Making the switch to solar in rural Kenya

INTASAVE Africa is powering on with a project to deliver solar energy to rural households in Kenya, reporting back to two communities on how small-scale, communal systems would be a good fit for their needs.

Over six days in early July, a team from the Solar Nano Grid (SONG) Project updated residents in the Echareria and Lemolo B communities on the benefits of about 50 households linking up and plugging in to a local solar-energy cluster, or “solar-hub”. The initial plans were to have a nano-grid – which refers to households connected to a centralised solar-hub. This however changed after the confirmed dispersed settlement over the research phase, resulting in the adoption of the solar hub model where the community would have their batteries charged and taken home.

Although both communities are not beyond the reach of the main electricity network, prohibitive costs make it challenging for many of them to be connected to the national grid. The feedback was based on a series of household surveys carried out in November, 2014 on the electricity needs of families and the potential of nano-grids to meet them.

Most homes now are lit either by kerosene or firewood and a switch to solar could mean better health and education for most families through less air pollution and improved lighting. It is unlikely that individual solar home systems would be affordable or generate economic benefits for the village as a whole.

The team found that the households would be better off working in clusters of 50 or so households and building their own power system that could also be connected to an agricultural or industrial application like an irrigation network. 

“These systems could supply enough electricity for each household’s needs as well as generate an income for the community, reducing the cost of energy for each family,” Dr. Ed Brown, Loughborough University

As part of the feedback, coordinators signed up families keen to be connected to a nano-grid and established a consultation group in each village – an interim body linking the communities and the SONG Project team. 

“This project empowers the community energy-wise by enhancing their control over the resource and creates room for further developments within our community,” Pastor Edward Waithaka (one of the village elders in Echareria).

The group will air community concerns, ideas and views on the planned project to the SONG team and pave the way for a Village Energy Committee (VEC) to oversee and manage the grid once it is up and running.

“Most households are dissatisfied with their existing energy sources,” Senior Project Officer, INTASAVE Africa James Mwangi said. “Nano-grids are a viable financial option for households in these areas, particularly as climate change increasingly rules out the use of fossil fuels.” 

The next steps will involve conducting elections for the VECs in both communities and installation of the solar nano grids. 

The SONG Project is funded by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the UK Department for International Development and the UK Department for Energy and Climate Change. It is being conducted by researchers from Loughborough University (UK), INTASAVE (Kenya) and the International University (Bangladesh), together with colleagues from the University of Nottingham (UK) and Oxford University (UK).

ASSAR Kilimanjaro Landscape Field Visit

In the scenic Kilimanjaro Landscape rises Africa's highest peak, surrounded by diverse ecosystems from wetlands to savannah. This landscape covers both Kenya and Tanzania and hosts three national parks: Amboseli, Tsavo west in Kenya and Mkomazi National Park and Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

The ASSAR project team conducted a 5 day field visit from 8th - 12th of February in Kilimanjaro landscape in order to scout for appropriate research sites for the ASSAR project in Kenya. The East Africa team is led by University of East Anglia through Dr. Roger Few.

The field excursion was aimed at identifying communities affected by climate change in semi-arid areas in Kenya, understanding the driver of their vulnerabilities, the coping strategies they employ and the adaptation strategies that vulnerable communities used to respond to longer-term climate risks. This information presented an in-depth understanding of the critical determinants to vulnerability due to climate change in the semi-arid region of Kilimanjaro. The research team conducted interviews and held discussions with key informants in the government, such as agricultural officers, water and wildlife officials. In addition, the research team conducted interviews with community leaders, community members and community conservancy leaders.

The following issues emerged from the field visit:

