Optimizing a Solar Milk Pre-Cooler Innovation to Improve Quality and Safety of Raw Milk at Smallholders’ Chilling Centres in Kenya

This project aims to strengthen milk safety, quality, and farmer incomes in Kenya’s smallholder dairy sector by optimizing and scaling a solar-powered milk pre-cooling innovation at dairy cooperative chilling centres. Delayed cooling at milk collection points remains a critical bottleneck in the dairy value chain, contributing to high bacterial growth, milk spoilage, processor rejection, and significant income losses for farmers and cooperatives. Implemented over 24 months (April 2024–March 2026) in Nakuru and surrounding high-potential dairy counties, the project addresses this challenge by validating and deploying a solar-powered ice-bank pre-cooling system that rapidly lowers milk temperature before it enters bulk chillers, reducing bacterial multiplication, energy costs, and reliance on fossil fuels. In parallel, the project promotes inclusive, market-based business models by building the technical and entrepreneurial capacity of local SMEs, cooperatives, and women- and youth-led enterprises to fabricate, install, operate, and maintain the technology. Led by Happy Cow Ltd in partnership with the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) and Fooster Solutions Ltd, and supported by the EU, OACPS, BMZ through GIZ’s Agri-Business Facility (ABF), the project combines technology innovation, capacity building, and evidence-based policy engagement to strengthen climate-resilient dairy value chains in Kenya.

Project Background

The transition to electric mobility (e-mobility) in Kenya holds transformative potential, not just for reducing emissions, but also for addressing gender inequality.  The transport sector contributes approximately 13% of the country’s total emissions, projected to rise with sector growth, but electrification could mitigate up to 629,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent by 2030, aligning with Kenya’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) goal of reducing transport emissions by 3.46 metric tons of CO2.

Women’s economic participation, especially in emerging sectors like e-mobility, has the potential to foster socio-economic growth while driving environmental sustainability. Despite accounting for a significant share of the labor force, Kenyan women are underrepresented in high-growth sectors such as technology and transportation. Globally, women comprise of only 12% of the transportation workforce, with stark disparities across subsectors: 5% in land transport, 10% in water transport, 21% in warehousing and transportation support activities, and 38% in aviation.  The e-mobility sector, particularly with the increasing use of electric two-wheelers (e-2Ws) and three-wheelers (e-3Ws), offers a unique opportunity to bridge this gap.

With Kenya’s urbanization rate increasing and the government committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, e-mobility is becoming a strategic priority. The Draft National E-Mobility Policy, launched in 2024, provides a comprehensive framework to guide this transition across all transportation modes, including road, rail, air, and maritime.

It emphasizes the development of charging infrastructure, local manufacturing of electric vehicles (EVs), and financial incentives to encourage adoption. The policy aligns with Kenya’s Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) under the Fourth Medium-Term Plan (2023-2027) and aims to position the country as a leader in e-mobility within Africa. By addressing challenges such as reliance on imported fuels and high emissions, while also integrating socioeconomic measures like gender inclusivity and youth empowerment, the policy underscores e-mobility’s role in achieving sustainable urban growth and national climate goals.

In this context, ACTS in collaboration with Coventry U and KCCI are implementing a project, titled “The Transformative Power of Electric Mobility Technology in Kenya: Understanding and Empowering Women Entrepreneurs”. The project aims to harness this opportunity by creating an inclusive pathway for women entrepreneurs in Kenya’s burgeoning e-mobility sector.

 Project Objectives

 Investigate Barriers to Women’s Participation in E-mobility

The project seeks to identify and analyze the specific barriers that women face in integrating into the e-mobility sector. These include:

• Financial Constraints: Understanding how limited access to financing affects women’s ability to engage as entrepreneurs or consumers within the e-mobility market.
• Technical Skills Gaps: Assessing the existing skill gaps that hinder women’s participation in technical roles and entrepreneurship in e-mobility.
• Cultural and Societal Norms: Exploring how gender biases and societal expectations impact women’s mobility choices and their roles within the industry.

Explore Opportunities for wider Engagement of Women in E-mobility

The project will uncover opportunities that could facilitate greater integration of women in the e-mobility sector, such as:

• Entrepreneurial Avenues: Identifying potential business models and niches within the e-mobility ecosystem that could be particularly beneficial for women entrepreneurs.
• Policy Recommendations: Gathering insights that can inform policy changes aimed at creating a more inclusive environment for women in e-mobility, including gender-responsive policies.
• Best Practices from Successful Models: Analyzing case studies of successful women-led initiatives in e-mobility, such as E-Safiri, which emphasize women’s involvement in the value chain.

Generate Insights for Policy and Practice

The ultimate goal of this research is to generate actionable insights that can be disseminated to stakeholders, including policymakers and industry leaders, to inform future interventions. Encouraging collaboration among various stakeholders, including government entities, private sector players, and non-profits, to create a supportive ecosystem for women in e-mobility. This might involve:

• Building Networks: Establishing networks that connect women entrepreneurs with resources, mentorship, and funding opportunities.
• Creating Awareness Campaigns: Developing campaigns that highlight the importance of gender inclusivity in the e-mobility transition.
• Data Collection and Analysis: Conducting gender-disaggregated data collection to better understand women’s roles and challenges in the e-mobility sector.
• Knowledge Dissemination: Sharing findings through reports, workshops, and stakeholder meetings to ensure that insights reach those who can enact change.

These policies will aim to facilitate access to funding, resources, and networks that can help women entrepreneurs succeed in e-mobility.

Expected Outcomes and Long- term Impact

In terms of emissions reduction, the project’s potential is significant. By supporting the adoption of electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers, the project contributes to Kenya’s climate goals as outlined in the NDC. Over a ten-year period, the project is expected to contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, while also creating green jobs and fostering industrial growth in the e-vehicle assembly and manufacturing sectors.

For women entrepreneurs, the long-term impact will extend beyond immediate business growth. By equipping women with the skills, resources, and networks they need, the project aims to elevate their participation in the e-mobility sector, positioning them as leaders in Kenya’s transition to a green economy. Over time, this will contribute to the broader goals of gender equality and socio-economic development in Kenya, as outlined in the country’s Vision 2030 plan.

Active Project:  2024- 2026

Program Contact Persons

Ann Kingiri: a.kingiri@acts-net.org

Esin Yoruk: ac1002@coventry.ac.uk

Ernest Chitechi: echitechi@kenyacic.org

Funders

The Green and Digital Innovation Hub (gDIH) is a one-stop-shop that aims to contribute to the digital transformation of Kenyan enterprises while promoting sustainable development, circular economy, environmental protection, and tackling climate change.

Objectives

The Fund aimed to:

• Disburse funds to institutions to create, expand, and/or maintain datasets that fill gaps and reduce bias in labeled data used for the training and/or evaluation of machine learning models.
• Make it possible for underserved populations to take advantage of advances offered by AI.
• Deepen understanding by the machine learning and philanthropy communities of how to fund development and maintenance of equitably labeled datasets most effectively and efficiently.

Funder

Lacuna Fund

Overall Objective

Responsible AI innovations that have been shown to address key development challenges in Africa (in the areas of gender, health, education, environment, etc.) are appropriately scaled.

Objectives

1. Strengthen capacity of researchers and innovators from vulnerable communities to assess, develop and scale responsible AI solutions.
2. Develop and implement a comprehensive approach to the research, development, and scaling of responsible and inclusive AI solutions in Africa.
3. Ensure coherence and collaboration within AI4D and with the wider AI ecosystem to advance solutions that are developed and scaled responsibly.

Expected outcomes

Increased number of Women and PWD, 20 in total coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, with knowledge and skills for developing and deploying AI in Africa

Funder

IDRC/FCDO

Involves mentoring of AI developers, within 5 hubs (agriculture, health, education, climate and gender) to scale their solutions responsibly with the support of African Responsible AI and GEDI mentors.

Objectives

1. Employ the Responsible AI assessment tool to discuss with AI developers to establish the ethics of AI breaches and intervention
2. Conduct mentoring of AI developers using their own AI solutions to scale responsibly
3. Convene meeting of all mentors and traniners of mentors, within the CoP (Community of Practice) to discuss challenges, opportunities and desired revisions of the entire process
4. To author reports that track outputs and outcomes.

Expected outcome

1. AI innovators that are profifient in the scaling of responsible AI solutions
2. A group of mentors that are experienced in the metoring of AI developers to scale responsible
3. A vibrant CoP that transcends the current project
4. Tools and templates that are refinable for subsequent similar projects

Partners

• CEIMIA – Canada

Funder

• IDRC

The UK-Kenya AI Challenge Fund represents a collaboration between British and Kenyan institutions to advance artificial intelligence capabilities whilst prioritising safety, ethics, and inclusive development. Established in September 2024 with funding from the UK AID, this initiative brings together leading institutions from both countries to address pressing developmental challenges through responsible AI innovation.

Programme Structure

The Fund operates through a dual mechanism of direct institutional partnerships and competitive project funding. This approach ensures both structured collaboration between established organisations and opportunities for innovative proposals from a broader range of participants. The African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) and the Alan Turing Institute (ATI) serve as implementing partners, providing technical oversight and strategic direction.

Strategic Focus

Projects supported through this Fund concentrate on three primary areas:

• Applied AI Research with tangible development impacts
• AI Ethics and Standards development
• AI Safety frameworks and implementations

Expected outcomes from of the supported projects are :

• Equitable partnership between Kenyan and British institutions
• Sustainable implementation pathways
• Integration of local context and solutions
• Multidisciplinary approaches
• Inclusion of diverse perspectives and participants

Funder

• UK International Development

Partners

• Allan Turing Institute
• Government of Kenya
• UK International Development
• KICTANet

The programme has three overlapping research themes

1. Understanding climate risk.
2. Risk-informed early action, and
3. Developing in a changing climate.

In 2022, FCDO and IDRC selected 16 projects, through an open competitive two-stage call process, including nine smaller projects (budget up to CA$1.5M) with one lead institution, and seven larger projects (budget up to CA$8M) with up to three lead institutions. The research projects range in duration from 36 to 42 months and are now under implementation. The capacity strengthening hub (CS hub), hosted by PAACTS constituting PlanAdapt (PA) and African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) will support the CLARE programme and projects, to provide capacity support and relevant resources, to identify and help to share capacity, knowledge and learning across the portfolio; and connect with capacity strengthening efforts in the broader CLARE ecosystem. In collaboration with IDRC, the Hub will also engage with capacity strengthening focal points from each project to inform and co-design capacity strengthening opportunities and to collate lessons on how to best strengthen capacity through research projects.

