Circular Change at the 2nd GPP2ADRION Partner Meeting: Steering WP1 and Driving Progress

Circular Change took an active role in co-orchestrating the 2nd partner meeting of the GPP2ADRION project, held on May 5th, 2025, in Georgioupolis, Crete, Greece. The event was strategically aligned with the 10th EUSAIR Forum, creating a unique opportunity to connect project development with broader regional policy dialogue.

As the Work Package 1 (WP1) leader, Circular Change curated and delivered the key content of the meeting’s sessions. Lucija Marovt, representing Circular Change, presented a comprehensive overview of WP1 activities completed during the project’s first phase. These included stakeholder mapping, the development of interview tools, coordination of national interviews, and preparation of the first two core deliverables: the Benchmark Analysis Report (D1.1) and the Gap Analysis Report (D1.2).

Aligning Progress and Planning Ahead

The presentation emphasized the methodological alignment across project partners and introduced the plan for upcoming tasks, including an online stakeholder survey and capacity-building activities. These contributions reflect Circular Change’s strategic and orchestrating role in laying a solid project foundation for green public procurement (GPP) advancement in the Adriatic-Ionian region as its key objective.

The meeting also included a “Lessons Learned” session, where partners discussed their experiences with stakeholder interviews. This reflective exercise helped identify challenges and provided suggestions for tailoring next activities with regards to the national contexts of participating countries.

Connecting with Related Projects through the EUSAIR Forum

Participation in the EUSAIR Forum offered further strategic benefits. During the side event “Shaping the Future of the Adriatic-Ionian Region: Cooperation, Innovation, and Sustainability”, project manager Alessandro Manzardo (University of Padua) presented GPP2ADRION to a wider audience. It reinforced the project’s recognition and fostered synergies with other thematically aligned initiatives. This visibility affirmed the relevance of the GPP2ADRION objectives within the broader policy dialogue of the Adriatic-Ionian macro-region.

Through both the partner meeting and the EUSAIR Forum, the project consortium strengthened internal coordination, engaged external stakeholders, and aligned its work with regional and EU-level sustainability goals. Circular Change remains committed to steering WP1 with a collaborative, methodologically grounded, and impact-driven approach.

The EUSAIR Forum has been attended also by H.E. Tamara Weingerl-Požar, Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to Greece, and by Mr. Aleksander Jevšnik, Slovenian Minister of Cohesion and Regional Development, alongside other representatives from the Ministry and other Slovenian organisations. 

More about the project is available on Circular Change’s GPP2ADRION project page.