UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Uzbekistan has shown how smart public procurement transforms lives. In Karakalpakstan, a region hit hard by environmental degradation, the UNDP has modernised water infrastructure to deliver safe drinking water to remote communities.
This approach - using procurement to meet the UN’s “Leave no one behind” promise - has earnt UNDP Uzbekistan the Procura+ Award for Global Initiative of the Year, for their work enabling residents to remain in their homes despite environmental challenges. With a budget of €320,000, the project modernized and rehabilitated water infrastructure using solar-powered pumping systems and energy-efficient technologies, improving water access for over 3,000 people.
The Procura+ Awards, an initiative of ICLEI Europe’s Procura+ Network, celebrate public authorities committed to sustainable and innovation procurement. This year marked a milestone for the Awards, as the Global Initiative of the Year category was opened to public authorities outside Europe for the first time, drawing projects from every continent, with finalists from Brazil, New Zealand and Uzbekistan.
The Awards were presented during the Procura+ Seminar, hosted by the Province of Zeeland in Middelburg (the Netherlands), which was awarded the 2021 Procura+ Award for Sustainable Procurement of the Year for embedding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in all its tenders. Since then, Zeeland has continued to lead by example, using tenders to monitor and offset CO₂ emissions, electrify its municipal fleet and stimulate the local market.
Other winners showed how procurement drives progress:
- Berlin’s public transport company Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) won in the Sustainable Procurement of the Year, installing 101 electric bus charging points at 36 locations across Berlin.
- Orléans Métropole won in the Innovation Procurement of the Year category, for aligning with EU Directives on energy neutrality in wastewater treatment.
Dominique Sandy, Head of ICLEI Europe’s Sustainable and Innovation Procurement team, concluded:
“None of these successes would be possible without cooperation. We need to learn from each other and from people with similar challenges. We all come from different cities, regions and continents, but we share the same journey and goals. The challenge now is to ensure that what has been discussed here will find its way into tender documents and behavioral change. If you always ask the same thing, you will always get the same thing. Change needs to come from both the supply side and the demand side.”
The next Procura+ Conference will be held in 2027, and the call for bids to host the event is currently open.
Find more information on the seminars here and learn more about the Procura+ Award Winners and their achievements here.