Purpose of the CS Hub

The purpose of capacity strengthening in CLARE is to enable researchers, practitioners, users (including those disseminating research, such as journalists) and decision-makers to drive adaptation action and build a more resilient future for those most impacted by climate change. As such, capacity strengthening efforts are based on a commitment to recognize and, wherever possible, work with existing capacity and initiatives in the global South to leverage resources and synergies; promote gender equity and inclusion (both to do transformative research and advance gender equity and inclusion as an outcome); and address structural and organizational barriers to Southern leadership. As such, the target audience of the hub’s initiatives are researchers, knowledge brokers, and other climate action stakeholders covering individual CLARE project teams, stand-alone CS initiatives, as well as the overall CLARE programme.

In Pictures

The  project aims to foster sustainable development by generating evidence that supports the growth of youth and women-led clean energy enterprises (CEEs) across Sub-Saharan Africa. The project focuses on Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and South Africa and addresses the significant role of women and youth in the clean energy sector towards just and clean energy transition in the climate change discourse.

Downloads

Developing contextual STI data at the continental level is key for effective decision making. In this context, the project, “Assessment of science, technology and innovation (STI) metrics in Africa” represents an exciting opportunity to use past and ongoing research to help governments, other policy makers, and donors make decision on future investment both in STI and in the collection of data to better measure and assess STI.

Capacity building initiatives aim to enhance knowledge sharing and coordination and their results are evident globally, regionally, and nationally.

ASAP brings together leading UK, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia researchers in air pollution, urban planning, economic geography, public health, social sciences and development studies to provide a framework for improved air quality management in three East African cities: Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Kampala (Uganda) and Nairobi (Kenya).

It seek to enhance local decision-making abilities to improve urban air quality, reduce the effects of air pollution on human health, and allow for sustainable development to proceed without further deterioration in air quality. Central to the project’s aims are strengthening research capabilities and technological expertise in East Africa, with local stakeholders and experts involved in the conception, implementation, and uptake of the programme and its outcomes.

Project outcomes

A comprehensive urbanisation trends and their impact on air quality Developed a robust and cost appropriate approaches to monitoring air pollution A holistic evidence base on the causes, consequences and levels of air pollution Identify social, environmental, policy and management measures to tackle air pollution Understand the dynamic political economies of focus cities and how these influence urban governance and air quality management Raise awareness of air pollution problems and impact policy uptake

The aim of this project is to catalyse a transition from crisis management to multi-hazard risk-informed planning and decision-making, for cities in low-and-middle income. Specifically, Nairobi Risk hub seeks to provide Nairobi with the capacity and policy framework that enables a shift from crisis response towards integrated development planning for enhanced disaster risk preparedness and management. The Nairobi City-Hub utilise interdisciplinary research as a tool for convening stakeholders from across sectors and local communities to facilitate collective action towards addressing the drivers and impacts of multiple hazards. Its programmes of work seek to establish a new integrated evidence base on the city’s most prominent hazards and risks, their drivers, uncertainties, root causes and potential solutions, as well as to build greater capacity for collecting and applying this evidence in disaster risk management.

Key Objectives

Apply interdisciplinary research evidence to convene and strengthen the emerging community of practice around disaster risk reduction, facilitating a more integrated informed and inclusive approach.
Support the incorporation of co-produced disaster risk reduction measures in new action planning initiatives in informal settlements, to benefit poor and vulnerable residents.
Support the design of a risk-sensitive urban development policy framework, informed by new multi-hazard science and a more proactive approach to management of risk accumulation.
Provide compelling examples of multiple interacting risks and how they can be co-managed by state and non-state actors.

Project Outputs

Online database on risk, Journals, Risk maps, policy briefs

Expected outcomes

Strengthened community of practice around disaster risk reduction, facilitating a more integrated informed and inclusive approach. Incorporation of co-produced disaster risk reduction measures in new action planning initiatives in informal settlements, to benefit poor and vulnerable residents. Design of a risk-sensitive urban development policy framework, informed by new multi-hazard science and a more proactive approach to management of risk accumulation.

The aim of MECS project is to catalyse the transformation of clean cooking through technological, institutional and market innovations that enable long-term use of MECS to generate inclusive environmental and development benefits for the poor.

Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany and partners in East Africa implemented a project entitled “Diversifying food systems: Horticultural Innovations and Learning for Improved Nutrition and Livelihood in East Africa” (HORTINLEA).

Under this project, ACTS collaborated with Humboldt University to undertake a study on “embedding gender in horticultural value chains to reduce the productivity gap”. The study was undertaken by 3 female PhD students who where supervised by ACTS. The main outputs of this projects were: 3 female PhD students successfully completed and 3 policy briefs

African indigenous vegetables (AIVs; sometimes also termed African leafy vegetables, ALVs) have a great potential for effective poverty reduction and as a source of income for smallholders in Kenya, but this potential is currently underused. Cultivation of these leafy vegetables can have a positive effect on the local economy and could become an important part of a balanced diet for the inhabitants of the poorer regions of the country. As part of the German-Kenyan joint research project HORTINLEA, research has been ongoing since 2013 into the various factors relevant to food security within the AIV value chain. HORTINLEA is an interdisciplinary project comprising many different German and African partners. The project involves developing strategies to increase the production, quality, marketing and consumption of indigenous leafy vegetable species and to improve the efficiency of value chains. The ultimate aim of these activities is to contribute to a reduction in ‘hidden hunger’ and to improve the nutritional quality of food.

Cooperation Structure of HORTINLEA

This research project “Multiple pathways and inclusive low emission development: navigating towards leverage points in the East-African dairy sector” identifies and analyses institutional conditions for scaling low-emission development dairy interventions in an inclusive manner.

Knowledge Systems Innovation project is a project funded by Department for International Development (DFID) and seeks to generate evidence on how Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) can work in the low and middle-income (LMI) countries: Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. This builds on the understanding and the need to invest in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) capability as recognised by Africa Union’s Agenda 2063 and various country development visions.

The 3R (robust, reliable resilient)- from ‘Aid to Trade’ project is a 3.5 years initiative implemented by Wageningen University & Research, in the Netherlands in collaboration with various Kenya partner institutions and funded by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Kenya (EKN).

Implementing institutions : California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly), USA and African Centre for Technology Studies, Nairobi Kenya.

Introduction

The project looks into the role of disasters including air quality in contributing to environmental and livelihood sustainability and how best to manage air quality in a manner that reduces climate risks especially in our ever-growing cities. Indeed the theme of the 3^rd United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA 3) is specifically framed around air pollution and how best to understand the dynamics associated with such pollution.

Worldwide, bioenergy is currently the primary energy resource for about 2.7 billion people (Wicke, et al., 2011). In Africa over 620 million people i.e. more than 50% of the population lack access, to clean energy. Africa is also the only region in the world where the number of people without access to both electricity and clean cooking facilities is expected to increase between now and 2030 (APP, 2015).  A majority of people in Africa still depend on traditional sources of energy such as solid biomass energy (e.g. firewood and charcoal).

Kenya is one of the five African countries alongside Nigeria, Ethiopia, DR Congo, and Tanzania account for around half of the sub-Saharan population facing energy insecurity especially for the poor.  Currently, only about 30% able to access grid electricity. The country’s energy demand is expected to grow five times by 2030 i.e. from the current 2294.82 MW to about 15,000 MW in line with vision 2030 targets (GoK, 2011). Biomass is currently the largest source of energy used for cooking and heating. For most Kenyans, in rural and poor solid biomass e.g. firewood and charcoal remains the predominant fuel. About 80% of the rural households use firewood compared with 10% urban residents (Gachohi, 2009, Kamfor 2002).

Building on this energy deficit in Kenya and other African countries, the UK government in partnership with various research and development agencies in developing countries initiated the Understanding Sustainable Energy Solutions (USES) research programme which provides a network of various energy – based projects funded under the UK government.  The USES programme is hosted at the UK-based Low Carbon Energy for Development Network (LCEDN).

The purpose of this project is to convene consultative platform that enables projects under USES network to share lessons amongst themselves and with policy makers based on the experiences gained through several years of implementation. Through the USES programme, various energy research projects funded under Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council would provide suitable evidence on linking the energy solutions to poverty-related and low carbon issues in the global south. Based on a multi-stakeholder approach, the USES initiative brings together various actors including academics, practitioners, policy-makers and the private sector both in the UK and the global south to collaborate in sharing research ideas, lessons and experiences towards informing low carbon energy for development. Over the last decade, the USES programme has established networks of  a number of projects in Kenya and abroad (see http://lcedn.com/uses/).   The Solar Nano-Grids (SONG) project which pursues action research aligning community energy needs with livelihood needs in Kenya and the Low Cost Technologies (LCT) project looking into options for quality energy appliances are examples of ongoing projects under the USES network.  In relation to linking energy solutions to improved livelihoods, the Energy Literacy for Decentralized Governance (READ) is also being implemented in Kenya and Tanzania to generate evidence on the opportunities and challenges to clean energy for development in Africa.

The projects operating under the USES network have generated rich experiences – having worked with different stakeholders including local communities, NGOs and governments and different disciplines including social and physical/engineering sciences.  In the context of the new international climate agenda under the Paris Agreement and the SDGs (especially SDG no. 7), this experience is valuable for practitioners, researchers and policy makers responsible for the implementation of low carbon development plans and or strategies.  The purpose of this project is to convene a consultative platform that enables the different experiences and lessons of USES- linked projects to be shared with relevant stakeholders.  This project proposes to implement a consultative workshop that brings together stakeholders in Kenya and other East African countries (Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda). Outputs and outcomes of the two day workshop will then be used to build a virtual consultative platform where priority insights and case study examples of successes and failures can be posted.  The project will be implemented by the Africa Sustainability Hub in collaboration in partnership with various organisations in Kenya including Strathmore Energy Centre, Egerton University, Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation as well as subnational partners – SCODE and Energeia.

