Dr. Taco Niet and Yalda Saedi from DeltaE+ research team recently organized and delivered a four-day technical and policy workshop as part of a one-year project with Catalyst+, Taita Taveta University (TTU), and Mitacs funding. Over the last year, they were supporting well-educated specialists from TTU under supervision Dr. Bernard Alunda to learn CLEWs and participate in Energy Modelling Platform for Africa (EMP-A 2023), resulting in the development of a CLEWs model for Kenya that was presented at a high-level meeting at the event. The Kenya workshop helped TTU professors and graduate students to develop a detailed CLEWs model using the latest tools to achieve the goals outlined in the County Development Plan.

SFU-TTU has many future projects planned, including visitor scholarships for two graduate students from TTU to conduct research for up to six months at DeltaE+ research lab in Canada, to gain valuable knowledge and bring it back to their home university to benefit their research team

During the recent workshop, a successful meeting with Andrew Mwadome, the Governor of Taita Taveta County, led to the development of a new network between academics and policymakers in Kenya. This marks a new beginning in exploring more projects between the university and county, which will support the implementation and achievement of the goals outlined in the County Development Plan. Our main goal is to support specialists in gaining valuable knowledge and becoming independent in addressing their country's needs, while securing access to affordable and renewable energy.

Our guest lecture at TTU on CLEWs was a great success. We had over 50 attendees from around the world with diverse academic backgrounds. Participants with no prior CLEWs or modelling experience gained knowledge on the linkages of climate, energy, food, and water, and their contribution to sustainable development goals. They acquired a conceptual understanding of the CLEWs Global approach, methodology, and were presented with the result of CLEWs Kenya.

Participants: Dr. Taco Niet, and Yalda Saedi