries concerning ma-terials flows. Thus, the project team at the Teda Eco Centre is the only team that has detailed insights into in-coming raw materials and out-going waste. The project team has the technical expertise to collect, analyse and utilise this infor-mation. With such data the project experts un-derline to local policy-makers the disadvantages of land fill waste and the environmental impact of using virgin raw materials. The local govern-ment has neither the human, nor the finan-cial, resources to investigate material streams in such detail. Therefore, such evidence-based

communication by the project is welcomed by the local government. To emphasise the mes-sage the project team also engaged scientists from the University of Hong Kong and Nankai University in Tianjin to validate their research and develop their policy recommendation fur-ther. Involving such neutral partners is a great advantage in the Chinese setting – because an advocate with an interest in an issue degrades the power of its advocacy. The Lead Paint Elimination project also em-ploys evidence-based communication and does so by conducting product tests. The project aims at eliminating lead in paint and widely raises awareness about the adverse impact on human health of lead-based decorative paints, particularly on the health of children under six-years-old. With the product testing, the project strengthens its advocacy for standards and la-belling that includes information on lead. Such information would guide consumers to take informed decisions when buying paint. The project also assesses whether paints on the con-sumer market reach the critical value of lead ac-ceptable to humans. This reminds policy-makers of their responsibility to care for their citizens.

Strategy: Analysis of the current statePolicy assessments analyse the existing frame-work, and highlight gaps and opportunities. Se-veral projects use such assessments to initiate a policy dialogue. Before starting a stakeholder dialogue on pol-icy instruments, the project Jute: an Eco-Friendly Alternative for a Sustainable Future produced a

E-waste streams a major challenge in India


policy assessment. The assessment included a review of the existing legal framework but also research with field trips to farmers and relevant stakeholders. The resulting assessment report noted that there were various constraints for which the country’s jute sector is lagging be-hind. With the objectives of preparing a policy advocacy plan for the jute growers and produc-ers’ association, the project analysed challenges for the jute sector and developed recommenda-tions for how policy-makers could improve the situation.

The project Sustainable and Cleaner Production in the Manufacturing Industries of Pakistan (SCI-PAK) analysed the existing policy framework for SMEs in the country’s textile and tannery sector. The project then sought to identify areas of op-portunity that would benefit the most if sus-tainable production in SMEs was improved. The assessment was based on participatory research and included qualitative interviews with policy-makers which the project partners IHT and CPI had identified in various ministries. The assess-ment of the Pakistani policy framework for SMEs demonstrated that there are great opportuni-ties for improvement and in the use of energy and other resources. The assessment report was used in an orientation session for policy-makers on the Policy Framework for Sustainable Produc-tion in Pakistan. With the session, the project sought to develop an agenda for the succeeding policy dialogue among different stakeholders from government, SMEs, business associations, financial institutions and equipment manufac-turers. Another project, Sustainable Product Innova-tion in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, conducted policy assessments in its three target countries. The project hired an expert to review the SCP-

related policy framework and used the findings to open a dialogue with policy-makers through Policy Assessment Validation Workshops held in the three capitals. The policy goal for the project is to build awareness and national capacity for governments and governmental officials in the three countries in terms of policies on sustain-able product support, plus tools, mechanisms and institutions to facilitate regulations.

Strategy: Needs analysisThe project Sustainable Production of the Bio-mass Industries in Malaysia: Optimising Econom-ic Potential and Moving Towards Higher Value Chain (Biomass SP) envisions the development of a national action plan on biomass. Malaysia, with its abundance of biomass available, already has policy documents in place. The project aims to add an additional perspective: to close gaps in the value chain of biomass utilisation for SMEs. The project envisions future policies offering opportunities for the participation of SMEs and entrepreneurs in the biomass utilisation value chain. In order to gather SME needs, the project held stakeholder consultation sessions among biomass SMEs. The objective of the these ses-sions was to obtain feedback, opinions and sug-gestions from biomass-based SMEs on actions and measures along the biomass value chain to further promote the biomass industry among the SMEs. The discussion identified a number of issues and challenges in the value chain. Among critical issues raised were the uncertainty of a long-term biomass supply from palm oil mills, rice mills and saw mills, and access to financing. To address these challenges, the consultation session also came up with a list of recommen-dations (with rationale and potential impact) for submission to the government for a future biomass action plan for Malaysia. Such a needs-driven policy option can be an argument to at-tract the attention of policy-makers.

Impression from Jute Policy Research Workshop January 2013 in Dhaka

Biomass SP workshop in Putrayaja


Strategy: Choosing effective communicationchannelsWhether a topic reaches the policy agenda de-pends on the level of urgency of the problem, and the effectiveness of persuasive data de-pends on the channel of communication. The project Sustainable Textiles for Sustainable De-velopment (SusTex) in India focuses specifically on occupational health and safety standards in artisanal SMEs. SusTex also works with research and data to inform policy-makers. The project conducted a baseline study to assess environ-mental and occupational health and safety is-sues (OHS). The project maximises its impact by informing policy-makers on the measures that need to be taken up to improve OHS and to control environmental pollution. A major chan-nel for the dissemination of policy recommen-dations is the Planning Commission of India. Project partner AIACA is a member of the steer-ing committee on handloom and handicrafts in the Planning Commission, and an NGO rep-resentative. It has regularly attended steering committee meetings providing inputs and sug-gestions on behalf of its member organisations. By accessing such a high-level commission the project has a greater chance of attracting the at-tention of policy-makers.

Strategy: Promoting understanding by providing technical assistance For policy-makers to pay attention to technical policy options for SCP it often involves lengthy efforts and expensive evidence especially those on standards or codes. Presenting data and technical tests can be a way to attract their attention. The project Sustainable Revival of Livelihoods in Post-Disaster Sichuan: Enhancing Eco-Friendly Pro-Poor Bamboo Production Sup-ply Chains (Bamboo) to support reconstruction, for example, advocates for a provincial build-ing code for bamboo. Currently, building codes for laminated engineered bamboo do not exist anywhere in the world. As permanent buildings cannot be constructed without a code, having a bamboo code in place is very important for developing the sector. With a building code the project is aiming at an end-product policy i.e. a construction industry that will use the material. A building code as an end-product policy can pull the upstream actors towards sustainable practices.

In the process of developing a bamboo building code, a number of material tests are required which lead to a bamboo material building code. The project provides technical assistance to con-duct the scientific tests. Tests are undertaken for wall earthquake-resistance, wall thermal behav-iour, wall sound insulation, and wall fire resist-ance. Based on the seismic design of buildings in wood-frame houses, combined with the per-formance of the bamboo material, the team pre-pared seismic standards for the bamboo struc-ture within the code. To interest and motivate policy-makers in the code, the project highlights not only the strength of the material but also the market potential. Strengthening demand for bamboo as a building material is an essential parallel action to the policy efforts.

Strategy: Experiential learningExperiential learning can be a strong tool to en-able policy-makers to investigate the link be-tween theory and practice. By understanding showcases or attending study tours policy-mak-ers can examine the concepts of ‘best practice’ in other countries and cultures. By visiting labs and companies, think tanks and universities, as well as product fairs and political institutions, policy-makers experience various aspects of SCP and can use such knowledge in future decision-making. Next to being a part of an advocacy strategy, study tours strengthen bonding be-tween the participants. A study tour for policy-makers can also enhance cooperation and com-munication between different ministries as they open space for dialogue. The project Improving Environmental and Safety Performance in the Electrical and Electron-ics Sector (ESEEC) aims to improve the perform-

Bamboo as building material – objective of the Bamboo project


ance of over 500 Chinese SMEs in the electrical and electronics sector in the areas of eco-effi-ciency, OHS, and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The project is concerned about conflict-ing performance measures and standards in Asia and Europe that will lead to inconsistent implementation schemes and put Chinese SMEs at a disadvantage when accessing inter-national supply chains. Therefore, the ESEEC project invited Chinese delegations, including representatives from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and Ministry of Environmental Protection, to study tours in Europe to improve their understanding of how the harmonisation of standards (between China and the EU) could benefit SMEs and increase their competitiveness. By discussing concrete examples, such as the eco-design directive, the directive on restriction of certain hazardous sub-stances, and the directives on waste of electrical and electronic equipment, the Chinese policy-makers saw how directives being implemented

in Europe could act as a barrier to supply chain exports from China to the EU – if China does not harmonise its own standards with those of the EU. The project Industrial Symbiosis also uses study tours as a strategy for raising aware-ness amongst local policy-makers. The project models its implementation on the UK-based National Industrial Symbiosis Project (NISP), a partner in the project consortium. NISP is pro-viding a model ready to replicate in the Tianjin Binhai New Area. With several study tours to the UK, the project has been enabling local policy-makers to experience an advanced symbiosis setting. Each tour deals with specific topics, such as resource recycling and waste management, or experiences of policy-making for industrial symbiosis. Forty-four per cent of projects interviewed considered the study tour a useful tool. Among them are SPRING Cotton, Green Construction Mongolia, Wood Processing and Trade, Waste to Energy, Re-Tie, MEET-BIS, VA3, Tourism in Bhutan, Efficient Transformer, and Sustainable Rattan.