Project Aim and objectives

The purpose of this project is to convene a consultative platform that enables the different experiences and lessons of USES- linked projects to be shared with relevant stakeholders.  This project proposes to implement a consultative workshop that brings together stakeholders in Kenya and other East African countries (Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Rwanda). Outputs and outcomes of the two day workshop will then be used to build a virtual consultative platform where priority insights and case study examples of successes and failures can be posted.

The specific objectives are:

1. To disseminate experiences of USES- linked energy projects implemented in Kenya
2. To provide evidence to policy makers on what work or not for sustainable energy solutions
3. To provide develop a long term online platform for sharing lessons and success stories between policy project implementers and policy makers
4. To provide the necessary capacity for policy makers to utilise lessons from USES in designing and implementing their NDCs

Project Activities

Activity 1: Workshop on sharing USES projects’ experiences at Egerton University or Nairobi University (August 2017): a two day workshop will be designed and delivered by the Africa Sustainability Hub – hosted at ACTS and  partners including LCEDN, Egerton Univerty, Strathmore Energy Centre and local delivery partners including SCODE and Energia.   The workshop will take two days and will draw  30 participants from four East African Countries including Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.  The wrokshop will focus on two particialr issues over the two days. The first day will involve a presentation dn discussions around the experiences and lessons from various USES projects in Kenya. The second day will involve plenary  sessions with policy makers on options for taking up some of the experiences into the  implemntation of rewepsective NDCs and county development/energy plans.

Activity 2: Presparation of projects communitcation package and products (August 2017- March 2018): a web based and printed communications package will be developed and ditributed or made accessible to participants before and afrter the workshop.  These will include some of products outlined below  under outputs:

Activity 3: High level advocacy work by ASH /ACTS, LCDEN and partners (Dec 2017-2018): this will done at the international policy meetings we regularly attendand and present at, including via our contacts, involvement and expert advisory roles we have with organisations including: UN climate change secretariat; Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC); African Development Bank; World Bank; OECD Environment Directorate; UK Department for International Development, Africa Group of Negotiators, Future Earth among others.

Expected outputs and outcomes

Significance of the project

The project will significantly contribute to supporting international climate policy implemntation: By helping East African countries policy makers to learn from the experiences and evidence of USES projects in Kenya,  the project will suport the domestication of international policies into national and subnational levels by infroming policy makers on what works and what does not.  Evidence on exisitng cases and lessons from a range of USES projects, the workshop offers significnt lessons to policy espcially the implemntation of Nationally Deternioned Contributions which underpin low-carbon economic growth in low-income countries, contributing to alleviating energy poverty in these countries and influencing the future shaping international climate change policy  under the Paris Agreement. This contribution is important for enhacning resreach impacts- see more discussion here –http://www.theimpactinitiative.net/blog/blog-turning-scholarly-pursuit-development-pursuit.

While this project targets mainly East African participants, the project has  international impact This approach undertaken in the project  could be widely adopted in other low-income countries across the world. The project will provide support to new platforms for sharing lessons from future USES and related proecjts creating a portal that enhacing exchnage and capabilities of policy makers to design and implemnte effective low carbon energy intiatives.

The project will contribute to addressing energy insecurity especially in Africa, in light of the framework set forth by the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals Number 7 by utilising climate change and energy related action research and knowledge networks. This contributes to the synergies between climate change goals and the SDGs- see more discussion here (http://blog.acts-net.org/bloggers/joanes-atela/27-mainstreaming-ndcs-with-sdgs-the-role-of-national-innovation-systems).

Delivery partners

The workshop will be deliverd through a consortium of organisations with vast expertise and experience working on energy resrach, policy and capcity buuilding in Kenya. The consotium will be led and coordinated through the African Sustainability Hub – hosted at the African Centre for Technology Studies.

African Sustainability Hub

The Africa Sustainability Africa Sustainability Hub (https://steps-centre.org/global/africa/#home) was launched on 10 June 2015 by the Kenyan minister for Finance during a Low Carbon Development Conference held in Nairobi, Kenya.  The hub’s main focus is to support social research and capabilities of African researchers, policy makers and change makers to understand and solve some of the underlying social issues affecting the achievement the post-2015 SDGs. The hub is established on a mutual partnership between Africa and UK leading research and policy think tanks on sustainability: the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), the STEPS Centre at the University of Sussex, the Africa Centre of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), and the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS). The Africa Hub aims to utilize this North-South and South-South leaning opportunities to pursue, in a participatory manner, socially inclusive evidence on various sustainability pathways, something new and unique from the way much of the social research and policy/practice has been pursued (see here https://steps-centre.org/blog/rethinking-africas-sustainable-development-pathways/ . Currently the hub’s work focuses on transformative action research and networking that generates evidence on the underlying socio-technical challenges to sustainability in Africa and capacity building that enhances skills and capabilities to address the challenges.  The hub’s key research theme is pathways to pro-poor energy access which aims to identify, analyze and present evidence on various social and technical options for enhancing access to clean energy especially for the poor segment of the society, Transforming environmental governance and capacity building and consultative platforms. For the last 3 years the hub has been convening workshops on climate finance, building innovation systems for stakeholders and policy makers within the East Africa region (see http://www.acts-net.org/cribs).

The Hub also builds on the platforms created at ACTS to deliver on its mandate.   The hub has contributed to the establishment of the partnership for supporting the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions of developing countries. Through this, ASH/ACTS and its partners have developed an online tool for tracking NDCs of 163 countries. The tool is one of the first data management platform under the Paris Agreement and has officially been endorsed by the UNFCCC as suitable for use by developing countries. From a broader perspective, this partnership places ACTS at a strategic place to access huge financial support through UNFCCC, private sector and developed countries supporting NDC implementation (http://newsroom.unfccc.int/paris-agreement/new-online-tool-makes-climate-action-plans-more-comparable/).  During the twenty second conference of Parties (COP 22) to the UNFCCC meeting in Marrakech, ASH/ACTS was nominated to represent sub-Sahara Africa in the International Network of Climate Change Centres of Excellence and Think Tanks for Capacity Building (INCCCETT) launched at COP 22 under the Moroccan presidency to the COP as a network of climate centres and think tanks for capacity development in the field of climate change, under the auspices of the Scientific Committee of the 22^nd Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The nomination of ACTS to join this high level international initiative came against vibrant and active engagements at COP 22 including a very successful launch of the ACTS-led book on community based adaptation in developing countries; dissemination of our climate change capacity building products such as the policy briefs and flyers on innovation system builders for the East Africa policy makers and the short climate change courses offered by ACTS.  Ideally, the publication products disseminated by ACTS delegation at the COP made it easier to claim this space above other African institutions.  During the event several stakeholders appreciated the work ACTS is doing and in addition to launching products, AHS/ACTS delegation spoke is several side events where they strategically showcased  ACTS work as a source of empirical reality into the African context (http://blog.acts-net.org/bloggers/joanes-atela/27-mainstreaming-ndcs-with-sdgs-the-role-of-national-innovation-systems). Building on the active engagement in international climate change events, ACTS has been approached to host the Africa Group of Negotiators expert support system. ASH will therefore utilize these platforms to deliver the workshop effectively and disseminate resulting outputs.

Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)-Africa Centre is a member of the Africa Sustainability Hub.  SEI is an independent international research institute involved in research and policy work on environment and development issues for more than 25 years. SEI has undertaken extensive research on innovation and diffusion of technologies related to clean energy including cook stoves and solar panels

Strathmore Energy Centre: the Strathmore Energy Research Centre (SERC) is a research Centre within Strathmore University. The Centre caries out research and technical training on energy issues. The Centre works closely with the government, private sector and general public in providing useful services to spur entrepreneurship and innovation in the renewable energy sector.

Egerton University (http://www.egerton.ac.ke/index.php/Chancellor/our-profile.html) is an intituion of higher learning offering formal undergraduate and post-graduate training in various sustainable development fields including energy.

The Institute for  Climate Change and Adaptataion- University of Nairobi (ICCA): ICCA  is part of higher edcucation isntitute based at the University of Nairobi. The Institute offers conducts fformal training on climate change and adaptation at postgraduate level (Masters and Doctorate) initially. The institute also offers Professional Short courses for various climate change and adaptation actors and stakeholders in the public and private sectors including NGOs.

The Sustainable Community Development Services (SCODE) (http://scode.co.ke/sample-page/) is a subnational NGO working with communities in Kenya to improve their livelihoods through sustainable – development and conservation technologies and approaches. SCODE lobbies for identification and adoption of best practices in energy and other development sectors.

Africa in its entirety, including South Africa and North African countries, has received only 3% of accumulated international investment under the CDM. Poor countries, including poor and marginalised women and men, gained very little, if at all, while “neutral” policy mechanisms served only to cement existing competitive leverage and associated global inequities. The Climate Relevant Innovation System Builders (CRIBS) approach, if governed in an optimal and democratic manner, could correct these past deficiencies of international climate policy.

The idea of sustaining climate innovation systems through locally owned and governed, long-term institutions, financed and supported by international climate policy structures, could support an adjustment from one off, large projects, towards long-term, sustainable change in climate compatible, socially just pathways. Noting the potential and opportunities to unlock trillions of dollars new and additional climate funding, via the framework of the new global Paris Climate Agreement adopted in Marrakech last year, African policy makers are presented with an ample opportunity to effect change. Utilizing nationally devolved, more bottom-up structure espoused by the Paris Climate Agreement and acting as a coordinated block of countries, East African nations could coordinate implementation of their Nationally Designated Commitments (NDCs) in ways that leverage funding to build new innovation systems around low-carbon energy technologies. Research has demonstrated this will underpin long term economic growth and poverty alleviation, but only if pursued via a policy approach firmly rooted in supporting East African countries in defining their own, context-specific needs, upon which climate finance will then be leveraged to support. Premised on a partnership involving the African Sustainability Hub (ASH) and the University of Sussex East African policy makers and practitioners are now able to access training and capacity development (funded by the UK ESRC) on how Climate Relevant Innovation System Builders (CRIBS) work and can be integrated in to the delivery of Nationally Determined Contributions. The upcoming two day workshop, to be held on the 11^th and 12^th of April 2017, builds on the increasing recognition of the role of international climate finance and low carbon economic growth in addressing climate change in Africa, noting that the Paris Agreement acknowledged that low carbon technology transfer and innovation systems are key in implementing mitigation and adaptation measures in developing countries and particularly Africa.