• Cross cutting demands on land and natural resources were observed to be widespread in the region, with agricultural activities and industrialization taking centre stage. These developments were found to be antagonistic to conservation efforts in the region as they increased pressure on water and land resources with total disregard to wildlife, leading to human - wildlife conflicts, depletion of wetland resources and loss of biodiversity. The Oloitokitok Sub County Government - Agricultural Division, confirmed their efforts in addressing the issues by promoting and facilitating trainings and capacity building forums on sustainable agricultural practices. However, inadequate resources among farmers to embrace sustainable agricultural technologies such as drip irrigation, coupled with minimal efforts by the county leadership to redress land use issues and inadequate/lack of capacity to formulate policies addressing the same, proved to be prime challenges.
• To safeguard water resources quality from adverse impacts, the Water Resource Management Authority (WRMA), a state corporation under the Ministry of Water and irrigation attested their commitment to developing principles, guidelines and procedures for water resource allocation amidst defaulters. Technological advancements in rain water harvesting and irrigation methods were some of the authority's initiatives in reducing pressure on underground water and wetland resources.  
• Pastoral communities (at Elerai and Ilmarba conservancies) were seen to have adopted planned grazing in response to climate change and human - wildlife conflict on water and pasture. This was accomplished through merging of communal grazing lands and ranches into conservancies where grazing plans were plotted for both dry and wet spells in full consideration of wildlife needs. Wildlife attraction into the conservancies and sustainable pasture yields for livestock in and out of season were the end results, with communities further utilizing the conservancies for income generation through tourism enterprises such as lodging and camping facilities. The communities also recommended the construction of water pans at strategic points away from the main water points to mitigate human - wildlife conflict and depletion of pasture. Lack of coordination in the establishment of conservancies vis a vis planned grazing at the regional level was observed to be a setback to the initiative as free riders were rampant. 

Given the arid and the semi-arid conditions, the landscape ecosystem was observed to be fragile and even more vulnerable to climate change, with conflicting land use practices further exacerbating the situation, thus calling for integrated approaches in natural resource management as a key adaptation strategy to climate change.

Based on these findings, the research team will be in a better position to select the project sites for the ASSAR project in Kenya.

Supporting sustainable market-based conservation-friendly enterprises that benefit both people and wildlife

Wildlife conservancies in Kenya present a promising avenue through which the community can become direct beneficiaries of wildlife and tourism.

Participation is perhaps the best incentive for communities to conserve and take care of wildlife and other tourism resources. More importantly, the benefits of the Wildlife Conservancies go way beyond conservation and tourism alone to yielding multiple local, national and even international benefits for people by stabilizing regions, improving security, building local capacity, diversifying livelihoods, increasing community resilience, generating prosperity, reducing donor reliance, protecting the natural environment, facilitating access to social services and enhancing local governance. However, the strength, success and sustainability of any conservancy lies within the community that lives therein, and not with any outside agency. Therefore, any effort to empower the local communities whether through capacity building, investments in alternative livelihoods or effective participation in decision making has a direct benefit to sustainability of any wildlife conservancy.

As part INTASAVE Africa's project "Capacity Building for Community Managed Wildlife Areas in Kenya", a collaborative project undertaken with Kenya Wildlife Conservancies Association (KWCA), INTASAVE climate and wildlife experts undertook a community baseline survey field trip to Baringo County. They were visit two community conservancies, undertaking a baseline survey of their existing status, and then develop a business plan for each of them for their future purposes of fundraising from the county government, private investors, and targeted Calls for Proposals.

James Mwangi, Senior Project Officer in the Kenya office, tells us about the trip…

The journey from Nairobi to Bogoria in Baringo County commenced on the hot, sweltering afternoon of Tuesday 10th February 2015. We traversed the breathtaking views of the Rift Valley, bypassing the Rift Valley Lakes of Lake Elementaita, Lake Naivasha, and Lake Nakuru before finally arriving at the Lake Bogoria Spa Resort which would be our rest stop for the night. Lake Bogoria Spa Resort is the only Resort in Kenya with a naturally heated Spa pool derived from the natural hot water springs of Lake Bogoria. As such, the temperatures in the environs of the Spa Resort are between 30 - 35 degrees centigrade, and we were to bear testimony to the authenticity of this temperature estimate the next day.

The following morning we set out for the nearby Kapkuikui shopping center where we would be holding our focus group discussion meeting.

The meeting commenced with us seated on some well-worn rocks underneath a tree on the edge of the shopping centre where we were able to speak to the chairman of the Kapkuikui Livestock Improvement Self Help Group, Mr Kiprop. He provided us with information pertaining to the groups' sustainable acacia honey, which has received acclaim in Baringo County and even in the adjacent Nakuru County. The honey has received Kenya Bureau of Standards certification which speaks volumes as pertains to quality assurance. Through partnership, the Group has been able to market their honey at the nearby Lake Bogoria Spa, Kabarak University in Nakuru County, and a number of retail outlets. The acacia honey will constitute one of the products being marketed by Irong Community Conservancy.