Best practice and showcases One strategy of the Zero Carbon Resorts project in its advocacy for energy efficiency is to work with best practice showcases. The project learnt that it is crucial to overcome the widespread per-ception among policy-makers, but also among business and consumers, that innovation and change is difficult and expensive. To counter-act this perception the project implements a ‘3 R’ strategy. The first step, using low-cost measures to increase efficiency (‘reduce’), should give rise

to immediate benefits includ-ing cost savings. The second step sees technological inno-vations providing higher levels of efficiency (‘replace’), allow-ing greener and more efficient alternative technologies to replace out-dated and fossil fuel-based devices, paid for by the savings made in step one. Finally, an energy autonomous flagship cottage is designed and constructed as a tangible showcase that can be repli-cated elsewhere (‘redesign’). In the zero carbon cottage,

ESEEC Delegation on study tour in Brussels

ZCR strategy “replace”: project beneficiaries learn how to build their own solar water heater


policy-makers or other visitors can experience for themselves the impact of sustainable build-ing and energy systems using appropriate tech-nology solutions. The feeling of good ventilation or sufficient cooling adds another dimension to advocacy for energy efficient building solutions.The GPIoS project in the Philippines and the Sus BIRD project in China, among others, also base their advocacy strategies on showcases.

PUTTING AN ISSUE ON THE POLICYAGENDAPolicy-makers and politicians are busy

people. In most countries the number of public issues to be dealt with exceeds the capacity of the policy-makers to find solutions. Issues identi-fied in the problem-framing stage of the policy cycle therefore have to compete with other is-sues to get on the agenda of the decision-mak-ers. A number of SWITCH-Asia projects have successfully managed to move their policy objec-tives forward by employing different strategies and using different ‘success factors’.

Success factor: Aligning with national prioritiesAligning with national priorities can help to put an identified policy problem on the agenda of policy-makers. The projects China Motor Chal-lenge and Efficient Transformers both addressed the topic of energy conservation. By developing minimum efficiency performance standards for transformers and electric motors, they contrib-uted to the implementation of China’s macro-level energy and energy conservation policy framework. Efficient transformers and efficient electric motors as part of an optimised energy system contribute to the Medium and Long-term Energy Conservation Plan as laid out in China’s 12th Five Year Plan. Policy-makers are more likely

PROBLEM-FRAMING – STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY SWITCH-ASIA PROJECTS AT A GLANCE:

• Awareness raising• Persuasion through research and inventories• Evidence-based communication• Persuasion through research and inventories• Analysing the current state needs analysis• Choosing effective communication channels• Promoting understanding by providing technical assistance• Experiential learning through study tours, best practices and show cases

Makro-level energy policy frameworks:

China's National Climate Change Target: Reduce emission intensity 40% - 45% by 2020

China's Medium and Long-Term Energy Conservation Plan

Ten Key Energy-Saving Projects (Project No. 6: Energy System Optimization Project)

Development of higher Mini-mum Perform-ance Standards (MEP) for Trans-formers

Design of a new energy effi-ciency Label for Transformers

Update 'China Catalogue of High-efficiency Products' for public Procure-ment

Development of a Eco-Design Standard for Higher efficient Transformers

Development of a Total Costing Tool to address End-users of Transformers

}}

Supporting policy imple-mentation action

New policy instruments

BOX 6: SUPPORT TO MACRO-LEVEL POLICY BY THE EFFICIENT TRANSFORMER PROJECT

1 2 3 4 5


to allocate attention to an issue if it serves their needs and their already established agendas.

Success factor: Using windows of opportunity At times politicians or policy-makers turn to stakeholders for policy proposals that are rele-vant to their concerns and that might constitute solutions to their problems. Sri Lanka, for exam-ple, adopted the National Action Plan for Hari-tha Lanka Programme – a national plan towards sustainable development. The plan includes a sub-goal to ‘green the industries’ which includes tourism. Due to the well-known engagement in sustainable tourism of the Greening Sri Lanka Hotels project, the Sri Lanka Tourism Develop-ment Authority (SLTDA) requested the project to produce a Green Certification Scheme. This vol-untary scheme will offer recognition to hotels for their environmental measures and provide them with a marketing advantage. The future Green Certification Scheme would work as a check list of must-haves for the hotels and would encour-age energy saving, discourage excessive use of water and resources, and implement waste man-agement in participation hotels. The Greening Sri Lanka Hotels project thus uses the window of op-portunity offered by policy-makers. By offering a solution to an already recognised problem, the project successfully put the drafted solution on the agenda of SLTDA.

Success factor: Balancing interestDuring the problem-framing stage, in many cases different parties bring conflicting perspectives to

the table. Conflicting views on a particular issue might put an issue on the agenda of the mass media but policy-makers who are interested in feasible policy options might not show much in-terest in an issue associated with conflict. In the case of the WEEE-Recycle project in In-dia, project experts stated that balancing con-flicts during the problem-framing stage was a success factor in pushing the topic further through the policy cycle. At the beginning of the process various parties disagreed about a separate legislation on e-waste. The SWITCH-project partners and other NGOs advocated for a separate e-waste regulation including ‘extended producers’ responsibility’ (EPR) for recycling, for reducing levels of hazardous substances in elec-tronics, and setting up collection centres. Over the years, various initiatives facilitated an ex-change of experience and transfer of know-how which addressed these concerns. In March 2008, the Central Pollution Control Board published a first draft of e-waste guidelines reflecting basic features of the current scenario and the require-ments for future recycling. With the guidelines, a series of stakeholder dialogues conducted by the government and other agencies such as GIZ, Toxics Link, Greenpeace, and Manufacturing As-sociation Information Technology (MAIT) were launched. Manufacturers, users, recyclers, and policy-makers discussed the issues reflected in the guidelines. After many subsequent rounds of dialogue with the industry, the task of preparing draft legislation was entrusted to the consortium of four organisations – GIZ, Toxics Link, Green-

A hotel beni-fitting from the Greening Hotel project in Sri Lanka


peace, and MAIT. The draft rules were accessible through the internet to the interested public. Different stakeholder groups were able to voice their interests and highlight issues faced when setting up an e-waste management structure. In four consultation workshops, industry asso-ciations, civil society groups, formal sector recy-clers and informal sector associations expressed their opinions. Major international brands in the electrical and electronic sectors provided their feedback. With this process, the project experts successfully balanced the interests of various stakeholders and it was easier for them to put the topic on the agenda of policy-makers. The E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules come into force in May 2012. The example shows that policies developed in various stages coordinat-ed and discussed by multi-stakeholder groups, can balance the conflicting interests of diverse groups. Such processes can result in the develop-ment of credible policies which are acceptable to the various interest groups. Balancing interests was also a major success factor developing the minimum energy perfor-mance standards (MEPS) for efficient transform-ers in China. Along the supply chain, the MEPS af-fect manufacturers and end-users. The Efficient Transformer project consortium already com-bined representatives of all groups affected by the MEPS and they brought their different views to the table. Most important for the project was to find a balance between efficiency efforts and the economic criteria of manufacturers and end-users. A challenge was to balance the efficiency

and the cost of upgrading grid systems. In order to persuade manufacturers that the costs would be economically worth their while, the project used market data from businesses already us-ing more efficient transformers and developed some procurement policies that included a to-tal-cost-owning tool based on life-cycle assess-ments. The total-cost-owning tool guides end-users through the procurement decision-making process. Such decisions have, in the past, solely relied on price as efficiency was seen as being based on too many variables for a computerised tool. With this strategy, the project was able to fi-nalise a draft of a minimum energy performance standard, an eco-design standard for transform-ers, and a total-cost-owning standard. All three policy instruments were adopted by the National Development and Reform Commission of China in 2012.

AGENDA-SETTING IN THE POLICY PROCESS: SUCCESS FACTORS EXPERIENCED BY SWITCH-ASIA PROJECTS:

• Aligning with national priorities• Balancing interests• Using windows of opportunity

Stakeholder workshop discussing e-waste rules

Transformer Manufactures opposed higher efficiency standards – at first


POLICY-FRAMING STAGE – DEVELOPING POLICY OPTIONS Various instruments and tools are available that can be applied to improve the policy environ-ment for SCP. According to the diverse objec-tives of SWITCH-Asia projects, a variety of policy instruments are being addressed. A number of projects tackle different aspects of the national building codes. Others address the problem of e-waste with different policy options or by sup-

porting the drafting of energy efficiency labels. Others still, work towards negotiating voluntary agreements to promote SCP practices. Before presenting one policy option to ad-dress an identified problem, projects use differ-ent strategies to reduce the complexity of avail-able alternatives. Similar strategies and tools can be employed in the problem-framing and policy-framing stage. For the sake of conciseness, these examples have not been repeated. The follow-ing section highlights examples of how projects worked with policy-makers towards one policy option.

