Within the framework of the 10^th Call for Project Proposals of COMCEC Project Funding, the COMCEC Coordination Office (CCO) has evaluated the project proposals and announced the short-list of projects that will proceed with the final phase for COMCEC Project Funding. Six projects prepared and submitted by SESRIC covering all six cooperation areas of COMCEC Strategy were eligible for the short-list, namely:

1. Promoting Digital Marketing of Tourism Destinations in Sub-Saharan OIC African Countries
2. Promoting Digital Technologies for an Integrated and Efficient Social Protection Systems in the OIC Member Countries
3. Prevention of Food Loss and Waste (FLW) in the OIC Member Countries
4. Unleashing the Potential of Islamic Finance in Supporting MSMEs in the OIC Member Countries
5. Developing Vocational Education and Training Programmes to Increase the Export Capacities of SMEs in the OIC Countries
6. Increasing the Utilization of Innovative Financing Tools to Maintain Transport Infrastructure and the Services of TSPs in the OIC Member Countries

These projects were designed in collaboration with relevant national institutions in the member countries with a view to strengthening the human resources and institutional capacities in the cooperation areas of tourism, poverty alleviation, agriculture, financial cooperation, trade and transport and communications in the OIC Member Countries.

The Centre will submit the final version of project fiches to the CCO by 09 January 2023. The CCO will make the final evaluation and declare the Final List of projects on the COMCEC website. The implementation of the final listed projects will last until the end of November 2023.

The CCO introduced in 2013 the COMCEC Project Funding (CPF), a financing mechanism that funds projects submitted by the Member Countries and relevant OIC Institutions to realize the strategic objectives and outcomes of the COMCEC Strategy. The funding is provided in the form of a grant through the Development and Investment Bank of Türkiye, which is one of the main bodies in the COMCEC Project Funding scheme. Since the initiation of the CPF, SESRIC has implemented 10 (ten) projects under various cooperation areas and in accordance with sectoral themes determined by the CCO. For more details about SESRIC projects funded by the COMCEC, please visit: https://www.sesric.org/tcd-activities-projects-funded.php