Anyone and everyone is welcome and warmly invited to take part in this Forum which puts emphasis on listening to, being led by and aligning with Malawian priorities. You don’t need to be a member to participate in the Forum, nor an Energy or Renewables Expert.
There is much experience and expertise within this Forum. It exists both as a Community of Practice for Energy & Renewables practitioners and as a safe space for individuals and organisations with any form of dignified people-to-people link between Scotland and Malawi to find out more about Renewables. All are welcome to participate and to share their experience and insights, signpost resources, ask questions, support others and be supported.
To enable as much sharing and Malawian leadership and participation as possible, events are held online, some with a hybrid in-person element.
The Forums are recorded so that as many people as possible can benefit from them.
Professor Stuart Galloway
The Forum is chaired by Professor Stuart Galloway, Professor of Compact Power Systems and Vice Dean: Knowledge Exchange, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Strathclyde.
A brief message of welcome from Stuart can be found on the SMP’s website here.
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Key drivers and supporters of the Forum include:
Edgar Kapiza Bayani
Founder & Country Director at Community Energy Malawi (CEM) - an innovative and results-oriented development practitioner with 9 years as Country Director in the Energy sector and a combined 17 years’ experience in development projects.
Damien Frame
Senior member of the Energy for Development team within the Institute for Energy and Environment, University of Strathclyde who has been participating in and leading energy access partnership projects in Malawi for over 10 years. Find out more here.
Aran Eales
Research Associate, Electronic and Electrical Engineering, the University of Strathclyde who has a track record of delivering international and cross disciplinary research and implementation projects on energy access, specifically in sub-Saharan Africa. Find out more here.
Further details on the focus and specific targets of the Forum can be found in the TORs document, which in brief are to:
- Continue to focus efforts on off-grid decentralised renewable energy solutions
- Commit to working within district-level decentralised planning processes
- Look to improve how electrification is tracked, mapped and shared to avoid duplication
- Look to share our knowledge and learning through all appropriate channels, including UN knowledge repositories
- Commit to capacity-building as a continual process, with a focus on asset management
- Recognise that just as Scotland can support Malawi to increase access to modern energy services, Malawi can offer reciprocal help in supporting Scotland’s understanding on how decentralised energy solutions and behaviour change can achieve energy efficiency and decarbonisation.
Outcomes being pursued by the Forum can be viewed here and in brief are:
- Progress and outcomes from meetings consolidated and shared, strengthening partnership structures and membership
- Data shared to support coordination of effort and shared learning
- Government of Malawi Renewable Energy Policy (which was developed through Scotland-Malawi collaboration) supported and operationalised
All future events are listed in the Upcoming Events page of our website. All Forums are advertised in our free, weekly, online-newsletter to which you can sign-up for here as well as events being promoted across social media platforms.
Please sign up for Forum events on Eventbrite via the SMP website so that we can share all event info, updates and Zoom link with you.
All previous Forums are featured on the Past Events page of our website. See several examples below.
Renewable Energy Forum
SMP Renewable Energy Forum with special guest William Kamkwamba
To contribute, ask a question, or for any other matters relating to this Forum, please contact: info@scotland-malawipartnership.org.
The Forum would love to understand how Renewables might support your activity in Malawi and assess the wider need for independent, expert advice on issues such as:
- local appropriateness
- sustainability
- pros & cons of different technologies
- working with renewable energy installers in Malawi
- your own renewables questions…
Please come to the next Forum or e-mail: info@scotland-malawipartnership.org.