BOX 7: EXAMPLES OF POLICY INSTRUMENTS TO WHICH SWITCH-ASIA PROJECTS ARE CONTRIBUTING (IN THE POLICY-FRAMING STAGE)

Note: Abbreviation of projects names in brackets, the list is not final

§

i

Thematic strategies and action plan• Biomass Action Plan (Biomass-SP)

Regulatory instruments and standards• E-Waste Handling Rules (WEEE-Recycle)• Minimum Energy Performance Standards (Efficient Transformers and Electric Motor Challenge)• Bamboo Material Building Code, Bamboo for re-construction • Local Green Building Code (ZCR)• National Standard for Rice Husk Gasifiers (Waste to Energy)• Sustainable product standards for architectural paint (Lead Paint Elimination)

Economic instruments• Financial Incentive (Low Energy Housing)

Information-based instruments• Energy Efficiency Labels (Efficient Transformers & Electric Motor Challenge)• National label for green products (GPIOS)

Voluntary agreements• National Green Reporting System (Food & Beverages)• Green Accreditation Scheme for Hotels (Greening Sri Lankan Hotels)• Voluntary Agreements to increase share of green products (Sustainable Consumption in Urban China)• Voluntary Agreements for energy conservation (VA3)• Conformity Model (ESEEC)

3.2


Strategy: benchmarkingThe Efficient Transformer project used bench-marking to identify the best possible policy op-tions. The project started its assessment of ef-ficiency standards by comparing international standards. It considered the EU standards for efficiency (HD 428, HD 528), the Top Runner Standard in Japan, and the standards of the US Department of Energy. Benchmarking inter-national standards allowed them to compare Chinese standards with others, to identify their comparative strengths and weaknesses, and to learn how Chinese standards could be improved. With the knowledge of the methodologies be-hind other standards, the project organised a consultative process and adapted their Mini-mum Energy Performance Standards to the Chi-nese situation.

Strategy: comparative analysisIn order to identify a concrete policy option it is necessary to take a decision as to which options are most beneficial for a specific setting. The ES-EEC project prepared a conformity model – an assessment tool that enables SMEs to evaluate their performance. The conformity model, and other materials such as standards guidelines, were developed by the ESEEC project to assist SMEs in China in keeping up-to-date with in-ternational trends and European best practices of enterprises’ compliance with environmental and safety requirements. When project experts developed the standards guidelines and the con-formity model, they started with a comparative analysis of China and developed countries. Tar-geted at SMEs, valuable reference material for national, regional and international laws, regula-tions and standards for environmental and safe-ty performance in the electrical and electronics industry is now available.

Strategy: showing impactUnderstanding the impact of a policy is vital in the policy-framing stage. To push for a cer-tain option, it can be effective to show and un-derstand the impact of the suggested policy in other settings. The project Bangladesh: Reduction of Environmental Threats and Increase of Export-ability of Bangladeshi Leather Products (Re-Tie), for example, organised a summer school with field visits to show the impact of effluent treat-

ment in neighbouring India. Re-Tie aims to pro-mote more economically and ecologically sound practices among SMEs in the leather industry. The project involved policy-makers as much as possible and worked directly with government departments relevant to the sector. Already, for a number of years the government had decided that the tanneries had to relocate to an area out-side the residential areas of the capital, Dhaka. One of the obstacles was that the new location did not have a central effluent treatment plant (CETP). In June 2011, the Re-Tie project organised a summer school for policy-makers and tanners in India on the topic of effluent treatment plants (ETPs). Participants visited tanneries and com-mon effluent treatment plants in Chennai and Kolkata in India. The study tours aimed to im-prove understanding of the initiatives of the In-dian leather industry in tannery pollution control and the efforts to comply with the prevailing en-vironmental regulations. Policy-makers and tan-ners saw the positive impact of treating effluent and the use of treated tannery effluent for irri-gation. The government signed a contract with a construction company for the CETP in May 2012.

Strategy: discourse and trust managementTo finally opt for a policy measure policy-makers must be convinced of its benefits and trust the process in which the policy option was devel-oped. Discourse and trust management can be a decisive success factor for the policy-framing phase. The project Improving Energy Efficiency and Environmental Performance of Chinese SMEs and Large Companies Facilitated by Voluntary Public-Private Partnerships, called VA3,in China uses this approach and facilitates voluntary pub-lic-private partnerships in the textile and dyeing sector. It stimulates partnerships and mobilises

Re-Tie Delegation on study tour in India


efforts by industry to enhance their environmen-tal management performance beyond existing standards. In order to successfully reach both target groups, local policy-makers and entrepre-neurs, the project employs discourse and trust management in the negotiation phase to move towards a voluntary agreement. Discourse man-agement for the project relates to the ability to manage topics and to repair any communication breakdowns during dialogue. The project puts much emphasis on process management, ap-plying a cooperative and participatory approach throughout. It is important that the project part-ner who negotiates with the other parties is seen as the trusted broker who can, during the pro-cess, manage expectations of the parties during the process. To build trust between parties it is important to understand the intentions, compe-tences, and means of others and the context of their expectations.

Strategy: multi-stakeholder dialoguesMulti-stakeholder approaches are increasingly considered in international development as im-portant ways to deal with complex issues, es-pecially policy-making. Framing a policy option with many stakeholders, in particular, can reduce

potential opposition to the measure in later stages of the policy cycle. The vast majority, 92%, of the SWITCH-Asia projects questioned employ multi-stakeholder approaches. More than 60% of the projects responding to the survey Link-ing to Policy-makers reported that their aim of a multi-stakeholder approach was to mobilise support for a specific objective introduced by the project. The purpose for projects of using multi-stakeholder approaches differs. Asked why they employed multi-stakeholder approaches, most projects said they were to be able to exchange points of view. Improving relations, forming net-works and building alliances was mentioned sec-ond by most projects. Less said that they traded information and knowledge to understand the political context or that they aimed to create new relationships through a multi-stakeholder approach. When projects were asked what made their multi-stakeholder approach successful, most rated an outcome-oriented process, ensuring that there will be resources and commitment to follow-up on ensuing actions as successful and very successful. A certain level of skill, capacity and knowledge in all major stakeholder groups,

BOX 8: RESPONSES TO THE QUESTION: WHY DO SWITCH-ASIA PROJECTS USE MULTI-STAKEHOLDER APPROACHES?

To draw on different expertise and backgrounds

To form networks and build alliances

To create new relationships

To build trust

To bridge conflicts

To promote issues or perspectives which others cannot take on

To facilitate negotiation and deal-making between

To exchange points of view

To broker information and knowledge to understand political context

To improve relations one has to deal with interests, power and conflict

Others

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35Total numbers (N=43), multiple answers were possible


and a willingness of all actors to work together, was also seen as successful and very successful. More than half the responding projects said that a competent facilitation of the process made their multi-stakeholder approach successful. Many projects use multi-stakeholder approaches or often use them to discuss policy options and to synthesise the most acceptable alternatives to be adopted.

BOX 9: RATING OF SUCCESS FACTORS FOR MULTI-STAKEHOLDER APPROACHES

Total numbers (N=43), multiple answers were possible

POLICY-FRAMING: STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY SWITCH-ASIA PROJECTS

• Showing Impact• Benchmarking• Comparative Analysis• Aligning with national priorities• Multi-stakeholder approaches • Discourse and trust management

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

An outcome-oriented process, ensuring that there will be resources and commitment to

follow-up on ensuing actions

A certain level of skills, capacities and knowledge of all major stakeholder groups

Ability and willingness amongst different stakeholders to engage with each other, to

communicate and collaborate effectively

Clear stakeholder analysis to identify allies and opponents

Willingness of all actors to work together (through negotiation, discussion,

consultation, collaboration)

Clear and transparent objectives of the multi-stakeholder process

Competent facilitation of the process

5 very successful4321 not at all sucessful


POLICY IMPLEMENTATIONPolicy implementation is the stage of the policy cycle between the adoption of a policy and the impact of it on the people it involves and affects. Implementation includes translating a policy’s objectives into operation. Implementation thus informs affected parties on the policy changes, builds their capacity to enable compliance, and puts enabling programmes and infrastructure in place. Even though several projects are active in the field of policy implementation, no SWITCH-Asia project is involved in policy implementation in the sense of law enforcement. The SWITCH-Asia grant projects are focused on the private sector. National government agencies such as ministries are not eligible for grant funding under the programme. However, with their capacity building, training and aware-ness-raising efforts many projects contribute to policy implementation at national, regional or local levels. The activities of each project circle around specific objectives. The following section pro-vides examples of how projects can contrib-ute to policy implementation. It stops short of drawing lessons from project activities. Policy implementation is a complex process that, after awareness-raising and capacity building, often involves changes of norms and behaviour. Such changes can often require law enforcement, in-spections and monitoring. Projects are not re-sponsible for executing an adopted policy; this is not their role and anyway is beyond their ca-pacity. The following examples cover efforts ad-dressing policy agencies and others that aim at motivating non-state actors to comply with new policies.

CAPACITY BUILDING WITH OR WITHIN POLICYAGENCIESCapacity building efforts of SWITCH-Asia pro-jects mostly complement and support other ac-tivities implemented by government institutions or guided by macro-level policy, strategic plans or concrete implementation strategies.

