PARTNERS IN KENYA

AFRICAN CENTRE FOR TECHNOLOGY STUDIES (ACTS)

ACTS is an international intergovernmental science, technology and environmental policy think-tank that generates and disseminates new knowledge through policy analysis, capacity building and outreach. The Centre strives to rationalize scientific and technological information to enable African countries to make effective policy choices for improved living standards.

The ACTS Energy and Water Security Programme addresses the myriad water and energy challenges that have moved to the fore of global debate on sustainable development. These challenges relate to technological inefficiencies in exploitation and use of water and energy resources, at a time when critical developments have occurred in the range of available technologies. Despite drops in the investment costs associated with these technologies over the past decade, the technologies still remain inaccessible to the majority of African communities. Furthermore, rampant poverty continues to undermine the capacity of African communities to adapt to the vulnerable energy and water situations.

ACTS has been able to meet the capacity building objective through the Science Technology Institute which offers short policy courses throughout the year.

Role in PISCES: Co-leading of Policy working group with Practical Action East Africa. The overall objective is to bring together policy makers, stakeholders and experts to develop a combined methodology on participatory policy dialogue and apply the same in developing bioenergy policies with a focus on Kenya and Sri Lanka.

PRACTICAL ACTION CONSULTING EASTERN AFRICA

Based in Nairobi, Practical Action Consulting benefits from the expertise, knowledge base and global reach of international development and technology charity Practical Action. Operations in Eastern Africa began in the early 1990s and have expanded through extensive promotion of PAC Eastern Africa services and capacity-building locally and regionally. PAC Eastern Africa provides demand-driven, value-added services to a range of clients, including local and international NGOs, donor agencies, government departments and the private sector.

The team consists of permanent staff and associate consultants from diverse professional backgrounds. It specialises in assignments that add value to the development work of Practical Action, contribute to knowledge-based development, and enable the dissemination of ideas and best practice throughout the region. Practical Action Consulting has a long-term vision to expand its sphere of influence and partnership working throughout Eastern Africa.

Role in PISCES: PAC lead on the Access and Delivery theme of the PISCES project. The focus of this theme is to better define what Bioenergy Delivery Models are and how they can be useful in increasing the access to, and delivery of, the sustainable supply of bioenergy. This is being carried out through the development of an online tool to increase the understanding of Delivery Models and through highlighting the Delivery Models of successful bioenergy pilot projects, to ensure they can be more effectively scaled-up.

This work will help policy makers, governments and energy project managers to map what financing, capacity development and incentives may be needed to kick start sustainable and pro-poor bioenergy markets. PISCES uses a Participatory Market Mapping (PMM) approach that involves all the energy stakeholders at all the levels of the value chain, to ensure that everyone’s experiences and expectations are taken into account when planning and delivering bioenergy initiatives.

KEY ACTIVITIES AND IMPACTS

·     Pilot project on bioethanol as an alternative household fuel in Western Kenya

The PISCES project in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy and UNDP are conducting a research project to pilot ethanol for household cooking in Kenya. This pilot is testing the delivery models for poor households to access ethanol and CleanCook Stove. Ethanol as a household fuel has promising results on reduction of indoor air pollution (IAP). The target community and project area is Nyalenda settlement in Kisumu County.

·    The project hosted a training workshop on safe use and field monitoring on air quality in Nyalenda slum. The objective of the training was to build the capacity of stakeholders and the project implementation team on safe handling of the cleancook stove and  ethanol as a  fuel. Ethanol is a highly flammable fuel , In Kenya, ethanol has never been used at the household level before. In addition, the trainees were trained on monitoring indoor air quality (IAQ). This training was vital for pilot project implementation purposes and for promotion of ethanol adoption as an alternative household fuel in Kenya. The training was attended by different stakeholders participating in the bioethanol value chain including: community representatives, leaders, potential local ethanol distributors, project implementation team and other potential stakeholders in the bioethanol sector including UNHCR who are planning to initiate a similar programme in Dadaab refugee camp in North Eastern Province. This pilot project is aimed at generating data to inform policy on the potential of ethanol as a alternative household fuel and a replacement for kerosene and fuelwood, a clean source of energy that will free households from indoor air pollution , contribute to enhanced environment management and a potential source of employment in the rural areas in Kenya. This project contributes the overall goal of the Centre which is to promote evidence based policies grounded on facts and best technologies and in addition feeds into strategic goal 1.3 on ‘promoting policies that enable more people to have better access to safe, reliable, affordable energy.