The Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) and the African Energy Commission (AFREC) and the hosted two virtual kick-off meetings to launch the activities of the of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Support Center in Uganda and Malawi. The launch of the project took place on 15th April 2021 in Uganda and 26th May 2021 in Malawi respectively.
The NDC Support Center is an initiative of VITO and AFREC has been established to create an African Knowledge Center for NDC to enhance the capacities of African countries to produce and update their own NDC and sustainably increase the capacity of African countries by improving their National Energy Information Systems and their energy modelling skills. The Center also aims to enhance countries competencies on energy and climate modelling, so they are able to prepare climate communications and NDC governance processes. Technical demonstration projects aimed at improving energy efficiency and supporting renewable energy initiatives will also be applied.
On the onset, the project will be implemented as a pilot for a period of 2.5 years in three selected African countries represent diversified geographical regions of the continent namely Morocco, Uganda and Malawi, with the aim to extend it to other African countries.
In her address, H.E. Mrs Kitutu Kimono Mary Goretti, Minister of Energy and Mineral Development of the Republic of Uganda expressed her gratitude from all partners’ endeavor to launch the pilot project and highlighted that Uganda is privileged to be nominated as an initial beneficiary country for this important intervention. ‘‘Uganda gives its full support strongly implement this project so that it comes to fruition, she stressed.
Honourable Newton Kambala, Minister of Energy who also spoke during the launch of the project in Malawi, stated that he is grateful that Malawi has been selected for the initiative of the NDC Support Center. He underlined that data collection, processing and dissemination is one of the key challenges which will be addressed through the Center and that energy statistics and modelling capabilities will be enhanced, an important action which is vital for determining the country’s GHG emissions. He expressed the commitment and readiness of the Government of Malawi to work with AFREC and the NDC Support Center partners.
The NDC Support Center's partners, VITO, AFREC and CO2Logic, expressed their commitment to contribute to sustainable solution to Africa’s energy sector through this project to improve energy efficiency, facilitate energy transitions and combat for climate change challenges in Africa. They also expressed gratitude for the trust of the Government of Flanders to grant support through their international climate finance to implement this project in collaboration with local partners and African Member State countries, even more so, recognition to ensure a strong continuation of the partnership for building ‘the Africa we Want’.
The NDC Support Centre will be established with the financial support from the Government of Flanders (Belgium) through the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO). The NDC Support Center is also benefiting from technical support from CO2Logic, a carbon and environmental consultancy company, which is part of the implementing consortium together with AFREC and VITO.