Addressing provincial energy conservation centresThe Efficient Transformer project in China sup-ports the introduction of new national stand-ards for efficient transformers that were devel-oped by the project consortium. Project experts conducted a training course on the new stand-ards with 20 provincial energy conservation and supervision centres and energy service centres. The provincial centres have the role of supervis-ing and examining the implementation of en-ergy conservation regulations. The project input enables the energy conservation and supervision centres themselves to organise several training events on energy conservation for energy us-ers in the provinces, to inform them about the new standards, and to discuss policies related to the elimination of outmoded transformers. Further, the project compiled training materi-als on energy-saving transformers for broader dissemination. The materials help to improve energy management, to facilitate the technical selection of new transformers, and to support users to evaluate the economic performance of their transformers. With the materials they can recognise the cost-savings of improved efficiency for themselves. The materials provide compre-hensive, cutting-edge information on market development, policy and regulations and techni-cal trends for transformer manufacturers to give a fuller understanding of how the transformers save energy, and therefore money.

3.3

Capacity building by ESEEC project

Materials sustain the impact of the Efficient Transformer project


Working with public procurement centresThe Sustainable Public Procurement in Urban Ad-ministration in China (SuPP-Urb) project provided assistance with the design and implementation of sustainable public procurement in three mu-nicipal public procurement centres (PPC) in Chi-na. Good practice, experiences and lessons learnt from Europe and China were discussed with the centres and included in a set of technical guide-lines for sustainable public procurement for the target cities. At the city level, the procurement centres developed guidelines and tools for sus-tainable public procurement (SPP). Each PPC was supported by one technical partner in the city. The SuPP-Urb project provided technical support to the procurement centres for product evalua-tion methods, including life-cycle assessment, and offered methodological input and analysis on the evaluation of environmental benefits of green procurement. The project Sustainable and Responsible Trade Promoted to Wood Processing SMEs through For-est and Trade Networks in China, India and Viet-nam worked towards sustainable procurement of wood. The project took the lead in raising awareness and increasing the capacity of gov-ernment officials to integrate the requirements of the EU Timber Regulations and the US Lacey Act into departmental policy frameworks. This engagement with provincial government de-partments assisted in scaling up the sustain-able wood procurement. It also helps to forge relationships between SMEs and governments which are helpful when introducing the global legislative framework for the timber trade and the specific national priorities for SCP.

Policy input – officials overseeing buildings andconstructionAnother example is the Train the Trainers project in Shanghai, China. This project provides train-ing courses to authorities (but also to industry) with a focus on insulation and other energy sav-ing techniques. The project offers policy ‘feed-ins’ at local, regional, national and international levels as well as policy advice on key pollution and energy efficiency related issues, for instance through an annual position paper. Offering mul-ti-faceted, coordinated policy feed-ins can pro-duce top-down change, necessary to spur the uptake of better building practices and improved regulatory effectiveness. The emphasis of the project here is on demonstrating that reducing pollution in all stages of building (as well as new builds) is possible, and effective and achievable without substantial budgetary outlay. In this way the Train the Trainers project contributes to policy implementation by stimulating improved compliance with stronger building codes.

Explaining the procurement procedures: the SUPP-Urb project

Demon-strating building techniques to industry, policy makers and EU of-ficials: Train the Trainer project


Setting a framework for the implementation of the Indian e-waste rules The WEEE-Recycle project team had a signifi-cant role in drafting and advocating for the In-dian e-waste rules in 2011. The E-Waste Rules also include an extended producers’ responsibility (EPR) for recycling, for reducing levels of hazard-ous substances in electronics, and for setting up collection centres. The law applies to every producer, consumer, or bulk consumer involved in the manufacture, sale, and purchase and pro-cessing of electrical and electronic equipment or components, collection centres, dismantler and recycler of e-waste. Effectively, this regulation seeks to formalise the informal recycling sector by organising, registering, and monitoring activi-ties of the recyclers rather than aiming to shut them down. The WEEE Recycle project team supported the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to draft the implementation guidelines for the e-waste rules 2011. MoEF and the Central Pollution

Control Board (CPCB) approved the implementa-tion guidelines after several consultations and stakeholder discussions. The guidelines provide mechanism for compliance and lay down the regulatory and legal requirements for imple-menting the rules: In order to ensure tangible outputs and actual implementation of these rules, the team has been working and engaging with different stakeholders in the value chain. The guidelines define the roles and responsibili-ties of major stakeholders and provide guidance for setting up collection mechanisms, and dis-mantling and recycling operations. They clearly outline the requirements for authorisation, col-lection, dismantling, recycling and EPR.

Supporting implementation of Indian e-waste rules The WEEE Recycle project has been working closely with the various regulatory agencies like the State Pollution Control Boards (SPCB), Pollu-tion Control Committees (PCC), and Department of Environment (DoE) for establishing steady and safe channels for e-waste. Collection bins were installed in selected locations across the project cities (Delhi, Kolkata, Pune and Bangalore) to sen-sitise people and encourage them to drop their e-waste in the bins.

MOTIVATING NON-STATE ACTORS TO COMPLYWITH NEW POLICIES Several projects contribute to policy implemen-tation by motivating non-state actors to comply with governmental rules and regulations. Tools employed include voluntary agreements, public-private partnerships, financial incentives or ag-gregated reporting.

The E-Waste Rules seek to transform allinto recyclyinginto more safe and healthy operations as shown in the picture

E-waste bins established by the WEEE Recycle project


Voluntary instrumentsVoluntary instruments include voluntary indus-try commitments for increased eco-performance. Several SWITCH-Asia projects have developed voluntary instruments or contribute to their im-plementation. The ESEEC project contributed to the imple-mentation of China’s macro-level energy conser-vation goals. It prepared a voluntary conformity model – an assessment tool that enables SMEs to evaluate their performance on eco-efficiency, OHS, and CSR and their compliance with stand-ards and regulations. SMEs in lower tiers of the Chinese electrical and electronics industry typi-cally find it harder to comply with environmental and safety legislation than their larger counter-parts. Standards guidelines, a conformity model, and further materials developed by the ESEEC project address these challenges and assist SMEs in China in keeping up to-date with international trends and European best practices where enter-prises are complying with environmental and safety requirements. The conformity model con-tains four levels of compliance, each correspond-ing to a detailed set of indicators and targets, and ranging from basic to pro-active. SMEs can be assessed according to the level at which they have implemented suggested measures, and high-achievers will receive awards at the end of the project. The voluntary instruments form an effective road map for upgrading environmental and safety performance in Chinese SMEs and in this way contribute to the implementation of the macro-level policy goals related to energy conservation.

Public private partnershipsThe project VA3 aims to motivate companies to fulfil compliance with energy conservation goals in the textiles and dyeing sector in China. The project negotiates voluntary public-private partnerships between SMEs and local authorities. During the process SMEs are as-sessed to determine how much energy can be saved and what measures can help the com-pany achieve savings. The advantage of the co-operative approach of voluntary public-private partnerships is that both parties, companies and local authorities, acknowledge real industry concerns – rather than setting top-down tar-gets – and actively support enterprises in their implementation efforts. This approach increases industry’s engagement in energy efficiency and environmental improvements at the local level. The project experiences underline that a partici-patory agreement can function as an effective implementation tool: bridging the gap between national interests and regulatory requirements and their implementation at the local level. The project role is to facilitate the agreement and provide support in case problems emerge during the agreement implementation process.

Financial incentivesOver the last few years the Chinese building code has developed and the issue of low-energy housing was included in China’s 12th Five Year Plan. However, the level of implementation of low-energy and low-resource housing is still low. According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban and Rural Development (MoHURD) only 3-5% of

With conferences and trainings ESEEC reaches 1600 SMEs


residential buildings are complying with the na-tional new energy efficiency building standards issued in 2006. The project Low Energy Housing addresses public investors, private developers and individual consumers in Sichuan and Shen-zhen City, Guangdong Province. It informs them on saving potentials and increased property value via adopting the concept of life-cycle costs of houses. To further promote implementation of the national new energy efficiency building standards, the project envisions establishing a financial mechanism by providing positive and negative incentives like priority loans from local construction banks for low energy building pro-jects.

Green reporting The project Sustainable Production in the Food and Beverages Industry in Sri Lanka contributes to the implementation of a national green report-ing system. Sri Lanka has many SCP-related poli-cies in place. One initiative is the Haritha Lanka programme (National Council for Sustainable Development, 2009) with an action-oriented seven-year plan. The green reporting system was initiated in line with the requirement set out un-der Mission 09 of the Haritha Lanka programme: greening the industries. Under this mission, strategies and actions have been developed for greening the industrial and service sectors and to minimise environmental degradation. The de-velopment of the reporting system was a team

effort of many stakeholders. The initial draft guidelines were developed with the technical assistance of SWITCH -Asia project Sustainable Production in the Food and Beverages Industry in Sri Lanka. The reporting system comprises 50 in-dicators, among them 24 environmental indica-tors, 20 social indicators, and six economic indi-cators. This Sri Lankan reporting system suggests the use of ISO 26000 Standard for Guidance on Social Responsibility for design and implementa-tion of internal sustainability mechanisms. The reporting system targets the industry and ser-vice sectors in general but there are special provi-sions to stimulate SMEs to participate in the pro-cess. Enterprises can associate themselves with the reporting system in different tiers, according to their size and capability. Thus, a smaller com-pany can choose tier one or two, allowing more time and training and less use of indicators until their first report and implemented changes are due. This Sri Lankan project supports implementa-tion by raising awareness of the reporting system in the sector. For those entities that are commit-ted to the reporting system, the Ministry of En-vironment, in cooperation with the SWITCH-Asia project, offers training. The training programme provides the required know-ledge for the entities to prepare reports and to identify performance indicators and parameters for the preparation of the reports.

