Energy: Online Course Sustainable Energy for SIDS Policymakers

11 October 2018
Energy
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Projects

General information:

Island (Region, Province, Country):
Global

Population:
SIDS Policymakers

Budget / cost of the project:
$40k

Project objectives:
Increase awareness with regards to key topics of Sustainable Energy among SIDS policymakers

Project description of activities and specific interventions:

The UNDP Centre of Excellence (COE) for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) – based on Aruba – in collaboration with HAW Hamburg developed and offered a free 5-week online course for SIDS policymakers on Sustainable Energy for SIDS.

Since SIDS are scattered around the globe, an online course was the most cost-effective fomat to use, while at the same time ensuring interactivity.

The course took place from February to April 2018 and included online expert lectures, assignments and discussions, and links to further resources for more in-depth study.

377 participants registered for the course from islands around the world.

The course can be found at www.SE4SIDS.org

Public outreach, education and awareness efforts and results:

Outreach about the course has been extensive through online channels related to SIDS (ie SISRI, GLISPA, etc.) as well as related to renewable energy (ie IRENA, SE4All, etc.).

Through surveys the impact on awareness will be measured, but already feedback has been very positive:

“Sincere thanks to you and all in your team for this learning experience. I have learned much and I hope to do my little from my tiny corner.”
– Khushbu Rai, Fiji

“Thanks to the COE team for a great course that I have benefitted from immensely.”
– Shaynis Connor, Anguilla

“Thank you all for the opportunity to Online Learning course. It was a very interactive and accessible way of knowledge-transfer and sharing from various countries. I do applaud the facilitators, the support team and technicians that help made what Sustainable Energy for SIDs program possible.”
– Asenaca Vakasevuraki, Fiji

“Thank you so very much for the opportunity to participate in this very valuable course! I am very ardent about policy and clean tech, and welcome learning how to best set policy framework, especially for SIDs. I look forward to continuing the knowledge process with you, and participate in any further forums/projects as they arise.”
– Astrid Kowlessar, Trinidad & Tobago

Economic value added and how calculated:

The course was free for participants and already much positive feedback has been received from policymakers as they apply lessons learned into their work.

Economic value is difficult to calculate for this reason, but follow-up surveys will try to capture the impact (for example: what % of policymakers has applied learned knowledge).

I may not have official statics in our country but i stand by the logic i mentioned above.

Ecological and social project outcomes:

The 377 participants are more aware of the opportunities and challenges of Sustainable Energy in the island context. Although hard to measure, this in itself will have a positive influence on increasing renewable energy efforts and reducing fossil fuel based energy investments.