Electrifying Rural Malawi!

In April 2012, the Scottish Government announced IRRI's most recent partnership project, 'Rural Off-Grid Energy Kiosks', to be one of the winning projects funded by the Scottish Government Malawi Development Programme 2012/ 2013. 

IRRI is thrilled to be lead partner in such an innovative project, and looks forward to working with Scottish partner, David Livingstone Centre for Sustainability, and Malawian partners Renew'N'Able, Concern Universal Malawi, Eqnon, Leadership for Environment and Development Southern and Eastern Africa (LEAD SEA), WASHted, and Airtel Malawi. Drawing on the experience and strengths of the different partner organisations, the project promises to make a real positive impact on the lives of many communities living in rural Malawi.

At present, only 8% of the population in Malawi has access to electricity, mainly in urban centres. In rural Malawi, where the majority of the Malawian population lives, less than 1% of the population has access to electricity. Non-electrified communities rely on paraffin, which aside from being damaging to health, is becoming scarcer in rural areas and prices are ever increasing. The main aim of the Rural Off-Grid Energy Kiosks project is to contribute an innovative and viable off-grid community electrification solution which has real potential to increase rural Malawian's socio-economic opportunities.

The Rural Off-Grid Energy Kiosk project will install solar powered energy kiosks in rural Malawi, allowing households to buy and charge up batteries for their domestic use, therefore reducing their dependency on increasingly expensive paraffin and improving their access to efficient lighting, communication, and information. Since project kick-off in April, the first steps have been taken and we hope to be lighting up the homes of many communities living in rural Malawi over the coming months!

A successful year for Resource for Life

Last week saw the concluding session of the Resource for Life programme, as our primary schools rounded off a successful school year and packed up for the summer holidays.

Since the idea was born in Autumn 2011, the Resource for Life programme has developed in leaps and bounds, thanks to funding from the Robertson Trust, a donation from Nairns, and funds raised by the Runner Bean Team from the Great Winter Run.

Throughout the first year of the programme, 60 children have benefited from Resource for Life, learning the life skills necessary to help them access the resources they need for their lives from their local environments. The children have learnt how to grow their own food using low cost urban gardening techniques, how to recycle and reuse household materials to create useful items, how to use local water resources efficiently, how to harness local energy, and how to save energy in the home.

To recap and document the activities and achievements of Resource for Life 2012, we teamed up with London based children's arts charity, House of Fairytales, which is working with local schools and community groups to produce a journal which will be distributed in the Edinburgh Art Festival. This was a wonderful opportunity for the Resource for Life classes to showcase their learning, as they reported their food growing and designed advertisements for their DIY natural household cleaning products.

Aside from achieving encouraging learning outcomes, both children and facilitators thoroughly enjoyed participating in Resource for Life. Over the summer, we plan to learn from our experiences gained over the past year and develop Resource for Life, ready to make a comeback in the upcoming academic year, 2012/ 2013. If you're part of, or know a school that would like to discuss working with Resource for Life, please contact us at amy.clarke@irri.org.uk or 0131 202 1649.

For now, happy holidays everyone!

Many thanks, from the Runner Beans!

To all who kindly supported Resource for Life,

Thanks to your generosity and support of the Runner Bean Team, the Resource for Life programme has now been delivered in two schools in areas of deprivation in Edinburgh, with excellent results.  We have taught the children a host of new skills through four Resource for Life modules: Food, Recycling, Water, and Energy.  A recent evaluation of the first phase of the programme showed that both pupils and teachers appreciate and enjoy the course; more than that, they believe it provides a value that no other course can offer.

We now aim to expand Resource for Life into more schools in areas of deprivation in Scotland, and further field.  We believe the help offered by Resource for Life should be open to all who live in areas of deprivation.

Your kind donation has helped to pay for the development and delivery of this unique course.

Thanks for your support!

SMALLEST road show series Kicks off

IRRI is currently preparing for the final SMALLEST project partner meeting which will be held at the end of March 2012 in Aviemore, Scotland. The meeting will be followed by the first in a series of events focused on developing renewable energy policy across the Northern Periphery of Europe.

The road show series kicks off at the Scottish Holyrood parliament, in Edinburgh at the end of March 2012, followed by events in Eastern Iceland, Northern Ireland and Northern Sweden.