The meeting with members of the Irong Communty Conservancy, comprised of the Endorois ethnic community, as well as stakeholders from Lake Bogoria National Reserve, and Kenya Wildlife Services (KWS), thankfully moved from the baking sun into the much cooler office of the local administrative chief, and revealed ongoing plans to establish the Conservancy as a fully-fledged enterprise.  The conservancy is home to the Greater Kudu and the elusive leopard, zebra, and giraffe. Several species of birds are also found in this pristine location which makes it a bird lover's haven. The conservancy has abundant flora and fauna, some endemic to the conservancy, which will serve as a major attraction to tourists, both domestic and international. Its close proximity to Lake Bogoria National Reserve and Lake Bogoria Spa Resort means it is well placed as being part of a package tour within the greater Lake Bogoria ecosystem. The community members were very enthusiastic pertaining to the establishment of the Conservancy and looked forward to the completion of the business plan which they would then actualize through partnership development and marketing.

We then left the humid Lake Bogoria ecosystem in the afternoon and proceeded to Rugus which is adjacent to Lake Baringo, the site of the next conservancy on our itinerary, Ruko Community Wildlife Conservancy. The Conservancy was established in 2006 and falls under the stewardship of Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), which is an umbrella organisation for a number of conservancies in Northern Kenya, whose mission is to develop resilient community conservancies which transform people's lives, secure peace and conserve natural resources. The following morning, we clambered into a boat and sped across the turquoise blue waters of Lake Baringo headed for the island of Komolion where we would have our focus group discussion with fishermen from the surrounding communities.

Ruko is home to the Njemps and Pokot ethnic communities. The Njemps are pastoralists and fishermen, while the Pokot are pastoralists and cultivators. The business plan to be developed in this conservancy will involve a fish-to-market enterprise which will entail the setting up of a fish processing and refrigeration plant at one of the beach landing sites on the shores of Lake Baringo, with the objective of engaging in value addition of the fish caught by the fishermen, as well as refrigeration of fish. This model would allow the fishermen, who are organised as beach management units (BMUs), to attract better prices for their catch through elimination of exploitative middlemen. The enterprise would also make it possible for the fishermen to procure smart fishing gear, safety equipment such as life jackets, and better boats in the mid-term. Once again the community members were overly enthusiastic about the proposed enterprise and eagerly awaited the business plan so as to propel it to the next level.

This meeting served as the culmination of our baseline surveys and we then bid farewell to our loquacious hosts and returned to the mainland from whence we embarked on the journey back to Nairobi, in awe of Mother Nature's beauty and the important role we, as part of humanity, play as the custodians of the global commons for the benefit of posterity.

ASSAR's annual meeting - Bangalore, India

The ASSAR team makes progress as decisions taken during its annual meeting begin to take shape.

Each year, members of the international and interdisciplinary ASSAR project team meet to review the progress made and strategise the way ahead. Throughout the year the ASSAR team works in diverse locations across Africa and Asia, so these annual meetings provide rare but important opportunities for face to face interactions that facilitate productive discussions and debates, nurture working relationships, and develop and instil a common project purpose and unified project strategy. This year's meeting, hosted by the Indian Institute for Human Settlements in Bangalore, India, brought together approximately 50 of the ASSAR team members from 16 different research institutions and practitioner organisations.

During a jam-packed five days, the team discussed the project's progress and challenges, and debated, work-shopped and brainstormed its content and actions. The four regional project groups (Southern Africa, West Africa, East Africa and India) worked together to refine the project's research questions, and to discuss the potential strategies and sites to use for their region-specific research. The team also discussed how to weave ASSAR's cross-regional themes - which include topics like gender, well-being, climate science and research-into-use - into the project's research programmes. Importantly, the team committed to ensuring that ASSAR produces meaningful, high quality work that achieves extensive and valuable development impacts at multiple scales - from individuals to businesses to governments.

But it wasn't all boardrooms and briefcases. During the meeting the ASSAR team also had the opportunity to see the amazing work of the Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) - a key ASSAR partner. Heading into the rural areas of Maharashtra, the team witnessed first-hand how 20 years of innovative management of watershed systems has transformed this dry and barren area into a landscape that supports people, biodiversity, crops and livestock.

As a community-focused organisation, WOTR's watershed management activities are centred on social upliftment, and it was incredible to hear from the people in these areas how they believe they have been educated and empowered to manage not only their land, water and biodiversity, but also their health, livelihoods and well-being.

