GRÓ alumni in Kenya meet with UNESCO‘s Regional Office for Eastern Africa
GRÓ alumni in Kenya met for their first combined GRÓ alumni event on the 7th of March in Nairobi. Kenya has been a priority partner country of GRÓ for over four decades, with the biggest number of total graduates. In total, 175 fellows have attended the 5-6 month training in Iceland, 29 have received a MSc scholarship and 9 a PhD scholarship.
The meeting took place at UNESCO‘s Regional Office for Eastern Africa and was organised in connection to the visit of the Director General of GRÓ to Kenya. GRÓ works under the auspices of UNESCO and 30% of GRÓ‘s alumni have come from the 13 countries in Eastern Africa that are covered by the Regional Office. The aim of the visit was two-fold, to explore how the cooperation between GRÓ and the UNESCO Regional Office in Kenya can be strengthened as so much of GRÓ‘s work has been in the region, and how GRÓ can facilitate the creation of a GRÓ alumni network in the region.
The GRÓ Geothermal Training Programme has been working with Kenya since 1982 and 146 Kenyan fellows have been trained to date, 28 have received a MSc scholarship and 6 a PhD scholarship. Many of GRÓ GTP alumni have been leaders in the development of geothermal in Kenya. GRÓ GTP‘s partner institutions in Kenya are KenGen and the Geothermal Development Company (GDC), as well as Kenyatta University, the Ministry of Energy and Regional Development and the Ministry of Environment and Forestry.
Five GRÓ GTP alumni that were in Iceland at different periods, from 1996 and up to 2022, attended the seminar. Among them were three women that have been leaders in geothermal energy in Kenya. The alumni explained the role that the GTP has played in the development of geothermal in Kenya and how the research undertaken by fellows at the GTP helped them in harnessing geothermal resource so successfully. Today geothermal accounts for 47% of electricity produced in Kenya. Installed geothermal electricity generation in Kenya amounted to 944 MW at the end of 2021. The country has therefore outgrown Iceland in terms of electricity generated with its geothermal resources, as the corresponding figure for Iceland was 756 MW.
„Kenya is where it is because of the contribution it got from the programme. Kenya could not be among the top 6 or 7 countries in the world in geothermal, if it was not for the capacity building we got through the GTP,“ said one of the fellows. A discussion ensued on the experience of the first women to enter a male dominated field and how they have been mentoring and encouraging women to advance in the field of geothermal and how women are becoming more prominent in the sector, although challenges remain.
The GRÓ Fisheries Training Programme has trained 24 fellows from Kenya to date. Of these, one fellow has completed a MSc scholarship and three fellows have completed PhD scholarships. The GRÓ FTP has been focusing on the Lake Victoria region and the surrounding countries of Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, since 1998. The shared management of the lake has been a challenge and today many of the 76 fellows that GRÓ FTP has trained from the Lake Victoria region are working together on the sustainable management of fisheries resources in the lake. The three former fellows who received PhD scholarships from FTP are currently in key positions in fisheries in the region, Dr. Taabu Anthony Munyaho, Director at the National Fisheries Resources Research Institute (NaFIRI) in Uganda, and Dr. Chrispine Nyamweya, Assistant Director at the Kenyan Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI), and Dr. Godfrey Kubiriza, Senior Lecturer in Fisheries Science at Makerere University, Uganda.
Five fellows have graduated from the GRÓ Gender Equality Studies and Training Programme, four of which were present. They explained how the training they received in Iceland has helped them in putting gender into practice in their work, for example to engage men about gender advocacy, protecting women against gender-based violence and raising awareness about mainstreaming gender into all activities.
The Director General of GRÓ, Ms. Nína Björk Jónsdóttir, gave a presentation of the history and work of GRÓ in Eastern Africa and dr. Alexandros Makarigakis, Head of Natural Sciences Sector and Regional Hydrologist at the Regional Office, presented the work of UNESCO in the region. The meeting was attended by several staff of the UNESCO Regional Office, Ms. Auðbjörg Halldórsdóttir, the Permanent delegate of Iceland to UNESCO and Mr. Tom Mboya Wambua, Consul of Iceland in Nairobi.
Professor Hubert Gijzen, the Director of the Regional Office for Eastern Africa, also met the alumni following the event where the fellows told the Director of their work studies and research while in Iceland and their current work in Kenya. UNESCO‘s work in the region was discussed.
