Strengthening Sustainable Public Procurement Capacity in the MENA Region

Summary:

SourcingHaus was engaged to design and deliver a tailored capacity-building programme for senior government procurement officials from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The training was delivered as part of a joint initiative by the World Bank, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and the IMF Middle East Center for Economics and Finance (CEF). The five-day programme was structured around global good practices, ISO 20400, and real-world case applications to equip participants with tools to integrate sustainability into procurement policy, planning, tendering, and monitoring practices.

The Challenge:

Governments in the MENA region are increasingly recognizing the role of public procurement as a policy lever for achieving sustainable development. However, procurement systems often lack the operational tools, capacity, and frameworks to fully translate sustainability ambitions into action. The challenge was to provide a hands-on training experience that could equip procurement professionals with both the knowledge and the practical techniques needed to align procurement with sustainability objectives - climate action, economic diversification, and social inclusion - while remaining compliant and efficient.

What We Did:

SourcingHaus designed and co-delivered a structured training programme anchored in global frameworks, practical tools, and regional relevance. Key elements included:

Curriculum Design:
Developed eight training modules covering:

• Global trends in Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP)
• Prioritizing sustainability risks and opportunities across spend
• Integrating sustainability into specifications, evaluations, and supplier selection
• Category-specific deep dives (Construction, ICT, and Services)
• Life Cycle Costing (LCC), Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), and GHG Heat Mapping
• Monitoring frameworks and tools
• Inclusive and gender-responsive procurement strategies
• Action planning for institutionalizing SPP

Interactive Group Work:
Each module featured applied group exercises, including:

• Mapping sustainability risks for selected categories
• Reviewing and developing model tenders for construction and ICT
• Drafting customized SPP action plans for participants' agencies
• Identifying national and institutional drivers/barriers to SPP implementation

The Impact:

• Strengthened the practical knowledge and skills of senior procurement officials across the MENA region to design and implement sustainable procurement approaches
• Fostered a regional community of practice on SPP by creating space for cross-country exchange and strategy development
• Provided actionable tools, templates, and real-life case models to support mainstreaming of sustainability in procurement planning and execution
• Increased alignment with ISO 20400, World Bank sustainability policy, and UN SDG 12.7 targets
• Enabled public procurement agencies to develop institution-specific SPP Action Plans, setting the stage for further institutionalization and monitoring

Resources:

• Waking the Trillion Dollar Giant