As this annual meeting drew to a close it was clear that a great deal had been achieved. The ASSAR team left with a more holistic and unified understanding of the project purpose, with a more defined research plan, and with the ability to better understand and visualise the kind of impacts that ASSAR can have across the semi-arid areas of Africa and Asia.

In the weeks since the meeting the ASSAR team has been working at full steam. The four regional groups have begun writing the first drafts of their regional diagnostic studies - reports that provide a high-level snapshot of the climate adaptation environments in each of the ASSAR regions. The regional groups are also planning their first field visits to their study sites, during which they'll be engaging with local and national stakeholders. These engagements will not only ensure that ASSAR's work meets local and national needs, but will also help the regional groups to identify the most appropriate ways to develop tailored adaptation knowledge and to build adaptive capacities in their regions.

The ASSAR cross-cutting working groups, which are not region-specific but rather made up of members from each regional team, have also been making great progress. Some of these groups have begun to develop training courses for the ASSAR team members to improve their capacity to conduct specialised research. For example, in a course in mid-2015 the gender working group will teach the ASSAR team members how to conduct gender-sensitive research and how to mainstream gender issues into all of ASSAR's activities. Other cross-cutting working groups are developing frameworks for research topics like well-being, governance, vulnerability and biophysical impacts to ensure that the work done within each region is directly comparable with the work done in other regions.

With the ASSAR momentum now in full flow, the coming months should be very busy and productive. This will set the scene for more fascinating discussions and promote further project development at the next annual meeting, which will be held in May 2015 in Botswana.

Written by Tali Hoffman

See more at: http://www.assar.uct.ac.za/news/assars-annual-meeting-bangalore-india#sthash.sO4CDXmg.dpuf

News from Namibia

A common criticism of research projects is that they exist in a vacuum, and lack consideration for how to put the research findings into practice. To avoid this, and to ensure that the project yields tangible, practical and actionable value, ASSAR is endeavouring to develop comprehensive 'research-into-use' strategies across its regions. These strategies are something that the Southern African Team kept high on their agenda during their recent field trip.

Within ASSAR, the Southern African team focuses on the semi-arid areas of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Their mandate is to work with local experts and stakeholders to identify factors that will help people adapt to climate change in ways that support their livelihoods and ensure their wellbeing.

To get this work off the ground, in November 2014, Dian Spear, Salma Hegga and Margaret Angula drove some 2375 km through the semi-arid landscapes of north-central Namibia. Their goals for this trip included understanding the needs and interests of critical stakeholders from governmental and non-governmental fields, and figuring out how to work together - throughout the project life - to ensure that these needs are met.

Through these meetings the ASSAR team was able to develop their existing collaborations, forge links with new stakeholders, and identify stakeholders to reach out to in future. In the process they developed a better understanding of the context and status of climate change adaptation in Namibia. They also learned more about the perceptions, roles, concerns and needs of different stakeholders at different scales, from constituent levels, to regional and national levels.

From a strategic point of view, the team also became aware of the importance of following appropriate protocols when conducting work at multiple scales and with multiple and interconnected stakeholders. Lastly, and very importantly, the connections that the Southern African team developed with the Namibian stakeholders helped to identify potential pathways for putting their research into use, and making sure it has practical value.

With three years of research ahead of them this trip marks only the very beginning of the Southern African work process, yet it was critical for obtaining early support for the project by the people who matter most. As the team continues on its journey we will continue to document their activities, successes and challenges. Watch this space!

Written by Tali Hoffman
See more at: http://www.assar.uct.ac.za/news/news-namibia#sthash.sXaKx1RF.dpuf

A Sense of Scale

Have you ever wondered if small-scale renewable projects are worth their time and effort compared to large-scale projects?

This question came into stark focus on a visit to a community in Olosho-Oibor, Kenya in May this year, a visit that was a precursor to a meeting of the Solar Nano Grids (SONG) project.

Olosho-Oibor Community Energy Supply

Coming over the hills and down into the plains we arrive at the community of Olosho-Oibor, consisting of about 8,000 people spread over an area of 20 km2 and being of the Maasai people, they are mainly pastoralists. The community has a centrally located hub of a school, dispensary, church and some small commercial enterprises, which is located about 25 km from the nearest grid connection.