Main Aim

This workshop aims to provide climate policy makers in East Africa with the knowledge and capabilities necessary to leverage climate finance via their NDCs and use this to build innovation systems, catalysing increased flows of climate technologies to East Africa

Main Outputs

Upon completion of this workshop and accessing the follow-on support, the participants will be equipped to;-

1. Implement their country’s NDC (or INDC) in ways that will leverage maximum international climate finance to build innovation systems around new and existing climate technologies. By the end of the event, the participants will have identified priority actions for immediate implementation after the workshop.
2. Understand the value of and how to implement, “Climate Relevant Innovation-system Builders” (CRIBs) as the key mechanism through which the NDCs are to be implemented. CRIBs are proposed networks of institutions based in low and middle income countries facilitating activities that build and strengthen innovation systems around locally appropriate low-carbon technologies. They mirror best practices in other nations that have been successful in harnessing science and technology to deliver significant economic development.
3. Access follow-on resources via a dedicated web page.
4. Access monthly expert support for 12 months following the training event from climate policy experts at ACTS and the University of Sussex, who will assist in the design and implementation under the NDCs.
5. Provide a platform for knowledge and experience sharing with other East African policy makers, learning from best practice and taking advantage of regional learning and implementation opportunities

Prior activities in the project

The workshop was organized by the Africa Sustainability Hub (ASH), a networked research and knowledge exchange hub that convenes world leading experts on innovation systems and low carbon technology and development in Africa. ASH is a partnership between STEPS Centre at the University of Sussex, Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), Africa Technology and Policy Studies (ATPS) and ACTS, where the secretariat is hosted. The workshop brought together key policy makers and practitioners selected from the East African region in addition to development partners who have supported climate change strategies, actions and innovations in Africa. The policy makers and practitioners were trained on various aspects of building innovation systems. The caucus provided one of the first platforms for East African policy practitioners, makers and their development partners to exchange ideas, experiences and challenges for building innovation systems for addressing climate change in the context of the sustainable development goals. This went on to enable policy makers and practitioners maximize institutional and financial opportunities for building climate compatible innovation systems within their countries

Ockwell, David and Byrne, Robert (2015) Climate relevant innovation-system builders (CRIBs). The African Technopolitan, 3. pp. 83-85

Social Media (Twitter Presence)

E materials

• Training Brief 1
• Training Brief 2
• Policy Brief – CRIBS Training 1
• Policy Brief – CRIBS Training 2
• Workshop Report
• CRIBS Report
• Workshop Videos

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 677363. SALSA aims to provide a better understanding of the current and potential contribution of small farms and food businesses to sustainable food and nutrition security.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set broad aims for transforming towards sustainability, but putting these aims into practice will require constructing concrete pathways of change.

As the global climate change regime moves ahead towards 2020, there will be increasing investments related to climate change mitigation and adaptation in poor countries. Ensuring that the most adequate technologies are selected and that they are diffused and used in such a way that the outcome is better living conditions for the population is a major challenge.

AfricaLics was launched in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in March,   2012. The network’s objective is to promote the development of Science Technology and Innovation (STI), promote research capacity in Africa with strong links to users – including policy makers, private sector and communities.

Africalics project seeks to strengthen sustainability within the context of growth and development in Africa. As the continent strives to adopt technologies for quality production, structural changes are eminent. This includes strengthening capacity development, competence building, and production and innovation systems. Sharing of external connections globally and building of synergies within Africa will serve to create a platform for sharing of knowledge and deliberation of challenges hampering technology transfer from the North and the West and its adoptability in Africa.

The project is envisaged to broaden the applicability of science, technology and innovations in productive systems articulating for knowledge in research arena for technical innovation and how this innovation stimulates economic thrive and social development.

Objectives:

The prime purpose of undertaking this project is to strengthen research capacity in the field of innovation and economic development in Africa.

Africalics network ultimate aim is to  contribute to capacity building in the specific field of innovation and economic development, both at the individual, institutional and country levels. This will allow African countries to design policies suitable and responsive to their own needs, and instigate corrective measures to ensure the smooth production, dissemination and use of knowledge for economic development, including poverty alleviation.

Partners:

In order to make this project successful, several partnerships have been established linking donors, academia and research institutions among other stakeholders.

• Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
• Globelics
• Aalborg University
• African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS)
• Moi University
• University of Nairobi
• University of Dar es Salaam

Other Regional Lics include: Cicalics  _ China, Asialics _ Asia , Medalics, Lalics _ Latin America, Russianlics .

Funding: – SIDA

This research looks at investments, adoption and use of renewable energy in Makueni and Kisumu counties. It focuses on mapping of investments, adoption and use through the lens of gender equity and social inclusion. The main objectives are:

In recent years, we have seen an increase in activity to provide energy to low-income households and communities in developing countries, through micro-grids and other methods of distributed energy resources.

While studies have shown some improvement in people’s lives as a result of the incremental increase in access to lighting, there have been few studies evidencing broader improvement due to energy access.

However, access to energy itself cannot change people’s lives; rather, it is what people use the energy for that does change lives: appliance loads such as household devices, workplace machines, clinical/medical devices, etc.  These appliances can enhance quality of life, generate incomes and provide huge health benefits. Currently, the limited understanding and attention provided to the many market segments represented by the global poor, and of what types of powered appliances and products might change the quality of their lives (and, ideally, their economic condition) is extremely scarce.

Our research will use energy as the central theme to increase global understanding of the demand from various BoP segments with respect to low-cost energy-efficient technologies, and how such products can be sustainably developed and deployed in developing countries to have large-scale impact.  Specifically, we will ask the following research questions:

• What are the top- priority low-energy devices that have the potential to improve lives at the BoP?  What are context and culture-specific design and operational parameters that will govern levels of low-energy consumption? What are acceptable price points and how will the devices be constructed and commercialized at those levels?
• How can an effective innovation system be created to develop a continuous pipeline of pro-poor energy-related technologies?
• What types of new partnerships and business models will lead to the uptake of innovative low-carbon clean energy and energy-efficient technologies at required speed and scale?

Methodology

Focusing on Kenya, this project working with key private and public sector partners will:

• Conduct a series of in-depth market research on the energy-efficient products and their characteristics that are required by the healthcare sector and in homes across Kenya.  This will also identify barriers and opportunities to access to such products.
• Conduct techno- economic analysis of the identified products as well as review the various business models used to deploy them. This will help to identify the limits of how affordable these energy sources can become (and along what timeline).
• Prioritize the top-three in-demand products/systems (for used in households, workplaces, or medical facilities) and work with innovation hubs to develop and test prototypes of improved products meeting the demanded characteristcs and/or support the development of sustainable business plans for existing products meeting the criteria..
• Work closely with relevant private sector actors to develop innovative financing models understand consumer behavior, and encourage adoption.
• Study the medium-term social impact of these products, as well as barriers to adoption.

Impact and Outreach

We seek to accomplish three primary objectives through this project. Our goal is to help improve the lives and livelihoods of the urban and rural poor in developing countries by providing access to clean energy products and opportunities in the following ways:

• Creating demonstrable improvements in the lives of beneficiary communities in Kenya, by building and responding to demand for low energy appliances. During the early stages of the project, we will conduct deeper market research in household quality of life, health and livelihoods. From this we will develop and market three relevant, robust, low-cost, energy-efficient appliances and equipment which are critical, but currently simply do not exist. The objective is to develop a product portfolio of cleantech devices geared towards creating cross-cutting impact.
• Supporting self-sustaining, job-creating innovation capacity in Kenya, by working with existing innovation hubs, universities and technical institutions, and in particular by leveraging other funding for at least one Innovation Hub in Kenya.
• Mobilizing private sector investment in similar low-cost energy-efficient products for the poor in developing countries.

Publications

• LCT Demand side contextual drivers of inclusive innovation: the case of Kenya’s energy efficient appliances sector, M.Cheruiyot, R.Hanlin, S.Batchelor, N.Scott (2017)
• LCT Market Research Studies (Kenya), S.Batchelor, N.Scott (2016)
• LCT Survey report – Progress, challenges and lessons learnt to date, M.Cheruiyot (2016)
• LCT Desk Assessment of current products and players involved in the development and sale of domestic energy-efficient products in Kenya (2016)
• LCT Improved Cookstoves: Next Generation Ideas, Workshop report (2016)
  
• LCT Universal Access to Electricity: Closing the Affordability Gap, Mitra, S and Buluswar, S (2015) in Annual Review of Environment and Resources Vol. 40 (261-283)
• LCT The Universal Clinic: A New Paradigm for Rural Health Care? Mitra, S (2016) blogpost

Partners and Links

• Professor Joanna Chataway, Principal Investigator
• Jacob Fodio Todd, Research Assistant

Partnered institutions:

• African Centre for Technology Studies
• Institute for Globally Transformative Technologies
• The Nairobi Women’s Hospital
• The Open University
• The United International University
• Gamos
• Understanding Sustainable Energy Solutions (USES) Network

Funding Body – EPSRC

ACTS was contracted by the Canadian International Development Research Council (IDRC) to work with 15 African Science Granting Councils (SGCs) to strengthen collaboration between councils and with the private sector.