Training on Green Reporting Procedures in Sri Lanka


Capacity buildingWhen a new policy affects industry or other stakeholders, capacity building is crucial to en-able them to comply with new rules and regu-lations. The WEEE-Recycle project conducts capacity building sessions to support the imple-mentation of the Indian e-waste rules. Several training of trainers modules have been devel-oped for imparting both technical expertise and business management techniques to SMEs so they are better able to comply with the rules. The project contributed to the implementation of the E-Waste Rules by supporting the formalization of groups of informal sector workers that in the past recycled e-waste in a harmful way, so these groups can and obtained authorisation and CFO (consent for operation) certificates from the reg-ulatory agencies. The project is also supporting such SMEs for developing their framework and quality criteria, for instance for book-keeping, ac-counting, reporting, financial transactions etc, and for adhering to the rules.

Public awareness campaignsWhen a new policy is introduced, public aware-ness campaigns ensure that the public under-stands the scope of the new policy. The WEEE-Recycle project, therefore, conducts awareness sessions and collection drives in schools and resi-dent welfare associations so that individual con-

POLICY MONITORING

Monitoring policy implementation is crucial for determining the need for extending, changing or ceasing a policy. Monitoring is complex and beyond the scope of individual grant projects 4. Very few projects contribute to policy monitor-ing in an indirect way. The Zero Carbon Resorts project supports the project partner Palawan Council for Sustainable Development to develop indicators for monitor-ing the strategic environmental plan (SEP). The SEP is a national law, but it covers only Palawan. The project seeks to integrate energy efficiency

indicators into the monitoring system of the SEP that ensures hotels, resorts or other tourism projects are implemented in appropriately des-ignated zones and pursuing sustainable devel-opment objectives. The project Low Energy Housing envisions setting up a European-Chinese training pro-gramme for inspection and certification of buildings. It seeks to develop training work-shops and toolkits for building energy auditors and inspectors. With this action the project promotes efficient buildings and the use of sus-tainable building materials among construction SMEs. The project only started operation in 2012 so further experience is not yet available.

sumers can be sensitised and a collection mech-anism can be established between them and the authorised collectors and recyclers. Awareness sessions have also been conducted with the regulatory authorities to increase the awareness of various stakeholders such as schools, hotels, hospitals, bulk enterprises, NGOs, international organisations and embassies etc. for compliance with the e-waste rules.

POLICY IMPLEMENTATION: EXPERIENCES BY SWITCH-ASIA PROJECT AT A GLANCE:

TARGETED POLICY-MAKERS:• Energy conservation centres• Public procurement centres• Ministry of Environment• Pollution Control Centre

INSTRUMENTS TO MOTIVATE NON-STATE ACTORS TO COMPLY WITH NEW POLICIES: • Voluntary instruments• Public private partnerships• Financial incentives• Capacity building• Green reporting• Public awareness campaigns

3.4

4

4) The Nation Policy Support Project started discussing monitoring of SCP policy by looking at SCP indicator frameworks. For more information please visit:www.switch-asia.eu/switch-info/events/switch-asia-networking-events/4th-networking-event-bangkok/national-indicators- for-scp-monitoring-sharing-experiences-from-asian-countries.html


M ore than 40% of SWITCH-Asia projects responding to the policy survey engage policy-makers in their

project consortia. Policy-makers can be project implementers as part of a project consortium. In other projects policy-makers have the role as advisors in steering committees and advisory boards. Other projects link policy-makers as as-sociates or through their signatures on a memo-randum of understanding.

POLICY-MAKERS AS IMPLEMENTING ACTORS WITHIN PROJECT CONSORTIA

The composition and structure of a consortium implementing a project is an important variable in the capacity of the project to influence policy-makers. When a government agency or depart-ment is directly implementing the project and the activities are within its mandate, the project will have direct policy implications 5.

ACTORS: WHICH POLICY-MAKERS ARE INVOLVED IN THE SWITCH-ASIA PROGRAMME?4

BOX 10: DISTRIBUTION OF DIFFERENT INSTITUTIONAL SET-UPS AMONG SWITCH-ASIA PROJECTS

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AS A PROJECT PARTNERLocal governments have key competencies to work on economic and socio-economic objec-tives. Out of all governmental agencies, local authorities have the closest contact with SMEs – the major target group of most projects. The term ‘local’ government in this study refers to all government administrative levels below the provincial level, primarily counties, district, municipalities and villages. Local governmen-tal agencies can serve as policy labs for innova-tive solutions to environmental problems. Local

Involving policy-makers from the start

4.1Policy-makers are part of the project consortiumPolicy-makers are project associatesPolicy-makers and their institutions have signed MoUs with the projectPolicy-makers are part of a project steering committeePolicy-makers are part of an advisory board to the project

20 %

25 %

20 %

21 %

14 %

5) As the SWITCH -Asia programme focuses on SMEs and consumers groups, national ministries are not eligible to be part of a project consortium. Therefore, this chapter does not include national ministries as implementing actors as these are not eligible as project implementer.


governmental decisions can, for example, shape renewable energy, energy conservation and ef-ficiency policies and measures and thus influ-ence the environment. Local governments are ideally positioned to elaborate innovative policy responses that, if successful, can be scaled-up into regional or national programmes or con-tribute to the implementation of an existing national policy. The local governments, through their databases of locally registered companies, have direct outreach to the SMEs. In many cases, local governments play a key role in enforcing national laws. The project Industrial Symbiosis (in Tianjin Binhai New Area, China) is embedded in local government structures. By creating an industrial symbiosis network, the project seeks to facilitate material, by-product, energy and exchange to achieve sustainable production. By implementing industrial symbiosis, the project contributes to implementing the circular econ-omy approach as a new paradigm for economic and industrial development in China.

The project Industrial Symbiosis, for example, op-erates with a local governmental agency as lead partner. Thus, the results and recommendations of the Industrial Symbiosis project will directly feed into municipal policy. The project manager sees an advantage with a governmental lead as the local government is the only agency that can really push industrial symbiosis in a very efficient way. The policy-framing stage opens a window of opportunity for the project to better enable action from individuals and the private sector towards industrial symbiosis. It encour-ages policy-makers to adopt new methodolo-gies and practices – such as the British Industrial Symbiosis Model that the project implements. By working with the local authorities and the enterprises first, the project wins the trust of all stakeholders involved, which will enable easy implementation once policy recommen-dations are approved. The project is working on an industrial symbiosis case-study document-ing their work in the whole Tianjin Binhai New

Area – to serve as a model for further replication in other re-gions of China.

REGIONAL POLICY AGENCIESAS PROJECT PARTNERSTo achieve practical SCP out-comes, support to policy im-plementation at the sub-na-tional scale is also important. In most Asian countries, a lack of human capacity, especially at the sub-national level, ham-pers the implementation of SCP policies. Technical assist-ance, awareness-raising, and information-sharing with re-gional representatives all help to overcome existing barriers to implementation. The term ‘regional’ government agency in this study is referring to all government administrative levels below the national level. Two SWITCH-Asia projects include regional governmen-tal agencies in their project consortium. In the Chinese project Enhancing Eco-friendly

Implementingindustrial symbiosis in-volves many stakeholders


Pro-Poor Bamboo Production Supply Chains to Support the Reconstruction Effort, the Sichuan Provincial Forestry Department as provincial policy-maker implements actions in the prov-ince. The Department provides support with SME training, setting up cluster support cen-tres, supporting study tours and policy dialogue with other provincial and national government agencies. The provincial department facilitates a provincial forestry bureau network that is ben-eficial for building bamboo SME clusters. With most other partners located in Beijing, the De-partment functions as an essential entry point for the access of provincial stakeholders. In such a setting, a balanced cooperation between all project partners is essential to ensure success all project work packages. The project consortium of the Zero Carbon Re-sorts (ZCR) project includes the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD). Palawan’s strategic environmental plan (SEP) is a national law, but it covers only Palawan. The PCSD, a mul-ti-sectoral and inter-disciplinary body, is charged with the governance, implementation, and pol-icy direction of the SEP. PCSD as a government organisation, locally operating in Palawan, is also performing as the main hub for outreach as it has offices in all parts of the island. It bridges

the central and the local government level; PCSD is locally based but administered directly under the office of the President and in close coordina-tion with the Ministry and project associate De-partment of Environment and Natural Resourc-es (DNER). The SEP sets out a clearing system for new tourism developments. Each new resort, guest house or hotel, needs official authorisa-tion from the Palawan Council of Sustainable Development. The project partner, PCSD, plans to optimise the clearance system. That the man-date of the PCSD, in this regard, corresponds with the objectives of the ZCR project, is a major success factor for the adaptation of the policy instruments towards energy efficiency as pro-moted by the ZCR project.

