Hi!
YesideDS here!
The last time I wrote something of this nature, I was discussing a few of the activities I partook of in August 2018.
The plan was to do a monthly update on activities I partook in relation to energy and the environment in Nigeria, but as you can obviously see, that plan fell by the wayside and this post is a resuscitation.
Powering Jobs
The organization I work with undertook the preliminary stage of its “Powering Jobs” project, that aims to create more awareness and support for job opportunities in the off-grid renewable energy sector. This meant I was involved in the process of carrying out surveys with players in the industry, reviewing the analysis and executing a validation workshop with stakeholders at the end of the data collection phase.
The full report by the Powering Jobs Research team should be out sometime this month.
GIZ’s Solar PV Installation & Supervision Training
I also participated in the Solar PhotoVoltaic Installation & Supervision training programme, sponsored by GIZ and hosted by Blue Camel Energy under the Nigerian Energy Support Program (NESP).
It was an insightful and rigorous learning program that I think people with little to no experience can gain from and develop themselves in the area of solar pv installation and supervision. It was a great experience overall that I would encourage everyone in the sector to get into. There are other similar learning opportunities that you can get into, with scholarship opportunities (that I received) and if you’re interested, you can indicate in the comment section or send me a direct email.
UNIDO’s Industrial Energy Efficiency Training
I got invited to participate in UNIDO’s 1 day Industrial Energy Management System End user training, a preliminary component of UNIDO’s four year “Improving Nigeria’s Industrial Energy Performance (IEP) and Resource Efficiency and Cleaner Production (RECP) Through Pragmatic Approaches and the Promotion of Innovation in Clean Technology Solutions” project. Seeing that energy consumption in the industrial sector is very intensive and utilizes a huge percentage of overall energy consumption in the country, the institution wants to be at the forefront of making certain attitudinal changes towards the management of energy that would result in significant economical and environmental benefits.
And at the beginning of this year, there was a follow up validation workshop, that aimed at ensuring that the stakeholders for this project were able to give feedback on the direction in which the organization plans to execute it.
The majority of my time at work last year was dedicated to the Scaling Off Grid Energy project, which rounded off for the year in November 2018, and you can find most of the project’s impacts here.
At the end of the year, I visited the LEA Dagbana primary with the Susty Vibes team lead, Ani, to see the location of the project and also make plans concerning the project himself & Jemima were leading on. So far the project is going well as planned and students will be benefitting from this soon. I think it is a great learning process for me to also replicate in my hometown.
Also, as a Susty Vibes volunteer/partner, I joined the Abuja team at its mini party to review the activities of 2018 and make more plans for 2019. I really couldn’t provide a lot of volunteer hours towards the end of 2018, but I plan to get more involved in the second quarter of 2019, God willing or find another way of supporting really.
In the new year, it really has been about attending workshops/events with organizations that were strategizing for the year in terms of meeting renewable energy goals in Nigeria. The picture below is from the Heinrich Bohl Stiftung meeting, where tasks were assigned to the relevant stakeholders to achieve its goals…
and the REA/GIZ Mini Grid Acceleration workshop that took place for two days, to educate project developers on the bidding process for its MiniGrid Acceleration Scheme. Here I bumped into my classmates from the SPVIS course and also brainstormed with experts on shea butter business idea with under the Minigrid + Key Maker Business Model. Watch this space for my environmentally friendly beauty business.
If you’re also interested in a study relating to solar business in Africa, click this link.
I almost forgot to add, one of Susty Vibes Abuja’s first meet up was to support the Charity Bank’s charity exchange where we got to exchange a lot of interesting material things, and reduce waste. Know of similar programs in your area? Comment below, I would love to know.
I know this list seems to be quite long but I am ending it here. Clean Tech Hub is also seeking to work on projects relating to managing waste and keeping our environments safe and so we had to visit this exhibition at the mall in Lugbe, that is a collection of waste plastic bags, a nuisance really in our community. It seems like an interesting way to address the issue in our country tbh.
After compiling this, I felt like this was toooo long and a monthly update is a much better option.
Enough about me, what sustainable and energy efficient practices have you been up to recently?
Yeside DS 