In 2009 UNIDO and AUSAID funded an off-grid electrical generation system consisting of a 7kWp solar PV array, a 3kWp wind turbine, a 9kVA vegetable oil/diesel generator (almost never used) and a battery bank. The community contributed to the project by digging trenches and laying underground cables to the dispensary, school and church.

The school receives a small amount of energy nevertheless it has enabled the it to have more light for work in the evenings - raising the standard of educational attainment to such an extent that it is one of the best schools in the area.

Similarly, the dispensary is able to deal with emergencies at night, and the electrical vaccine refrigerator enables safe storage of the vital medications. Down the road, a rescue centre for girls has been started which has also been electrified and is in the process of expanding to give a home to over 60 girls from the neighbouring area.

Further, three new businesses have started increasing the local quality of life. For example the presence of a mobile phone charging shop has enabled the increased use of mobile phones and hence access to banking facilities using M-PESA.

Interestingly, one of the unexpected uses was that the community bought a projector and screen and now there are regular community screenings of UK premiership football games!

This off-grid community now belongs to the global village.

Ngong Hills Wind Farm

In contrast, driving northwards from Nairobi, crossing the Ngong Hills, there is a lot of activity erecting another large wind turbine of the Ngong power station wind farm. This wind farm is rapidly increasing its capacity from 5.1 MW to 25.5 MW and is estimated that it will provide 75 GWh of electricity per annum. Most of this energy is destined for the rapidly growing city of Nairobi and this wind farm will supplement the largely hydro-based electrical generation capacity, providing some resilience to drier years for the Kenya Electricity Generating Company and mitigating the need for more large-scale diesel generation.

Big or Small?

So which is better? Both projects are providing low carbon energy. The wind farm produces substantial amounts of energy that would otherwise have been produced by large diesel generators. This is all good. The community scale project produces far less energy, but has a disproportionately increased benefit to the people who would not otherwise have access to electricity. This is also good.

Maybe the question posed is not the right question. Its not about having either big or small scale projects - its that both have their own important role to play: the large-scale renewable energy projects are good to help wean industrialised communities off fossil fuels and small-scale renewable energy projects democratise energy by uplifting rural communities which would otherwise be left behind.

Malcolm McCulloch
Head Energy and Power Group
Dept Engineering Science
University of Oxford

Talk About it!

Or the benefits of multidisciplinary research teams

Multi-disciplinarity sounds like an academic buzzword! I, at least, always used to think of it that way; as something that only has a place in sentences that talk about "engaging in multi-disciplinary dialogues to arrive at synergistic outcomes", or some similar gibberish.

That is despite the fact that I arguably come from a multi-disciplinary background, having studied engineering, international relations and economics, and am now working on my PhD on rural electrification in Kenya at a department that has always taken pride in its multi-disciplinarity[1].

Yet, it wasn't until I attended the Solar Nano-Grids (SONG) workshop in Nairobi in May of this year that I really witnessed how the interaction of academics and professionals from more than one background can deepen analysis and broaden perspectives (which sounds exactly like the jargon I was mocking earlier).

The best way to illustrate what I mean is by sharing two particular observations I made during the SONG workshop. As part of the workshop a core group of participants, consisting of engineers and social scientists, went on two field trips to existing mini-grids in rural Kenya. During both of those visits the extent to which academic background shapes the perception of the world and the information gathered from it, became very clear. The engineers would notice the rusty, broken off piece of the weather vane from the wind turbine, the broken and disused inverters or dust collecting on the solar panels and see them as a sign of lacking technical capacity within the community. On the other hand, the social scientists, would find out that the needs of the community, as perceived by its members, were no longer met properly by the mini grid; that the arrival had brought social changes to the communities, stopping villagers from moving away or even attracting new members to the communities; or/and that there was a clear sense of pride of their mini-grids within the communities.

Combine these two viewpoints and a rich picture emerges of not only the technical system or only the social and cultural context, but the interaction between the two, the socio-technical system as it would commonly be called.