FURTHER GOVERNMENTAL AGENTSMany other governmental agencies poten-tially play an important role in policy-making. Cross ministerial agencies, auditing bodies or standardisation offices could also be potential partners in SWITCH-Asia projects. Examples are already found in China. China’s current na-tional energy efficiency standards for electric motors are outdated and need to be revised. The SWITCH-Asia project China Motor Chal-lenge supports the introduction of new national standards for motor systems, which will be based on EU standards. The China Motor Chal-lenge project is led by a key agency working on standards in China: the China National Institute on Standardisation (CNIS). Policy work related to regulations and standards forms part of CNIS’s mandate and the project objectives correspond to the mandate of CNIS. With CNIS in the project consortium, the project has direct access to technical officers developing the standards and with them a direct link to the policy-makers taking decisions at the level of national govern-ment agencies involved in energy and climate policy, including the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology, Standardisation Administration Commission (SAC), and Administration for Qual-ity Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.Two other projects in China benefit from including an agency like CNIS in their project consortium: The Efficient Transformer project and the ESEEC project.

Sichuan Provincial Forestry Department partner in the Bamboo project


FURTHER NON-GOVERN-MENTAL CHANGE AGENTS INFLUENCING POLICYOther actors in the political arena in China, for example, include a growing body of official and quasi-official policy research groups and think tanks, like universities, that feed proposals into the policy process. A key to the scaling-up strat-egy of the Sustainable Public Procurement in Urban Administration in China (SuPP-Urb) is the composition of the project consortium. The SuPP-Urb project focused on the implementation of sus-tainable public procurement at the city level, and the consor-tium includes many local au-thorities. In addition to three public procurement centres, the consortium includes two Chinese universities, an envi-ronmental protection bureau, and two German think tanks. A

INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERSHIPSSome projects already link to policy-makers during the design stage, where local or provin-cial policy agencies are part of the project con-sortium, or where national ministries become project associates. Other projects build mutual interest by including policy-makers in steering committee activities or advisory boards. Link-ing to policy-makers early in the project cycle increases the chances that they will develop an interest in project activities and results.

PROJECT ADVISORY COMMITTEESThe project ESEEC works with 500 Chinese SMEs in the electrical and electronics sector. Even though training SMEs is at the heart of the project, the project managers realised that har-monising standards between the EU and China is extremely important for export procedures. As soon as it started, the project set up a Project Ad-

visory Committee (PAC). The committee consists of project partners and representatives from the relevant supporting ministries such as the Na-tion Reform Development Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Minis-try of Environmental Protection, Ministry of Hu-man Resources and Social Security and Ministry of Health. The PAC meetings consolidate project achievements and activities, and plan activities for the upcoming period. Such a set-up ensures project visibility and close cooperation with in-dustry and policy-makers. In China, the presence of high-level political officials at the stakeholder discussions increases the confidence and pre-paredness of other stakeholders to participate fully in the project activities. With the involve-ment of policy-makers in the advisory commit-tee or roundtable and stakeholder meetings the project increases knowledge and understanding of Chinese policy-makers on national and inter-national CSR and OHS standards and successful implementation strategies.

4.2

4.3

key success factor for the project is the combina-tion of research and theoretical knowledge that provides new methods and tools, together with the practical work in the procurement centres, where innovations can be tested by hands-on practical application. China’s universities fulfil multiple roles for policy-makers. They can serve as intelligence gathering and mobilising agen-cies for government officials and institutions. They also deliver recommendations and analysis on potential new policies, laws, and regulations.

Workshops gathered all SUPP-Urb partners


STEERING COMMITTEES OR NATIONAL COUNCILSThe project Establishment of the ASEAN En-ergy Manager Accreditation Scheme (AEMAS) increases the energy efficiency of industries in South East Asia through the establishment of an ASEAN Energy Management Scheme. AEMAS is a market-driven activity and does not require governments to allocate funds to the project. Nevertheless, policy-makers are important ac-tors in the project. AEMAS is directly linked to the ASEAN governments’ policy and programmes on energy efficiency as part of the ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC 2010-

2015). Participation of ministries puts energy management on the national agendas. A strong relationship with ministries acts as a shortcut for aligning certification with national activities or even laws. The support from policy-makers gives credibility and official recognition to ener-gy managers’ action. The AEMAS project covers all 10 ASEAN countries. In each country chapter, the project involved policy-makers in their Na-tional Council. The role of the National Council is to: 1) provide external evaluation for the na-tional activities; 2) further increase project cred-ibility and visibility in the country; and most im-

The AEMAS project established a regional steering committee

BOX 11: INSTITUTIONAL SET-UP OF THE AEMAS PROJECT

AEMAS Regional Steering Committee(ASEAN EE&C SSN)

AEMAS Regional Body

AEMAS Country Chapter in each country

Steering: Ministry in charge of Energy

Management: Country Coordinator

AEMAS Council: key stakeholders such as Institute of Engineers, Federation of Industries, ...

Government representatives from 10 ASEAN countries (EE&C SSN)

ASEAN Center for Energy


portantly 3) ensure official government support to AEMAS and coordination between AEMAS and government policies and initiatives in the field of energy efficiency and conservation. The Na-tional Council functions as a working committee and offers opportunities to different stakehold-ers from industry, from the ministry, and from the project, to be updated on project progress and to exchange lessons learnt. The project re-ceives strong support from the ASEAN Energy Efficiency and Conservation Subsector Network (EE&C-SSN) comprising the 10 ASEAN ministries in charge of energy efficiency and conservation policy implementation. They are associates of the project and provide invaluable government and official support. The EE&C-SSN members are at the same time members of the Regional Steering Committee (RSC) and ensure that AE-MAS is part of their respective government’s energy efficiency policies and programmes. The role of the RSC is to advocate with the respec-tive governments for support to AEMAS and to show that the project is of valuable importance to the government’s initiatives. Another role of the RSC is to link and align AEMAS with the re-spective government’s national policies and ex-isting schemes. The Regional Steering Commit-tee reports to the ASEAN meeting of Ministers of Environment.

PROJECT ASSOCIATESThe project Green Products and Labelling in Mon-golia worked with its project partners, the Mon-golian Agency for Standards and Measurement and the Mongolian Chamber of Commerce, to-

wards an independent green label for Mongo-lian products. A critical point for the project was to secure the support of high-level national min-istries that can endorse a future label for green products. Before the project started, the lead applicant was in close communication with the Ministries of Nature and Environment, of Food and Agriculture, and of Industry and Trade who are all involved in strengthening their policy development on greening Mongolian products. The three national ministries assured their sup-port for the action by becoming project associ-ates. As associates they were already involved in the development of the project proposal and could provide feedback on the action. However, project experience also showed that having ministries as associates does not guarantee a quick policy uptake. Further activities are need-ed to establish and keep strong relationships with policy-makers to ensure strong interest and commitment of policy-makers to project objectives. The project Implementing Sustainable Con-sumption in Civil Society of Urban China works with five associated policy agencies. Next to the Ministry of Environment the project links to the Environmental Protection Bureaux and the Industrial and Commercial Bureaux in the two target cities of Beijing and Tianjin. Support from the local authorities is important as the project focuses on the implementation of sus-tainable consumption at a city level. The project seeks synergy with local plans launched by the regional authorities in Beijing and Tianjin, such as the Low Carbon City programme where sus-

Workshop in Mongolia by the project Green Products and Labelling


tainable procurement and ethical consumption are highlighted as key areas. The project offers the bureaux a way of implementing their policy objectives. Even though it is early to say, as the project has only been running for a year, the mu-nicipal policy-makers have shown great interest in the project.

DEFINED PARTNERSHIPS USING MEMORANDAOF UNDERSTANDINGEven though ministries at a national level can-not, according to the SWITCH-Asia guidelines, be part of a grant-funded project consortium, national ministries can be involved in projects, as partners, target groups or participants at events. Some projects involve ministries or de-partments as cooperation partners. The lead partner of the Zero Carbon Resort (ZCR) Project GrAT, for example, negotiated a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Department of Tourism (DOT) in the Philippines, and the

Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Au-thority (TIE ZA). In the MoU, all parties agreed to closely collaborate and maximise the syn-ergy effect of the policy programmes and the ZCR project. Recognising the contributions of ZCR to the reduction of the carbon footprint of the tourism industry, DOT will encourage more tourism establishments to be connected with the ZCR project through briefing sessions. It also considers embracing the ZCR outputs in the formulation of the Green Label programme and revision of the minimum standards for ac-creditation of the tourism establishments on the national level. As part of the commitment, the tourism establishments participating in the ZCR project and implementing the ZCR measures will also be acknowledged and pro-moted by DOT. Consultations on an MoU with national government agencies already created awareness on project objectives and deepened the insight of the negotiating policy-makers in the respective SCP practices. Project experience shows that such consultations can be lengthy but are worthwhile – as roles and activities can be clearly defined in an MoU. With the MoU, the Zero Carbon Project has created a win-win situ-ation for the national government institutions and the project, as both share a responsibility for further outreach. Several other projects have signed MoUs with national governmental agencies including the WEEE-Recycle, Train the trainers, Efficient Trans-formers, Tourism in Bhutan, VA3, the Green Phil-ippines Island of Sustainability project, to name a selection.