Over the period March 2017 to February 2020, the resulting Theme 3 consortium – lead by the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) collaborating with the Scinnovent Centre in Kenya, the Science Technology Policy Research Organisation (STIPRO) in Tanzania and the African Association of Universities (AAU) in Ghana – has worked with SGCs to achieve:

• Seven signed collaborative agreements between SGCs in different countries plus 2 more trilateral collaborative agreements being discussed (for signing by mid-2020).  These resulted in five research funding calls for cross-country research projects and seven projects being funded.
• Three SGCs were involved in exchange visit programmes instead of joint research project funding calls.
• 10 countries committed to developing PPPs in their countries while 6 countries managed to achieve this with 13 resulting research projects funded involving private sector participation.
• Multiple training courses and associated training manuals and toolkits were developed especially in the areas of science, technology and innovation (STI) policy, intellectual policy and technology transfer, research communication and organisational level monitoring, evaluation and learning.  The project culminated in a 2.5 day lessons learning workshop that bought together the SGCs and the researchers who were funded to share knowledge and learning.
• The development of a raft of different template documents to assist SGCs in developing collaborative and PPP arrangements including template memoranda of understanding, collaborative research agreements, flowcharts etc.
• The publication of 15 policy briefs, 3 journal papers, a series of short impact videos of the PPP research projects and an edited book entitled ‘Building Science Systems in Africa: Opportunities and challenges for science councils’.

The outputs from this project are available below:

Manuals, checklists and templates 

• FORMATION AUX POLITIQUES RELATIVES A LA SCIENCE, LA TECHNOLOGIE ET L’INNOVATION (STI) POUR L’AFRIQUE : UN MODULE DE BASE SUR LA RÉCONCILIATION ENTRE THÉORIE, PRATIQUE ET POLITIQUES
• Manuel de Formation pour les Conseils Subventionnaires de la Recherche Scientifique en Afrique
• Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy Training for Africa: A basic module on reconciling theory, practice and policies
• Training manual on strategic communication and engagement with private sector

Meeting reports

• Regional IP Training Workshop Report
• SGCI MEL Systems Support Workshop report
• STI policy workshop 2019 report
• The 2019 Regional Meeting SGCI Day1 and 2 summary report

Baseline reports

• Baseline overviews
• Baseline report Botswana
• Baseline report Ethiopia
• Baseline report Ghana
• Baseline report Côte d’Ivoire
• Baseline report Kenya
• Baseline report Malawi
• Baseline report Mozambique
• Baseline report Namibia
• Baseline report Rwanda
• Baseline report Senegal
• Baseline report Tanzania
• Baseline report Uganda
• Baseline report Zambia
• Baseline report Zimbabwe
• Baseline report Burkina Faso
• Aperçu Général des Évaluations de Base des Partenariats Public Privé dans la Recherche et la Coopération Scientifique
• Évaluation de Base de Partenariats Public Privé dans la Recherche et de la Coopération Scientifique au Burkina Faso
• Évaluation de Base de Partenariats Public Privé dans la Recherche et de la Coopération Scientifique au Sénégal
• Évaluation de Base de Partenariats Public Privé dans la Recherche et de la Coopération Scientifique en Côte d’Ivoire

Publications 

• Policy brief: Political economy insights for science system transformations in sub-Saharan Africa
• Building a competitive and socially inclusive local pharmaceutical manufacturing in West Africa through enhancing research, innovation and intellectual property
• Mise à Jour des Etudes de Cas sur l’Economie Politique des Conseils Subventionnaires de la Recherche Scientifique en Afrique Subsaharienne
• Role of Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer for the Sector
• Role of Research, Innovation, and Development
• Strategies for Enhancing Affordability through Procurement & Related Policy Incentives for the Sector
• Strategies for Human Resource Development for the Sector
• Exploring the role of public-private partnerships in health systems strengthening: Experiences from Southern Africa
• Poster – PPPs and Health System Strengthening in Southern Africa
• Pharmaceutical Partnerships for Increased Access to Quality Essential Medicines in the East Africa Region
• A study and Analysis of the Science Technology and Innovation (STI) Ecosystem of Ghana
• Switching to alternative cooking fuwls, such as biogas, offers the most impactful and immediate way to address forest cover loss in Malawi
• Valorization of Indigenous Knowledge as a Contribution to Ecotourism
• High demand low supply: Strategies for increased utilization of new propolis products in Uganda
• Maize germ and bran for value addition: High fiber bakery and confectionery products
• Biomass gasification for decentralized electricity generation in Malawi
• Development and transfer of innovation technologies for farm-level cocoa processing and use of by products
• Introduction of Solar powered technologies to the smallholder dairy industry in Malawi
• Policy brief outline Scinnovent training
• Optimization of rice production in the Nanan rice perimeter (Yamoussoukro-Côte d’Ivoire)

Book

• Building Science Systems in Africa

This project seeks to bridge the gap between research and policy making in climate change in Kenya and to strengthen the links between Kenyan climate policymakers, researchers and think tanks.

This project studies the supply chains of essential medicines and medical equipment and supplies from local industries and imports into the health systems in Tanzania and Kenya.

Shortages and unaffordability of essential commodities are known to be persistent causes of poor quality health care and exclusion from care in low-income African countries.  Yet too often, policies for health care and policies for industrialisation are made without reference to each other.

The central objective of this study, begun in 2012, is to bring industrial and health policies closer together.  We aim to identify opportunities for improved local industrial supply of health-related commodities to strengthen Kenyan and Tanzanian health system performance. Kenya is largest industrial producer within East Africa, and a source of supply of industrial commodities for the health systems of the region. Tanzania also has an industry supplying pharmaceuticals and some other essential items. The comparative study in the two countries aims to share experiences and cross-country learning, while bringing health and industrial policy makers together in each country.

The project began with interviews in the health sector in both countries. A workshop in Dar es Salaam in June 2013 presented initial results to an audience of policy makers and key stakeholders in the industrial and health sectors in both countries.Working papers on health sector supply chains in each country were produced after this stage.

In the next phase of the research, interviews were conducted in the industrial sectors in both countries, to seek to identify specific opportunities for enhanced local manufacturing and supply to the health sectors.  A second workshop in Nairobi in September 2014 took the form of a round table discussion with private sector businesses, policymakers, and health sector managers. Policy briefs and working briefs were presented to the participants, and made publicly available.  A third workshop will be held in Dar es Salaam in November 2014 to discuss project results with Tanzanian business people and policy makers.  We aim to inform both local and international policy processes and debates using our research findings.

This study is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), UK, and the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).  The views expressed in text and publications on this website are those of the project team. Please click here for further details about the project.

Project duration: May 2012 – March 2015

Disclaimer: The funders are not responsible for the web content.

African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) is working with FAO to identify the linkages between energy access and food losses in low-income countries in Sub- Saharan Africa (SSA) and to present case studies on novel ways of using energy to reduce losses.

For many developing countries ensuring food security remains a key development challenge, often aggravated by climate change impacts.

However, a number of governments that set-up national climate change strategies with the intention to improve conditions in the agricultural sector often find it difficult to address climate change mitigation, adaptation and food security elements in a synergy-oriented manner.

The question arises what kind of institutional set-up would be required to better address this challenge?

Germanwatch and Perspectives have coordinated this project in order to find a solution to this. Conceptually supporting policymakers and stakeholders in Kenya (African Centre for Technological Studies), Bangladesh (Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies) and Honduras (Fundacíon Vida), we have jointly developed a concept that can bring forward the pathway of climate resilience and low-carbon development in the agricultural sector, without jeopardizing food security.

Below you will find several documents that were developed in the course of the project:

• 3 country case studies from Kenya, Bangladesh and Honduras
• a paper synthesizing the findings of the 3 case studies
• a larger report that on the one hand examines agricultural mitigation and adaptation measures on a technical level as well as international funding options for a synergy-oriented approach and on the other hand presents our “Gatekeeper Concept” which is intended to help bridging the current gap

Donor: Climate Development and Knowledge Network (CDKN)

Project period: 01/08/11- 16/08/13 (24 Months)

Geographical locations of the research: Global, Bangladesh, Honduras, Kenya

Implementing organizations: Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), Bangladesh, African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), Kenya and Fundación Vida (FV), Honduras

Lead institutions:  Perspectives GmbH (PCC) and Germanwatch (GW), Germany

With funding from InfoDev, World Bank, ACTS has established the East Africa Climate Innovation Network (EACIN). The project commenced in Jan 2012 to Dec 2012. It was extended for 6 months to June 2013.

This is an action-research project being undertaken by ACTS through the DFID-TERI partnership. It Started in Oct 2012 and is expected to end in July 2015. The aim is to pilot models that can be scaled for provision of clean lighting and improved cook stove solutions for poor households in Kenya.

This project has been initiated by ACTS and Environment Liaison Centre International (ELCI) under the theme “greening the fisheries”. It was supported through ELCI and although it was initiated between March 2013 – November 2013, it will take several years to be implemented.

The overall aim of this project is to conduct research to inform the security of livelihood of fishing communities in Homa Bay, Busia, Siaya and Kisumu Counties and how this can be improved through sustainable utilization of the fisheries resource. ACTS plays a key role in gathering relevant data in improved firewood kilns. ACTS also explores the possibilities of solar driers for fish processing in a bid to greening the fishery economy and lead in delivery of relevant technology appropriate to the local communities.

Some of the achievements this far include:

• 10 improved burners were installed in two counties – Homabay and Siaya and successfully conducted efficiency test involving 120 stakeholders out of which three quarters were women.
• A survey was conducted on bionergy in four counties (Kisumu, Busia, Homabay and Siaya) leading to a status report.
• I workshop that brought together 29 key stakeholders among the fish folk and energy sub-sector.

IAASTD was initiated in 2002 by the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations as a global consultative process to determine whether an international assessment of agricultural knowledge, science and technology was needed.

The objectives of IAASTD were to assess the impacts of past, present and future agricultural knowledge, science and technology on the reduction of hunger and poverty, improvement of rural livelihoods, and human health as well as equitable, socially, environmentally and economically sustainable development. Even though the project has ended, policy oriented research and policy outreach have been achieved in different ways under the IAASTD project that run from 2005 – 2009. ACTS has continued to enhance national, regional and global dissemination of all the IAASTD outputs. In 2013 the secretariat continued to disseminate these reports at stakeholders meetings and also upon request. About, 10,000 copies of the IAASTD assessment report were distributed during different fora organised by ACTS and stakeholders. In addition, the same report is part of the 722,943 hits of the ACTS website. The report continues to impact academic and policy dialogues. For instance this report was used as a case study during the 2013 Summer School training held at University of Sussex, UK in May 2013.

