Kenya CCG Network Annual Workshop 2024

On 20-21 February 2024, the Kenya Climate Compatible Growth (CCG) Network reunited at Maanzoni Lodge for the fourth annual workshop entitled Nurturing cross-sectoral connections for a climate-compatible future. The event brought together over 87 delegates from government, academia, international organisations, non-government organisations, and industry. The main objectives were to deepen the connection across different sectors relevant to CCG, celebrate the work accomplished over the past year, and establish clear work plans for each Special Interest Group (SIG) to prioritise projects in the next year, writes Dr Beth Tennyson.

The first day started with opening remarks from Dr Faith Odongo (Ministry of Energy and Petroleum), Eng Kihara Mungai (Energy and Petroleum Regulation Authority), Ms Robina Abuya (British High Commission-Nairobi), Dr Lara Allen (Centre for Global Equality and University of Cambridge), and Eng Dr Julius Butime (Strathmore University), who set out their hopes and expectations for the days ahead.

We then held a Plenary Session, chaired by Mr Martin Mutembei of Strathmore University, where we learned about the recent developments in policies and infrastructure projects within Kenya. We heard from Dr Faith Odongo on the current status of the Kenya Cooking Transition Strategy, Eng Kihara Mungai on Kenya’s newly launched Green Hydrogen Strategy, Eng Boniface Kinyanjui (Kenya Power and Lighting Company) on how the CCG ‘Data-to-Deal’ framework could work in the Kenyan context, Anne Kiburi (SEforAll) on Kenya’s new Energy Transition and Investment Plan, and finally, Ms Michelle Akute (Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority) on the long partnership between CCG and the Least-Cost Power Development Planning team.

Following this informative session, we moved directly into the co-creation part of the workshop, where the different SIG groups, (seven in total), gathered together to generate a work plan. The seven SIGs are: (1) National-level planning (2) County-level planning (3) Climate Entrepreneurship (4) Clean Cooking (5) Low-emission transport (6) Policy Pathways (7) Climate-Land-Energy nexus.

Poster Session

At the end of Day 1, we held an evening poster session to celebrate all the amazing work done by members of the Kenya CCG Network. There were 19 posters displayed all around the room to showcase the interesting research that CCG partners have been working on throughout the year.

The majority of Day 2 kept the participants within their SIGs to continue co-creating research activities and work plans, however, the day also contained a variety of interactive sessions.

Panels

The first panel focused on the Climate-Land-Energy-Water nexus, chaired by Prof Ed Brown (Loughborough University), with panellist Dr Victor Otieno (WRI), Dr Will Usher (KTH, Sweden), and Dr Ioannis Tsipouridis (Meru University of Science and Technology). The second panel, chaired by Dr Julia Tomei (UCL), covered Gender, Equality, and Social Inclusion with Energy, the panel experts were Mr Tom Maruti (Ministry of Energy and Petroleum), Mr Steve Mugambi (National Council for Persons with Disabilities), Ms Jacinta Gatwiri (Women in Sustainable Energy and Entrepreneurship), and Ms Beryl Onjala (Modern Energy and Cooking Solutions)

Awards and Closing Ceremony

To celebrate the Network’s accomplishments, the delegation voted on the best presentation and posters from throughout the event.