Collaborationfor green consumption in China

Inking a MoUpartners


manage conflicts were an additionally impor-tant factors for success. The complexity of policy work processes requires the simultaneous pres-ence of many skills and abilities. As SWITCH-Asia projects are implemented by project consortia, they can draw on many different experts. This is exemplified by WEEE-Recycle, ESEEC, Efficient Transformers but also by SuPP-Urb where differ-ent project partners bring different expertise to the process. Next to capacity, credibility and trust increase the level of success for policy interventions. To provide strong references of past efforts helps project to build trusting relationships with policy-makers. The VA3 project, for example, al-ready implemented the same project approach with similar policy partner in China. The Cey-lon Chamber of Commerce has a long record of working with Sri Lankan policy agencies, there-fore the projects Green Sri Lanka Hotels and Sustainable Production in the Food and Bever-ages Industries had strong links to the Sri Lankan Ministries. Examples like WEEE-Recycle or the Sri

OBSERVED STRENGTH AT A GLANCE:

• Capacity and expertise• Credibility and trust• Detailed stakeholder and context analysis• Identifying change agents• Building alliances• Alignment with policy-makers priority• Building platforms to foster exchange among policy-makers• Meeting the interest of policy- makers• Taylor made communication with data, baselines and show cases presented• Creating ownership• Strong institutional set-up of project consortium

Even though only very few projects in the SWITCH-Asia programme have a strong focus on policy processes, all of them con-

tribute to an enabling environment. The current review shows that there are a number of strat-egies that SWITCH-Asia projects use to identify a problem for the public agenda and to bring onto the policy agenda. During the policy imple-mentation phase projects strategically employ selected instruments to make an impact on the policy environment. The following section sum-marises observed strengths and challenges in the work of SWITCH-Asia projects as they strive to enhance their impact on the enabling policy environment for SCP.

OBSERVED STRENGTHSProjects were successful in linking to policy-makers when their capacity and expertise was recognised by policy-makers. In the WEEE-Re-cycle project, all project partners, due to a long cooperation with the pollution control board, were recognised as highly competent. Exper-tise of the ESEEC experts enabled them to link to policy-makers. Policy-makers relied on the technical skills of project experts in each spe-cific area of the projects. However, soft skills to facilitate policy dialogue, stakeholder forums or

CONCLUSIONS5


Lanka projects show that it takes a long time to develop trust and it is difficult to build strong relationships in a project which only lasts three years. A detailed stakeholder and context analysis benefits all policy processes. Such analysis helps to identify dynamics and processes around the policy area targeted. It helps mapping main stakeholder organisations, related activities al-ready in place and opportunities for leverage for the issue on which the project focuses. The re-sults of such an analysis facilitated understand-ing of the WEEE-Recycle project to understand the positions of all involved parties – and indi-cated who allies and opponents in the debate for a separate e-waste regulation. Building alliances and cooperation among policy-makers, NGOs and industry can help to promote a policy goal. The ESEEC project built an alliance with leading companies. The leading companies supported the voluntary instrument, the ‘conformity model’ developed by the project. In a national declaration the leading companies demonstrated to their SME suppliers that envi-ronmental performance is on their agenda. By building the alliance the project employs supply chain pressure to implement more efficient en-vironmental practices. The majority of projects stated that multi-stakeholder approaches are strong assets for a policy intervention. They can bridge conflicts between policy-makers and link their interests to project processes. Such processes are mostly successful when their objectives are clear and transparent for all participants. A competent facilitation strengthens the process. When all actors are willing to work together through ne-gotiation, discussion, consultation, and collabo-ration, a project is best positioned to reach its objectives. It also seems necessary that projects tailor their actions carefully, in order not to over-load the agenda of policy-makers and not to burden them. With SCP being a complex issue often various policy agencies are involved. Building platforms for exchange among policy-makers can deliver new communication channels that foster dia-logue to promote SCP policies. Alignment with the policy agenda of the tar-geted country of agency has been a reported strength in many projects: In the Zero Carbon

Resort project, for example, part of the project’s objective corresponds to the mandate of the im-plementing policy agency – the Palawan Coun-cil for Sustainable Development. Such a set-up enhances the project’s potential for impact. Ex-perience in China demonstrates that contribut-ing to the implementation of macro-level policy frameworks with a governmental agency as a project lead agency is a success factor for policy work of SWITCH-Asia projects. The work of the China Motor Challenge project overlapped with the need of policy-makers to conserve energy as defined in China macro-policy. Policy-makers thus have a strong incentive to implement the project. The project Low Energy Housing strongly aligns with the policy of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development (MoHURD). Projects reviewed reported that data, base-lines and show cases are indispensable for po-licy impact. Therefore many projects, including SusTex, Industrial Symbiosis, and WEEE-Recycle, produce baseline data and/or a sound analysis of the context of the specific topic. Presenting practical experiences from showcases or study tours are highlighted as strengths in policy pro-cesses. Projects employ proven analytical tools and techniques and often engage academia to support their findings. First class universi-ties have relevant analytical skills and capacity to formulate input for policies. This strength is found in China in the VA3 project, Train the train-ers and SuPP-Urb. For all policy interventions it is essential that the issue meets the interest of the policy-mak-ers. Policy-makers seek to receive documented impact and changes to the baseline, measured and monitored by projects. Tailor-made com-munication has proven strategic for a number of projects. Tailor-made research and showcases can highlight where SCP policies are lacking or are successful. With showcases, projects can deliver practical tools to contribute to policy formulation or implementation. Showcases can


prove the business case of SCP, including to pol-icy-makers, as the cases of the projects Green Philippines Island of Sustainability and Zero Car-bon Resorts show. Creating ownership for a policy process is a crucial strength. The project Efficient Transform-ers and China Motor Challenge included the China National Institute for Standardization in the project consortium. Ownership for updating the Minimum Efficiency Performance Standards was therefore programmed as it lies within their mandate. With such a strong commitment, the adoption process for updating efficiency stand-ards received a strong push. After a long advo-cacy process of the WEEE Recycle Project part-ners – the Indian Government recognised the e-waste stream problem and needed a solution. At that point the Government took ownership of the process that resulted in the adoption of the E-Waste Rules in May 2011. Choosing a strong institutional set-up can already provide support for a policy process. Choosing policy partners that have a mandate to implement changes inside the project con-sortium makes communication direct and un-complicated. Even without policy-makers in the project consortiums, projects can secure their at-tention and support via MoUs, advisory boards, steering committees or linking policy agencies to projects as associate parnters. Making an impact on the policy environ-ment is often a matter of addressing the right stakeholders, who have the voice and influ-ence to create windows of change. A change agent or a champion can be identified among policy-makers or policy agencies, who is willing to push for a policy goal or who has the man-date to change policy. Their experience shows that a good stakeholder analysis in the project development phase or at an early phase of the

project is an essential step to potentially influ-ence policy processes. Among the SWITCH-Asia projects in China, projects cooperate with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) as it has the greatest potential to imple-ment change. The Zero Carbon Resorts project strategically included the decisive policy agency as change maker in their project consortium. When designing a project, a sound analysis of the incentive structures of policy instruments can deliver additional interesting entry points for projects to engage in policy work. Policy in-centives can be strategically linked to project objectives which will multiply impact, rather than relying on simply informing policy-makers of project results which may have limited im-pact.

OBSERVED CHALLENGESSWITCH-Asia projects, as with others working on policy, may already face bottlenecks in involv-ing and reaching out to policy-makers. The chal-lenges encountered by SWITCH-Asia projects are generalised and avoid pinpointing specific weaknesses of projects. Most of the challenges are not only true for SWITCH-Asia projects but encountered generally in policy related work in Asian countries.

Human capital and the knowledge of SCP is lackingSCP is a complex issue addressing several the-matic areas and sectors. In many countries, not all ministries and/or sub-national agencies have sufficient knowledge to tackle adequately the policy challenges related to SCP. Mostly, the Ministries for the Environment have developed a good knowledge base for traditional environ-mental policy approaches. However, other gov-


ernment agencies often struggle with thinking outside the box and including SCP in their work. Projects, therefore, might consult government agencies that have to deal with issues where knowledge is incomplete and policy-makers are not yet well equipped to address these circum-stances. Information and knowledge also have to be improved at the level of individual govern-ment officials, agencies, and their subdivisions. When SWITCH-Asia projects need to increase awareness and knowledge first, changing the enabling policy environment for SCP will remain a challenge. The regional SWITCH-Asia Policy Support Component has conducted an in-depth capacity and needs assessment where chal-lenges are addressed. For an in-depth discussion please refer to the assessment summary docu-ment under http://www.switch-asia.eu/switch-policy/news/assessment-summary.html Mandate and cross-agency competitionMost SWITCH-Asia projects with a focus on policy have included partnerships with policy-makers in their project set-up. Often policy goals require integrated approaches with specific agencies. Once a strong partnership has been built up with one governmental agency, other national bodies or key players might not be will-ing to join or support the project because of internal competition for funds or political influ-ence.

Economy versus environmentMany countries in Asia, whether with emerging markets or being least developed countries, are under pressure to develop at a fast pace. Often this leads to a mismatch between development and SCP in National Development Plans or sec-toral policy statements. For SCP advocates with a complex message, this climate remains a chal-lenge.