Without a multi-disciplinary team that is given plenty of opportunity to talk about their observations and interpretation of them, as we were during and after the field trips, these complex relationships could easily be overlooked. Yet, they are fundamental to the long-term sustainability of the mini-grids. Multi-disciplinarity deepens analysis

It does, however, also bring with it the challenge of communication, as each academic discipline comes with its very specific language. Just like the expression "socio-technical imaginary", for example, might mean nothing to an engineer, similarly, a social scientist might struggle to immediately see the benefits and drawbacks of direct current (DC) versus alternating current (AC) power. However, if these two groups are given a chance to talk to each other and explain the meaning of these terms, the engineer will discover that socio-technical imaginaries "call attention to the fact that visions of future developments in science and technology almost inevitably bring with them wider visions of social futures, of risk and benefit, and of the collective good"[2]. The social scientist, on the other hand will find out that DC transmission lines have, for example, lower technical losses and hence can distribute electricity further, but require special, and potentially costly appliances or inverters at the household level. As a result it becomes clear, that the technical system design needs to be compatible with the socio-technical imaginary prevalent in the community. The interaction of these two concepts can, again, lead to improved chances of long-term sustainability. Multi-disciplinarity broadens perspectives.

All of this really is a roundabout way of saying: "Talk about it!" Any study of a complex system, such as a solar mini grid, will only benefit from a variety of angles of analysis. No one academic field can claim to cover all of them. Bring a number of them together, exchange observations and interpretations however, and the chances of overlooking a critical factor diminish drastically.

Lorenz Gollwitzer
Doctoral Research Student
SPRU (Science & Technology Policy Research)
School of Business, Management and Economics
University of Sussex

[1] SPRU - Science and Technology Policy Research at the University of Sussex
[2]http://sts.hks.harvard.edu/research/platforms/imaginaries/imaginaries-faqs/

Featured Project: Solar Nano Grids, Kenya & Bangladesh

Since the first solar home system was introduced in Bangladesh in 1996, two million more have been installed throughout the nation with the help of financing from international funding bodies. It’s a similar story in Kenya (albeit on a smaller scale), where in the past two decades about 300,000 of the systems have been connected to homes.

Many of the benefits of solar energy are abundantly clear. Households with these systems can make gains in areas like health and education by, for example, cutting down on air pollution from kerosene lamps and powering lights so children and other family members can study.
But there is no such certainty around the economic benefits – there’s scant evidence that these individual systems have the power to lift people out of poverty or have any financial advantages over other ways of generating electricity, for small-scale users beyond the reach of major power grids. The individual systems are also unaffordable for many of the world’s poorest households.

It’s possible then that clusters of about 20 families in rural communities could be better off linking up to a small-scale, communal solar power system that could also be connected to an agricultural or industrial application like an irrigation system. These “nano-grid systems” could supply enough electricity for each household’s need as well as generate an income for the community, reducing the cost of energy for each family.

INTASAVE, in partnership with Loughborough University in England and United International University in Bangladesh, aims to investigate just how viable that option is for families in Bangladesh and Kenya, particularly as climate change increasingly rules out the use of fossil fuels, like oil and gas.

With funding from Britain’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, the inter-disciplinary team of social scientists and engineers is investigating the social, technical and economic merits of solar nano-grids in rural communities. The researchers will compare and contrast the grid approach with household systems in Kenya and Bangladesh and draft business models for broader use across those countries.

It’s a significant project that rests on a detailed understanding of the energy uses and needs of households and communities. Is the technology cost-efficient compared with other sources? Is there an obvious advantage for members of a community to pool their interests? Is the community organized enough to manage such a system? These are just some of the questions that the team is seeking to answer.

For further information contact: admin@intasave.org

Kenya Project Consultation Workshop

The Solar Nano-Grid Consultation Workshop, Kenya

May 2014, Nairobi, the first international workshop was held to bring together the three project partners, associates and guest speakers for the Solar-Nano-Grid (SONG) project, funded by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. It focused on identifying previous research and existing experience in the use of solar/PV in low-income countries of the global south, doing site visits to similar projects in Kenya to consider their development and practices, reviewing and identifying suitable project methodologies and constructing an implementation framework for the SONG project for the next 12 months.

The aims of the SONG project are to:

• Investigate the impacts of solar home system installations in low-income communities in Kenya and Bangladesh,
• Work with these communities to map energy use patterns as they impact their daily reality,
• Identify the different potential demands for energy through the needs and activities of people and households,
• Evaluate solar-nano-grids (insert link - what is a solar-nano-grid) to improve energy access for income-generating activities, where it seems that solar home systems (SHS) by themselves are less able to contribute,
• Put the research into practice by setting up solar-nano-grids in selected low-income communities in both countries,
• Widely disseminate and distribute the results, to aid learning and replication.

SONG is both an inter-disciplinary project, bringing together social scientists and engineers and as well, includes participation by NGOs and civil society in both countries. Further, at the heart of the project is the involvement of the people and communities themselves.