The Centre collaborated with Leonard Chesire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre, University College London (UCL) and Real Impact to carry out research to explore the livelihoods of persons with disability and their opportunities in urban agriculture. The project period was March 2012 – Dec 2012. This research project was a component of the DFID funded Cross Cutting Research Programme.

The Integrated Transboundary Water Resources Management for the Lake Victoria Basin is a training programme targeting middle to high level personnel working on water issues that are Transboundary in nature. This was a 5 year project funded by Sida and implemented through partnership between Ramboll Natura, ACTS and SEI. 2010/2011 was the 5^th and last phase of the project.

The PISCES project was a 5-year initiative funded by DfiD that kicked off in 2007 up to June 2012. PISCES was granted an 18 months extension in 2012 that came to an end in December 2013. The objective of the project has been to provide policy makers with new information and approaches which they can apply to unlock the potential of bio-energy to improve energy access and livelihoods in poor communities.

The project has been implemented through coordination of ACTS in partnership with University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) in Tanzania, the University of Edinburgh (UoE) in the UK, the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), in India, Practical Action UK as well as Practical Action East Africa and South East Asia and CSIR, Ghana. Through these main partners, linkages in bio-energy sector have been enhanced. Consequently, through these partners and the wider stakeholder, the research, capacity building and policy outreach objectives of ACTS have been demonstrated. The policy research has also been spearheaded by ACTS culminating into useful policy research documents in the bio-energy subsector. Useful academic and policy learning materials have been disseminated widely. With regards to policy outreach objective, ACTS facilitated the development of bio-energy policies in Kenya and Tanzania as well as spearheading policy processes for sustainable bio-fuels in Africa. This policy learning and sharing of experience and expertise has demonstrated that Africa has the potential to build and utilize locally built capacity for greater regional development.  In addition to influencing policy, PISCES research publications have continued to shape bio-energy research. ACTS has also built internal capacity in the area of bio-energy.  Consequently, ACTS researchers in partnership with East African universities have continued to supervise bio-energy academic research. In 2013, 2 PhD students successfully completed their studies. Several PhD students are continuing with their studies.

This project is attributed to establishment of strong linkages in the bio-energy sector. These include the main implementing partners in this project including DFID as the funder, as well as local, regional and international actors engaged in renewable energy issue.

It aims at helping communities in 8 African countries adapt to climate change and share lessons learnt from project activities with key stakeholders at local, national, regional and international levels to elicit their support for climate change adaptation.

This three- year action research project is being implemented with selected vulnerable communities in Kenya, Malawi, Sudan, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The project will identify ways of communicating climate information to poor and vulnerable communities, and from communities to other stakeholders. Capacity building and support will be given to NGOs and communities through training to facilitate integration of climate change into their plans and activities. The project is funded by IDRC –CCAA.

Through collaboration with relevant stakeholders (particularly meteorological services), communities have been selected using the Local Options for Communities to Adapt and Technologies to Enhance Capacity (LOCATE) methodology formerly known as South South North Adaptation Project Protocol (SSNAPP) which specifically targets groups most vulnerable to climate change. In project design, special consideration has been given to women, who are particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts.

Participatory and consultative approaches have and will continue being adopted and a learning-by-doing approach applied to reduce vulnerability to climate change at the community level through the application of adaptation knowledge, experience and technologies generated by this project.

The intermediary NGOs have been identified and are working with, and supporting the implementation of community level activities geared towards climate change adaptation.

The project has generated initial information on community based climate change adaptation and disseminated these to inform other stakeholders including researchers, NGOs, national and international policy and decision makers among others’.

Through the project, awareness on climate change to and among NGOs, local communities and researchers will be empowered to integrate, carry out, and generate information on climate change adaptation. Greater support for adaptation has been elicited among stakeholders.

• Sudanese Environment Conservation Society- Sudan
• Environmental Protection Management Services- Tanzania
• Development Network for Indigenous Voluntary Association- Uganda
• Coordination Unit for the Rehabilitation of the Environment- Malawi
• Indigo development and change
• Energy and Environmental Concerns – Zambia
• ZERO Regional Environment Organization- Zimbabwe
• International Institute for Environment and Development- United Kingdom
• Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies- Bangladesh
• Stockholm Environmental Institute – Sweden

CBAA Publications

• CBAA Kenya
• CBAA Uganda
• CBAA Zimbabwe
• CBAA South Africa
• InsigtShare PHOTOSTORY

• Next priority in Wakesi village
• Water for Oyola Village
• Water in Wakesi village 
• Paricipatory Video for Monitoring and Evaluation Workshop Report
• Participatory Video for Monitoring and Evaluation Report: Kenya, Zimbabwe and Malawi
• Raising local adaptive capacity by Uganda and Adaptation Preparedness workshops by south Africa
• Building adaptation capabilities by Kenya and Assessing vulnerability by South Africa

• Adaptation and beyond No 1: Community Based Adaptation download here 
• Adaptation and beyond No 2: Working with adults download here
• Adaptation and beyond No 3: Climate Science download here
• Adaptation and beyond No 4: Gender and adaptation download here

Gatekeeper Bulleting No 142

CBA4: This publication contains abstracts (mainly in English, some in French) from papers presented at the fourth International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change which was held on 21-27 February 2010 in Dar es Salaam , Tanzania . The Conference was structured around plenary and technical sessions on a variety of important subject areas such as agriculture, water resources, and ecosystems to cross-cutting issues of policy, funding, and strengthening institutions. Nearly a hundred projects were showcased and demonstrate the sheer variety and innovation of current community-based projects. The projects are a resource for information sharing and learning

CBA5: The Fifth International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation (CBA), organized by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) and Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS), took place at the Sheraton Hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh from Monday, 28 to Thursday, 31 March 2010. The conference was themed “Scaling Up: Beyond Pilots,” focusing on the need to spread CBA knowledge and practical lessons horizontally across communities and vertically across levels of governance and action.

Adaptation to Climate Change: A Vulnerability Assessment for Sudan by Sudan

Funding – Co funded by IDRC and DFID

CLACC has been a capacity building global programme targeting the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and aims to strengthen their efforts to adapt to the unprecedented impacts of climate change linked to frequent droughts, floods, storms and others.

This calls for greater and more urgent climate change adaptation and mitigation action backed by informative and evidence based policy directions. The first phase started in 2004 – 2005 while the second phase ended in 2010. Since then it has been an annual project with yearly financial commitments and new thematic areas.

ACTS role has been spearheading the climate change initiatives in the Eastern Africa region and COMESA countries. The project has helped achieve the capacity building and policy outreach objectives. The policy outreach goal has been achieved via further annual participation of the CLACC fellows in UNFCC-COP meetings. Further, through coordination of this regional project, ACTS linkages with stakeholders in the climate related issues including donors have been enhanced. One such stakeholder has been IIED through which funds for this project were channelled. Following CLACC, new contracts that endeavour to follow-up on CLACC’s work have been signed annually since 2010 when the projects came to an end. Some policy lessons have been packaged into policy briefs and newsletters that continue to form bulk of ACTS dissemination and outreach materials.

Key achievements under this project include; ACTS continued to engage with various stakeholders including the ministry of environment in discussions leading to country position on climate change prior to conference of parties meetings. The Centre through two ACTS staff participated in 2013 pre-AMCEN meetings and pre COP meeting in preparation for key points to guide the African position taken by African ministers and Kenyan government.

Africa will be affected particularly in terms of food security, sustainable water supplies and extreme weather phenomena such as floods, droughts and desertification. In an increasing number of African communities, countries and sub-regions, economies and livelihoods continue to decline due to desert encroachment related to climate change and land degradation.

The goal of the Integrating Vulnerability and Adaptation in Eastern and Southern Africa project is to reduce the vulnerability of communities to the impacts of climate change, thereby improving their well-being and protecting their livelihoods. The project provides global environment benefits by contributing to the mitigation of land degradation and greenhouse gas emissions. To support achievement of its goal, the objective of the project is to promote the mainstreaming or integration of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change into sustainable development plans and planning processes through the three pilot projects.

Through the implementation of demonstration projects in Kenya, Mozambique and Rwanda as well as supporting activities at the regional level, the intended outcomes of the project are:

• Generation of capacity in each pilot project country to implement adaptation measures in the field that will reduce their vulnerability to climate change;
• Increased capacity in each country to generate and use information about climate change to effect change in relevant development policies; and,
• Increased knowledge of the linkages between development planning and climate change, including policy process and methodologies.

Project Goals:

The individual pilot projects will also contribute to the mitigation of land degradation and greenhouse gas emissions.

• In Kenya, efforts to reduce the vulnerability of Makueni District to the impact of drought through improved land management practices will contribute to sequestration or conservation of carbon in the soil.
• Community-based fire management in central Mozambique will reduce the area of forests that currently burn on an annual basis, and provide the skills necessary to address the rise in fire outbreaks anticipated as a result of climate change.
• In Rwanda, increased provision of energy from current and future mini-hydro dams will reduce demand for energy from fossil fuels and biomass sources.

Funding: United Nations Environmental Programme Global Environmental Facility (UNEP-GEF)
Executing agencies

• African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS)
• International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD)

• Centre for Innovations in Science and Technology with the Arid Lands Resource Management Project (Kenya)
• AMBERO-IP with GTZ (Mozambique), – Implementing Agency in Mozambique
• Kigali Institute for Science and Technology (Rwanda)

Kenya – weADAPT Development and Case Studies with Google

WeADAPT, spearheaded by the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), is a network of organizations working on climate change adaptation. The project seeks to collaboratively develop and pool expertise on climate change adaptation and develop and distribute new and innovative tools, methods and datasets.