Fragmentation of governmentSustainable consumption and production is a multidimensional policy issue including many thematic areas, techniques, and sectoral poli-cies. Responsibilities for the relevant policy ar-eas are often scattered in various ministries and governmental agencies. For example, Sri Lanka and Cambodia work with big governments with numerous ministries and subsequent diverse

responsibilities. In the case of Sri Lanka, the tasks and responsibilities that are usually given to a ministry of industry are divided into four separate ministries. This complicates coordina-tion and the effective development of enabling policies. This also complicates the involvement of policy-makers in individual SWITCH-Asia projects. In general, it is impossible for projects to maintain relations with all of relevant agen-cies, even when priority ministries have been identified.

Competition for the interest of policy-makersFor SWITCH -Asia projects focusing on SMEs and operating at the micro-level and in particu-lar sectors, it is almost impossible to influence and improve the overall policy environment. This is especially true when many stakehold-ers compete for the interest of policy-makers. A SWITCH-Asia project grant of a €2.5 million may be a considerable amount of money for small countries such as Cambodia, Nepal or Sri Lanka, but they it isare small for China or India, even at the sub-national level. Without questioning the rationale or importance of the projects as such, the influence of projects in these large coun-tries on the wider policy environment is limited, which highlights the need to find the best ways to link up with, and have an impact on, policy processes. Policy processes are multi-layered and take a long time. Projects will face difficul-ties in involving senior level policy-makers and keeping them interested in what they tend to see as small projects. A project duration of four years also limits the potential of SWITCH-Asia projects with regard to policy impact as most policy processes take longer.

Lack of effective implementation of policyAnother important barrier lies in inadequate policy implementation. Many countries in Asia have adopted plenty of national policies, laws, regulations and programmes to address the various features of SCP. To enable a SWITCH- Asia project to take part either in policy formu-lation or implementation, the commitment of the government to the policy is crucial. If imple-mentation is not effective in general, it is a great challenge for a SWITCH-Asia project to contri-bute to changes in any part of the system.


CONCLUDING REMARKS Policy is strong driver for a shift to sustainable consumption and production. The rationale for involving policy-makers in the SWITCH-Asia pro-gramme is that in many Asian countries the low level of implementation of SCP is related to an unfavourable policy environment, despite envi-ronmental legislation being in place. SWITCH-Asia projects link to policy-makers in various ways to promote SCP practices. Policy-makers are decisive actors and change agents when they discuss policy proposals, but when they are implementers or as recipients of capac-ity building efforts. The SWITCH-Asia projects funded in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013 implement various activities related to policy development, and their individual focus means they link differ-ently to policy-makers and engage them at dif-ferent stages of the policy cycle. Therefore there is no ‘one-size fits all’ formula for engaging with policy-makers. The level and quality of the exist-ing policy framework and mix of policy instru-ments in a country have an impact on the policy interventions of SWITCH-Asia projects. Where projects can align to an already existing policy on SCP, they are more likely to be successful then when they have to start policy work from scratch.

Linking project activities to policy interventions can deliver impactsA common approach of many projects is to as-sess the existing policy framework and identify gaps and opportunities to further promote SCP. However, when these efforts are not integrated into the whole project approach, they remain at random and are not likely to have any impact. Working from a project angle, focusing on a spe-cific challenge can help projects focusing their policy proposals. Policies affect target groups. Developing ‘target group specific’ recommenda-tions would enable a direct link to other project activities. Experience has shown that creating awareness of gaps in the legal framework with-out developing sound solutions to address the problems is not delivering impact.

Project design influences the link with policyThe design of the project has implications for policy work. Concrete activities and instruments related to policy need to be defined in all phases of project implementation. A few projects did

not proceed further than a one or two time pol-icy dialogue. Such an approach can help to ex-change information. But for establishing trust-ing relationships with policy-makers at random dialogues not adapted to specific agendas are not helpful. A more integrated approach to poli-cy advocacy into all project activities might give rise to longer, boarder impact.

Importance of understanding policy process Policy processes are complex. Not all projects had a clearly defined view of the decision-mak-ing processes. In these cases further opportuni-ties for entry points into a policy debate or in the policy cycle remained untapped. According to the SWITCH-Asia experience, common motiva-tors for policy-makers are tailor-made commu-nication based on recent research produced by credible research institutions. Policy proposals on SCP-related issues need to be customised ac-cording to the policy-makers agenda. They can focus on the policy-makers need or interest or they align to an existing policy agenda.

Partnerships with policy-makers are essentialChoosing a policy focus affects the partner-ship constellation of a SWTICH-Asia project. Most projects that have achieved policy impact have policy agencies in their project consorti-um. With overlap between the mandate of the policy agency and project objectives, success is most likely. Most projects reviewed for this the-matic study perceive relevant policy-makers to be officials of the ministries of environment in their respective country. A mapping or power analysis of different policy agencies could ben-efit projects by shining a light on further entry points into the policy cycle. As SCP is a complex issue, building a platform among policy agen-cies to enable dialogue or to engage in existing policy platforms is a great advantage but was only seen in one or two projects. Policy agencies including standardisation offices, and verifica-tion and inspection offices, are only present in partnerships in the SWITCH-Asia programme to a limited extent.

Strategies and tactics making an effective policy linkFor pushing SCP on to the policy agenda, SWITCH-Asia projects deploy a range of strate-


gies. Most circle around communication tactics. Messages involving data, research and evidence is widely in use. Other projects consider commu-nication channels. Some use established policy channels like commission or policy briefings, and others target policy-makers on the experiential side by inviting them to attend study tours or see show cases. An overview of communication tactics is provided in Box 12 below.

Under-valuing strategy and impact chain Most project documents include a contribu-tion to an enabling policy framework to SCP.

A number of projects fall short of filling this phrase with detailed activities and envisaged impacts. While linking to policy-makers is men-tioned there were further no process steps how these translate into policy. Even though SWITCH-Asia grant projects are not expected to influence the framework by themselves, consid-ering policy processes and impact chains would help projects designing their strategies on how to link to policy-makers. To design impactful policy interventions concrete activities and in-struments need to be defined in all phases of implementation.

BOX 12: TYPOLOGY OF INFLUENCE EXERTED BY SELECTED SWITCH-ASIA PROJECTS

Type of influence

Evidence

Advice

Public campaign

Advocacy and lobbying

Negotiations

How?

• Research• Analysis• Needs assessment• Best practice• Show cases• Case studies

• Advisory services• Technical assistance• Develop policy pilots

• Strategic communication• Support by opinion leaders

• Messaging advocacy• Support by opinion leaders

• Face-to-face meetings and discussions• Relationships and trust• Direct incentives• Discourse management

What channel?

• Policy dialogues• Formal meeting,• Informal meeting• Policy papers

• Policy dialogues• Formal meetings• Informal meetings• Policy papers

• Outreach via newspapers • TV• Radio• Internet• Public education media• Public debates• Speeches

• Debates• Policy dialogues• Policy briefings

• Formal meetings• Informal channels• Memberships on committees and boards

Who? (Which?) Project examples

• Industrial Symbiosis• Lead Paint Elimination• Efficient Transformers• ZCR• Bamboo for Reconstruction

• WEEE-Recycle• Electric Motor Chall.• Bamboo for Reconst.• Efficient Transformers

• PRO-SUSTAIN • Lead Paint Elimination

• WEEE-Recycle• Lead Paint Elimination • Efficient Transformers • WEEE-Recycle• Lead Paint Elimination• VA3• Efficient Transformers• ESEEC

(Note list of projects is not final)


FURTHER READING

Akenji, Lewis et al. (2012). Sustainable Consumption and Production: A handbook for Policy Makers. SWITCH-Asia Policy Support Component, UNEP. www.switch-asia.eu/switch-learn/scp-handbook-for-policy-makers.html

Müller, Susanne et al. (2012). Linking to Policy-Makers 2012. Scaling-up study of the SWITCH-Asia Network Facility, CSCP. www.switch-asia.eu/switch-learn/upscaling-via-linking-to-policy-makers.html

Schandl, Heinz et al. (2012). Capacity Building and Policy Needs Assessment for Sustainable Consumption and Production. SWITCH-Asia Policy Support Component, UNEP.

Schröder, Patrick; Tuncer, Burcu (2010). A Key Solution to Climate Change: Sustainable Consumption and Production - Making the Link. SWITCH-Asia Network Facility, CSCP. www.switch-asia.eu/switch-info/publications/linking-scp-to-climate-change.html

SWITCH-Asia Network Facility et al. (eds.) (2011). Policy Toolbox for practical use, CSCP. www.switch-asia.eu/?id=75

UNEP (2008a). Planning for Change – Guidelines for National Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production. http://documents.rec.org/topic-areas/Planning4change.pdf

UNEP (2008b). SCP Indicators for Developing Countries - A Guidance Framework.

UN – United Nations (1992a). United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Rio de Janerio, Brazil, 3 to 14 June 1992, AGENDA 21. www.unep.fr/shared/publications/pdf/DTIx1085xPA-SCPindicatorsEN.pdf

http://www.switch-asia.eu/switch-learn/scaling-up-scp-via-linking-to-policy-makers.html

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