In April a two day event is planned in northern Sweden. The event will contain presentations, workshops, participatory events and site visits and has been organised through collaboration between North Karelia University of Applied Sciences in Finland and the Municipality of Norsjö in Sweden.

In Northern Ireland, Action Renewables and the Ulster Business School at the University of Ulster are teaming up to hold an event at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Belfast, on Tuesday 8 May, 2012. Members of the Enterprise Trade and Investment Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly, who are responsible for renewable energy issues in Northern Ireland will be presenting at the event, amongst others.

The SMALLEST partners are looking forward to the road show series and hope that these events will assist in developing community renewable energy across the Northern Periphery region beyond 2012.  

The SMALLEST project was set up to make renewable energy more accessible to the smallest communicates in the most isolated areas of Northern Europe. To find out more about SMALLEST, please visit: http://www.smallestnpp.eu/.

Resource for Life Appeal

This January, IRRI’s Resource for Life ‘Runner Bean Team’ will be daring the snowy peaks of Edinburgh’s Arthur’s Seat to take part in the BUPA Great Winter Run.

Our cause is Resource for Life.

Nutritious food, water, energy, transport, clothing, household staples; all things that we often take for granted. Not all of us, though. Some of us live with the tough reality of deprivation.

Resource for Life will work with children in areas of deprivation to provide them with the knowledge and understanding of resources, teaching them how to make their own environments serve their needs.

We are building a practical learning programme that will allow children to grow their own food, learn of sustainable energies, recyclable materials and sustainable transport and even learn about opportunities for them in the new green economy.

Any donation you make will help a child to learn and grow through his or her environment. Your money will help to make their world and our world a better place.

To find out more, please visit http://bit.ly/tOUEQ3

To donate, please visit http://bit.ly/sSadJv 

Please stay tuned to the IRRI blog for more updates on our fundraising campaign.

Sustainable Rural Communities Event

FREE Sustainable Rural Communities Event

On Thursday 27 October the Biofuel Business Programme and partners* will be hosting a Sustainable Rural Communities event in Birnam Arts Institute, Dunkeld, PH8 0DS.

This event is being tailored specifically to the farming community, and will feature brief technical overview and case studies of a range of suitable technologies, including Anaerobic Digestion, PV, Wind and MicroHydro.

The event will commence at 10.15am and will run until 13.30 at Birnam Arts Institute in Dunkeld. During the morning, delegates will have the opportunity to hear all speakers, and also meet a range of exhibitors providing advice on technologies, funding and legislation. A detailed programme for the day and exhibitor list will be provided on registration.

To register for this free event, please email bbp@napier.ac.uk or call the team on 0131 455 2217. 

If you would like to exhibit at this event please contact Claire Goncet, c.goncet@napier.ac.uk

Woodlands In and Around Towns (WIAT)

The Forestry Commission will potentially be hosting a course based around the management of urban woodlands (details below). Please express your interest to Jim Smith - Jim.Smith@forestry.gsi.gov.uk


Purpose

The purpose of this course is to demonstrate how design can make a positive contribution towards the WIAT objectives of:

·          Creating new woodland.

·          Bringing neglected woodland into active management.

·          Working with people to help them use their local woodland.

Audience

This course has been developed for all those who have responsibilities for the creation and management of woodlands intended for active use by local communities. This includes all those who are involved in the preparation and consultation of such urban woodland management plans.

Content

Over the two days, the course will demonstrate the stages of the design process:

·          Gathering and use of survey information.

·          Understanding the opportunities and constraints of a site.

·          Developing a design concept.

Through that design process key urban woodland subjects will be covered, specifically the contribution of design in:

·          Community engagement.

·          Anti-social behaviour.

·          Woodland access thresholds, pathways and spaces.

·          Use of woodland spaces.

·          Woodland edge.

Outcomes

At the end of the course it is anticipated that you will have an enhanced appreciation of:

·          How the agency of design can optimise the delivery of a quality woodland environment for a local community.

·          How design can contribute towards effective community engagement and help resolve anti-social behaviour.

·          The fundamentals of the design principles and their application in the design process.

·          The location, use and linkages of spaces for people to optimise their woodland experience.

·         The development of an urban woodland design through to the preparation of a concept design.

And overall, increase your capacity and confidence to effectively communicate your ideas and engage creatively with all communities of interest.