The project will engage Google Earth interface as a technical platform for promoting and supporting information sharing and planning for adaptation.

Mapping Climate Changes Stakeholders

The analysis of social networks within the adaptation community will identify the structures and systems of decision-making for adaptation through an evaluation of social networking and social learning processes, and to assess the implications on these on implementing new collaborative / knowledge / decision tools.

ACTS has teamed up with the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and Practical Action in using Google Earth as a platform for mapping climate change stakeholders’ network. The initiative brings on board partners, projects, studies and experiences pertaining climate change. The main objective is information sharing via the internet.

The components of the project include the following:

Integration – the project, via weADAPT, provides a logical framework of data sharing and collaborative work. It aims to give researchers, policy makers and administrator’s immediate access to information at the moment they need it.
Analysis – development of analytical tools to visualize, describe and identify target areas where multiple needs intersect, for example where drought prone areas affect vulnerable communities.

Communication and sharing of knowledge – facilitating access to innovative ideas, data and relevant knowledge is a central goal of the project.

Mapping Adaptation
An Adaptation Layer is being developed as a layer in Google Earth as part of these technological developments to show adaptation prototypes and projects based on the data collected and documented in the weADAPT platform.

Users can browse on-line actions and maps, scanning adaptation experiences by location, sector and type. To access this layer users have to download Google Earth and then download the Adaptation Layer from the weADAPT portal -www.weADAPT.org.

In Kenya, apart from mapping climate change partners, studies and experiences within Nairobi, we will be focusing on four other climatic zones in the country;

1. Arid/Semi-arid (Tana River Basin)
2. Coastal region (Mombasa)
3. Lake Basin (Lake Victoria-Kisumu)
4. Mt. Kenya Regions (Kirinyaga District)

This will involve collection of information on climate change projects, studies, experiences and adaptation. Common details will be coordinates, photographs, detailed info on project outputs, videos etc.

Final outputs will be input to storylines on individual experiences, projects and studies. Spatial co-ordinates, contact persons and photographs will also be taken. This information will be fed into the Spreadsheet mapper and shared among partners.

Methodology

Methodology involved has taken the efforts of SEI and ACTS to develop. This is by the use of Google’s Spreadsheet Mapper to develop a database of partners’ coordinates, stories, photographs and other details. The details can then be previewed on either Google Earth platform or Google Maps.
This is an online mapping system and partners who can access internet can be invited to view and sometime edit the information.

Funding —- Google through SEI

In Kenya and other East African countries, there is a huge impetus to innovate in a context of uncertainty – in the world economy, climate change and human security. Innovation can be harnessed for development in many ways by both public and private sectors – from governments and transnational companies to small entrepreneurs filling a low cost market niche.

A challenge is how to enhance the capabilities of those working in innovation, whatever the sector. How do we understand the innovation process? How is technology and innovation policy made and shaped? How can we develop research skills that enable innovation and innovation policy to meet social needs?

This project was a partnership between the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) – a regional think-tank, research and training organisation, based in Nairobi – and the Development Policy and Practice Group. The project aimed to enhance innovation capability and enable people to promote innovation in current or future work. It remains central to both ACTS’ and DPP’s agendas. Enhancing innovation capability also a concern of other key players including Regional Economic Communities such as the African Technology Policy Studies Network (ATPS), East African Community, The New Partnership for African’s Development (NEPAD) and many public and private sector organisations and enterprises involved in education and training.

Project objectives
The project had the following objectives:

1. to evaluate whether OU distance learning materials for postgraduate study could be used to enhance capability and employability in technology policy and innovation research
2. to create a cohort of professionals able to use the materials either face to face or online to support the training of others
3. to adapt the materials and create open educational resources (OERs) that could be used in continuing professional development in the ACTS Institute training programme
4. to enable a wider use of the OERs for professional development in the East African region and beyond, by developing co-training initiatives with public and private sector organisations.

Project activities
The project activities included:

• Recruiting a group of participants from the energy, health and agriculture sectors to study a postgraduate, distance learning module on technology policy and innovation research at the OU.
• Evaluating the study experience of participants using questionnaires and a workshop. A smaller group was also interviewed at a later stage about their experience of the module and how they had been able to use it in their work.
• Using the workshop to ‘train the trainers’, in distance and face to face use of the materials. Some module participants also carried out presentations and workshops in their own organisations.
• Carrying out a second workshop with module participants, employers and other education and training institutions to create an outline of the materials to be adapted for open educational resources and to discuss the inclusion of East African case studies of innovation.
• Versioning the materials for open educational resources (OERs) and developing case studies of innovation in East Africa.
• Discussions and networking about wider roll-out and the development of new proposals.

Project outputs

The OERs were tested and launched, and ACTS has organised professional development courses using these materials. Any individual or organisation can now access them here

Please feel free to use these materials in your own education and training work.

The project leaders in ACTS and DPP have published an article on this this experience as follows:

Adwera, A., Hanlin, R. and Johnson, H. (2013) ‘Developmental education for innovation: lessons from an experience in Kenya’, International Journal of Technological Learning, Innovation and Development, 6(3) pp. 244–261.

Workshop
Pictures from the Workshop “Strategising Professional Training in Technology Policy and Innovation Research”, 5^th – 6^th October 2010, Nairobi, Kenya

Acknowledgements
We wish to acknowledge the assistance of the African Technology Policy Studies Network in the recruitment of module participants.

Funding
This web page is an output from the Education Partnerships in Africa (EPA) Project, funded by the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) for the benefit of the UK and African Further and Higher Education Sectors.  The views expressed are not necessarily those of BIS, nor the British Council.

The versioning of materials for Open Educational Resources was funded by charitable donations to the Open University.

Methodological design is integral to research and similar endeavors in pursuit of new knowledge. And whereas existing methodologies help standardize research approaches, their adoption, application and utility of associated findings vary widely depending on the type of research, discipline, personal preferences, understanding of the methodology and even geographical location.

The 3-year project, funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, aims to meet the growing demand of demand for research and development in responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in the continent.

Specifically, the project is supporting selected scholars to undertake and successfully complete PhD research in AI and ML in African universities; and early career academics (ECA) to strengthen their research and development capacities in the two areas. Special consideration is given to research projects on responsible AI innovation for sustainable development, gender equity, equitable regional distribution in low-income countries.

Project Partners

ACTS is implementing the AI4D Africa project in partnership with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology in Ghana; University of Linkoping, Sweden; University Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Senegal; Regents of the University of California, United States; Research ICT Africa , South Africa; HUMA – University of Cape Town, South Africa and Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique.

This initiative is built on the premise that whereas majority of doctoral graduates expect to secure jobs in academic and research, a postdoctoral period is desirable to develop fully-fledged, independent, and competent researchers. Also, there are very few universities in Africa that currently offers MSc and PhD programs in AI and ML. The bulk of the departments, however, do offer MSc and PhD in ICT related courses with some potential to supervise PhD in AI and ML.

Building Institutional Capacity

Apart from supporting research capacities of selected scholars, the project will enhance the capacities of existing ICT departments to offer MSc and PhD in AI and ML by supporting them with research tools and related infrastructure for AI and ML. This will not only facilitate the research activities of the ECA but will also be made available to other postgraduate and final year undergraduate students within the departments.

The project design has also lined up a series of complementary activities that will help enhance research capacities of the scholars which include short-courses, PhD Academy, quarterly seminars, annual workshops, mentorship, regional conferences and online training.

Expected Outcomes

After three years, it is expected that there will be a critical mass of scholars to enhance research and development in AI and ML related fields while public universities in sub-Saharan Africa will have developed their capacities to provide postgraduate training in AI and Machine Learning. In addition, there will be adequate access to knowledge by researchers and practitioners and enhanced networking opportunities of the AI and ML scholars.The programme is also expected to generate substantial evidence for policy making on AI and ML related issues enhanced in Sub-Saharan Africa.

For more information please visit project webpage through this link

Beyond cherry-picking”: aligning development actors and efforts for inclusive and effective governance of trade-offs and synergies between SDGs in East Africa

Our project has officially started on 1 December 2021 and is looking for PhD Candidates for 7 PhD projects in East-Africa co-supervised by Wageningen University (see Vacancies for PhD projects).

Project Summary

Numerous governments, businesses, and civil society organisations aim to contribute to achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the global South. However, cherry-picking SDGs coupled with lack of alignment between initiatives means trade-offs are not addressed and opportunities for synergy are missed. Progress towards achieving the SDGs is hampered by international development projects duplicating efforts on the ground; lack of coherence between donor policies; misalignment between national policies and multilateral development programmes; and diverging private sector investments. Aligning SDG efforts by these public and private actors operating across levels has itself become a challenge that will determine whether SDGs will be met in 2030. Together with our international, Dutch and East-African partners, this project will study the effectiveness of governance mechanisms that aim to align SDG efforts between (1) donors’ domestic and foreign policies, (2) donors and recipients, (3) different donors, and (4) public and private initiatives. By working across disciplines and with stakeholders, we will produce actionable research results. Policy briefs with tailored recommendations for co-designing inclusive and effective polycentric governance arrangements will be produced. We aim to support better alignment between development actors and efforts, so as to minimize trade-offs, maximize synergies, and achieve the SDGs in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

In each case study country, one SDG is the starting point for studying trade-offs and synergies with other SDGs:

Ethiopia: Multi-level study of interactions with SDG15 (Life on land): the challenge of landscape restoration

Kenya: Multi-level study of interactions with SDG2 (No hunger): the challenge of climate-smart livestock

Uganda: Multi-level study of interactions with SDG6 (Clean water and sanitation): the urban water-energy-food nexus

Five-year project funded by the Dutch Research Agenda Theme “SDG Interactions and Policy “Interventions in Developing Countries” | NWO NWA SDGs

Sub-Saharan African countries characterised by high poverty index, growing population, and increased pollution levels pose a significant danger of harsh realities of climate change.

Therefore, the COVID pandemic and the growing poverty group in SSA countries will likely impact the greening agenda substantially.  This calls for a building better paradigm by universities and entrepreneurs to skill the youth and women to engage in entrepreneurial activities that contribute to the greening agenda.