We're pleased to write that the workshop achieved a number of results:

• Two visits to existing community solar projects in Kenya and a discussion with those involved at both Olosho-Oibor and Kitonyoni communities. These visits were invaluable in feeding into the technical, social and economic implementation discussions of SONG.
• The paper and work package activities were reviewed in terms of overall progress.
• Project partners were engaged in discussions and exercises to further familiarise themselves with relevant methodologies, particularly participatory impact pathways analysis, community based vulnerability assessments and vision-exercising, all relevant to Kenya and Bangladesh.
• The social economy was outlined in which the project will take place, from the international level down to community and household level, as well as some complimentary energy sector mapping.
• A variety of energy sector actors from Kenya (policy, NGO and private sector) participated to enhance understanding of the solar environment and discuss their experiences across an array of projects.
• Participants reviewed the next steps of the project, including the plan for wider community mapping and a comprehensive overview of community consultation.

The mix of participants and the involvement of all partners as well as associates from the UK, brought together a wealth of expertise and experience unusual in such forums. This rich experience will serve us well, as we move the project forward to identifying the communities with whom we will partner to undertake the solar-nano-grid installations and research over the coming months.

Kenya Vision 2030: Integrating Climate Change Adaptation

Integrating climate change adaptation measures into Kenya's Vision 2030 national development projects

In cooperation with the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) and the Vision 2030 Secretariat, The INTASAVE Partnership aims to mainstream and systematically integrate climate change adaptation measures in to national development projects, thereby promoting sustainable development in Kenya.

Specifically the project aims to:

• Foster a common acceptance and understanding of climate change and adaptation measures among key decision makers; building their capacity to identify specific interventions for climate change mitigation and adaptation in the implementation of Vision  2030 development projects;


• Provide a platform for knowledge sharing on local and practical climate change adaptation initiatives within the Vision 2030 framework; and


•  Provide mentoring support to stakeholders who are integrating climate change into national development projects.

Duration: 5 Years, from January 2014 to December 2018 

Project Context & Background

Vision 2030 is Kenya’s blueprint development document. Under Vision 2030, Kenya aims to become a middle-income, rapidly industrializing country by 2030, offering all its citizens a high quality of life.  According to a 2013 progress report, climate change was cited as a major challenge in implementing development projects under Vision 2030.

Education and awareness efforts on climate change in Kenya only started two decades ago and were primarily directed towards the preparation of initial National Communications required for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), with the main donor being UNEP/GEF. The participants included top-level policy makers from line ministries. According to a UNEP report, this model of targeting key decision makers is seen as commendable and they encouraged similar measures for future projects, including the involvement of the media by inviting journalists to public awareness workshops and urging them to publish feature articles in national and regional newspapers.

In an effort to mainstream climate change mitigation and adaptation issues, the Vision 2030 secretariat engaged an environmental advisory team to operate both at multiple levels and to contribute to sectoral policies, plans and programmes.  Our project will build on existing structures that have been established by this advisory team and work through the various Climate Change Units (CCU) within government, research and development agencies, while ensuring a close link with the National Climate Change Action Plan implementing agencies.

For further information on this initiative, please contact Mr. James Mwangi, Senior Projects Officer, Kenya: james.mwangi@intasave-caribsave.org.

(Photo: Paradise in the World)

Culture of Climate Change Index; Temperature Fluctuations for 27 Countries

The Culture of Climate Change Index accounts for a variety of factors and a wide range of data that set a benchmark for 27 countries to see how far each is along the road to sustainability.

Sponsored by the British Council (China), the index is a combination of soft and hard information that incorporates factors as diverse as public awareness and civil society to average surface temperatures and energy consumption.

INTASAVE provided the critical temperature data for each of the countries, spanning the globe from Australia to Sudan to Venezuela. These numbers are essential if the index is to have a solid foundation of climate science evidence on which to base later comparisons.

Using triangulated methodologies, INTASAVE’s researchers calculated and plotted mean average temperature fluctuations across each country over a five-decade period. It was a vast task that revealed significant variations in temperature in all but one of the countries over the study period.

Numbers are not solutions but they serve as important guides for measuring a country’s impact on the environment. The data provided and index, as a combined analysis, can also give impetus to action and point to models that other countries might follow to improve sustainability.

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For more information contact: admin@intasave.org

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