Victoria University is hosting training workshop on Supporting African Municipalities in Sustainable Energy Transitions (SAMSET).
Partnering with the Center for Urban Governance and Development, and Uganda Martyrs University Nkozi, the training which started yesterday, November 7, 2016, aims at improving use of energy in municipalities.
Among those in attendance are government department officials, development partners, architects, engineers, planners, building control officers, energy managers, contractors, housing associations, developers, clients, students, academics and researchers.
The first day saw members attending the course go for a field trip to acquaint themselves with the scope of urban energy.
The five day training will see participants share with stakeholder’s findings, strategies and case studies from the research.
Concepts from these sessions are geared towards supporting initiatives for energy transitions in various arena in the urban environment, an official document explained.
On Day 3 and 5, there will be parallel sessions offering tutorials for the Long-range Energy Alternative Planning (LEAP) tool.
LEAP is widely regarded as a useful integrated modelling tool to account for the energy usage and transformation throughout a defined economy, and also importantly the energy and non-energy sector Green House Gas (GHG) emissions resulting from a range of consumption patterns at urban scale.
This Continued Professional Development course is focused on promoting responsible use and access to clean energy.
It also seeks to capture practitioner’s insight into urban energy planning, implementation and management. Energy despite being a vital tool in achieving economic development remains in deficit quantities.
The SAMSET project is working to better understand the needs and how such capacitation can possibly be done, with a focus on current and future energy needs.
The project includes organisations and municipalities from the countries of Uganda, South Africa, Ghana and the UK.
Not only is research undertaken to inform decision-makers of the problems and opportunities, but strategies are developed to address these, and implementation of the strategies is supported.
Speaking about the partnership with SAMSET, Victoria University said the Faculty of the Built Environment at UMU and Centre for Governance and Development is strategic enough for capacitating key players, engaging society – the idea of participation and as a think tank for practical solutions at both policy and service delivery level.
SAMSET and the training presents an opportunity to showcase innovation and best practices in urban governance as a driver for sustainable urban energy planning, implementation and management.