This project aims to develop and mobilise the green agenda in impoverished communities in post-COVID contexts in Kenya.  The goal is to foster green entrepreneurship amongst disadvantaged communities through innovation and entrepreneurship.  Green and circular economy enhancement will create job opportunities, boost the national economy and eventually support UN sustainable development goals.

In this initiative, we will develop an integrated research eco-system emphasising the Greening of the Economy, Skills, and the building back better (post-COVID) agendas.  The project will create services to match young and women climate entrepreneurs evolving business needs and match these businesses with master’s students to co-create climate innovations solutions to tackle the climate change challenges in Kenya.  The focus will be on changing technology roles and mobilising technological solutions (economic, institutional, medical, nutritional, social, etc.) to ensure a coherent integration into the Green agenda post-COVID economic reconstruction.  The approach will promote transdisciplinarity and inclusivity, essential to tackling climate change while achieving equity and justice.

The partner institutions implementing this project include- Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology (JOOUST), Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC), and the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), University of Johannesburg, and the University of Sussex.

Funded by: British Council

We wish this project well as we unite to grow and innovate Africa for youth employment opportunities.

The Global food system is the single largest driver of environmental change, contributing to 24% of global emissions and consuming 70% of the world’s blue water. At the same time 2 billion people are live with food insecurity.

All this while 24% of calories produced for humans are lost or wasted in the supply chain, and food loss and waste (FLW) represents 3.3 billion tons of GHGs – equivalent to making it the 3rd largest emitting ‘country’ in the world.

Looking at the Kenyan dairy-sector, the VALORISE project will examine how circular bioeconomy principles in food-processing can be leveraged sector-wide.

Circular bioeconomy is based on biobased circular models that take advantage of organic waste and sidestreams as a bio-feedstock and convert this biomass into products for various uses such as food, feed, fibres, bioenergy and industrial raw materials, adding value in the process.

By analysing the interaction of institutional, economic, biophysical and technical factors in central value-chain actors, VALORISE aims to help firms to innovate and diversify their businesses.

Project main outcomes:

• Improved knowledge of the characteristics, significance and distribution of dairy sidestreams and of assessing dairy resource flows
• Understanding and application of the appropriate technologies, products and business models for valorising biomass sidestreams in the Kenyan dairy industry
• Understanding the relationship between firms’ incentives and opportunities to innovate, unstable and emerging markets, and regulatory frameworks
• Refined methods for stakeholder scenario-building.
• Increased public awareness of dairy circular bioeconomy potentials and challenges.
• Increased knowledge and capacity in research, industry and government.

The project is being carried out by UNEP DTU Partnership along with DTU Food, Egerton University, The African Centre for Technology Studies, The International Center for Tropical Agriculture, The Eastern and Southern Africa Dairy Association (ESADA) and Arla Foods Ingredients, in close collaboration with the Danish-Kenyan Sector Strategic Cooperation and national stakeholders from industry and government.

Source FAO

Dr. Catherine Kilelu African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) Email Address: C.Kilelu(at)acts-net.org Telephone: +254 710 607 210

Project Consortium

The Science Granting Council Initiative (SGCI) has appointed a consortium led by the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), in collaboration with the Association of African Universities (AAU) and University of Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD), to implement a new programme – Supporting Africa’s SGCs to Fund and Manage Research and Innovation Projects. The goal of the programme is to strengthen the capacities of SGCs to fund and manage research and innovation projects in areas aligned with their national development plans and priorities.

The Approach

ACTS consortium will deploy the following approaches in the implementation of the programme.

• The Councils will be at the driver’s seat during the implementation of the programme with the consortium playing a supportive role.
• The fund will provide opportunities for the Councils to pilot and deploy some of the tools, templates, and guidelines developed from SGCI-1 & 2 relevant to the five listed programme objectives.
• Taking into consideration that Councils fund and manage several projects from different sources, the consortium will work with the Councils to build synergy including joint calls for proposals, workshops and monitoring and evaluation where possible.
• The consortium will make available the existing database at ACTS of reviewers in emerging technologies to those Councils that will require them. Monitor and evaluate research projects.
• During the implementation of this programme, the consortium will collaborate with other CTAs to build synergies.

Programme Objectives

The project is pegged on 5 specific objectives as outlined below:

• Refine / adapt a research and innovation framework based on Councils’ specific needs and interests.
• Design and manage high quality research competitions.
• Monitor and evaluate research projects.
• Mainstream gender equality, inclusivity and ethical considerations in all funded research projects; Synthesize research results, develop research outputs and disseminate through various media including supporting symposia for researchers.

How the consortium will work with Councils

The ACTS consortium will work closely with the Councils in six key areas outlined below:

1. Working with the Councils to refine/adapt the draft research framework by accounting for their specific needs and interests.
2. Supporting the Councils to design and manage high quality research competitions. This could include support to design the calls for proposals and review guidelines and to organize proposal development workshops. The proposal review panels would typically be organized by the councils.
3. Drawing and issuing contracts to be signed by the grantees, Councils and the collaborating technical agency. The Councils will be responsible for issuing letters of award to successful applicants.
4. Conducting joint monitoring of research projects with the councils, including joint review of progress reports and research outputs. The Councils will be the primary recipients of progress reports from researchers.
5. Supporting the synthesis of research results and development of various research outputs (including reports, journal articles, books and policy briefs) and their dissemination for use.
6. Supporting symposia for researchers funded by this programme in collaboration with the Councils.

Gender considerations

This new programme puts a lot of emphasis on gender equality and inclusivity which will be achieved as follows.

1. Ensure at least 30% of the projects funded will be led by female researchers.
2. Ensure that gender and inclusivity is embedded in the design of research methods, data collection, data analysis, knowledge production and dissemination, and final beneficiaries of project outputs (processes, technologies and innovations).
3. Target disadvantaged sectors (e.g informal sector) and researchers (Early Career Academics).

Contacts:

• Websites: https://www.acts-net.org and https://sgciafrica.org/
• Facebook: African Centre for Technology Studies – ACTS
• Twitter: @ACTSNET For more information contact: alutomiah@acts-net.org

Renewable energy has become a crucial pillar of Kenya’s power sector, contributing over 80% of the country’s electricity from sources like geothermal, hydro, wind, and solar power in 2021. With an awareness of the untapped potential, the Kenyan government aims to increase renewable electricity generation by 50% between 2021 and 2030 as part of its Least Cost Power Development Plan.

However, achieving rapid growth in renewable energy faces challenges that necessitate careful consideration of policy, economic, and political factors.

Project Objectives

The objectives of the project are:

1. To analyse the institutional, political, economic, and sociotechnical trends and dynamics that promote (enablers) and jeopardize (barriers) the implementation of renewable electricity policies in Kenya.
2. To provide a comprehensive assessment of the successes and failures of Kenya’s renewable electricity deployment policies to further deepen our understanding of the political economy of Kenya’s renewable energy subsector.
3. To generate practical evidence through case studies of renewable electricity auctioning, building evidence for policy recommendations for Kenya’s renewable auction policy.
4. To propose key recommendations for effective development and implementation of renewable energy policies for maximum benefits with a focus on renewable electricity auctioning.
5. Engage stakeholders, through a transdisciplinary approach, co-develop future scenarios for transition to sustainable energy, and disseminate findings through participatory workshops and stakeholder networks.

Partners

Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI)

Funded by UK aid.

Specifically, the study seeks to understand the design of emerging policies inter alia, electricity auction, net-metering, captive electricity generation and others in the pipeline as maybe identified during the study. Moreover, the study seeks to understand the broader economic, political and institutional context in which these policies will be implemented.

This independent academic research considers the policy, economic and political economy context that will shape the implementation and impact of renewable energy auction programmes in Kenya. It is informed by the fact that empirical evidence is scanty around the systemic factors that influence a join-up development and implementation of renewable policies which may have an impact on the expected outcome with regards to transition to a sustainable energy system. The overall aim of this study is thus to build evidence on systemic factors leading to failures and successes of policy development and implementation toward a sustainable energy transition. Our ultimate goal is to build evidence for policy recommendations targeting the Kenya’s renewable auction policy.

Principal Investigator

Dr. Ann Kingiri

Further, structural and social-cultural barriers limit their capabilities to access finance, markets and training to grow their businesses/enterprises compared to adult men. The impact is confounded by the African challenge of burgeoning youth populations requiring formal or informal employment. Our project will engage in joined up action research involving actors in the climate innovation/entrepreneurship ecosystem (CIE) to provide evidence for informing scaling of promising youth and women led clean energy4 enterprises for their transformative impact in the African context. The overall objective is to understand within the CIE context the systemic factors that enhance or constrain women and youth’ access to business opportunities in clean energy innovation5, and how the promising best practices can be scaled up for impact.

This research to action project premises that there is increased understanding and corresponding increased efforts by both private and public sector actors to accelerate clean energy transition globally as well as in low-income economies, particularly in Africa. There is also a consensus that the on-going efforts need to be scaled across sectors, nationally and at sub-national levels towards a universal and more inclusive energy transition (IRENA, 2022). These efforts provide a baseline for more in-depth research in this regard. The overarching goal is to generate evidence through transdisciplinary research involving actors in the CIE to inform scaling of promising youth and women-led CEEs (clean energy enterprises) and business models, and document impact in the SSA context. This evidence should consequently stimulate strategic gender–responsive policy and practical actions at grassroots, local, national, regional and international level towards just clean energy transition. The overall objective is to understand the systemic factors that enhance or constrain access of investment opportunities in CIE by women and youth, and how the promising best practices can be scaled up for impact in the African context.

The project will be implemented in Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, and South Africa for a duration of 36 months (1st December 2023 – 1st December 2026). It will be implemented by ACTS in collaboration with various partners; Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) Platform, ACCESS Coalition, Kenya Climate Innovation Center (KCIC), BURN Manufacturing Co., Ministry of Energy in Kenya, University of Johannesburg, Community Energy Malawi, KCA University, Youth Enterprise Development Fund (YEDF), Mzuzu University, Malawi and Makerere university, Uganda.