Mar
07
2019

Renewable Energy Forum

The Scotland Malawi Partnership hosted a new member-led SMP Renewable Energy Forum which was held for the first time on 7th March 2019 in the Edinburgh City Chambers.

The Scotland Malawi Partnership (SMP) is excited to announce the formation of a new member-led SMP Renewable Energy Forum.

The group met for the first time on 7th March 2019 in the Edinburgh City Chambers. Minutes from the meeting will be available soon.

During the meeting, Edgar Bayani, Country Director of Community Energy Malawi delivered a presentation on the context of Renewable Energy in Malawi, which can be viewed here.

The group is being initiated in response to the suggestion of SMP members from multiple institutions working in this sector between Scotland and Malawi, who see value in sharing: information, expertise, challenges, lessons learned and opportunities.

Any individual or organisation involved, or intending to become involved, in renewable energy development in Malawi is welcome to join the Forum.

The Forum will be chaired by an SMP member organisation active in Malawi. For the first 18 months it will be co-chaired by the University of Strathclyde (Professor Stuart Galloway) and Community Energy Scotland (Nicholas Gubbins, CEO) on a rotating basis.

Attached is combined draft Terms of Reference and draft 18-month work-plan for consultation which were considered at the Forum’s first meeting. This version reflects the edits and amendments that were raised at the meeting.

For more information on this meeting, SMP Renewable Energy Forum Minutes are available here. We have also published a document outlining the Outcomes and Actions from this meeting.

Further Context:

Recognising increased cooperation in this area, Renewable Energy is one of two new Strands in the inter-governmental Global Goals Partnership Agreement (GGPA), signed between the President of Malawi and the First Minister in April 2018.

The ‘Malawi and Scotland: Together for Sustainable Development’ conference in September 2018 brought together government, parliament and civil society, from both Scotland and Malawi, to discuss the next chapter in the bilateral relationship and specifically identify how civil society can support the delivery of the GGPA.

The Conference had six Working Groups, one for each of the GGPA Strands, including Renewable Energy. MaSP has created new groups, one for each of the two new Strands in the GGPA. Each of these Strand Groups meet biannually, with the Renewable Group having most recently met on the 29th November in Lilongwe.

SMP Members in Scotland have approached the SMP asking the Partnership to establish a sister-group in Scotland, to help coordinate, represent and support cooperation in this area and to help advance the priorities agreed in the Conference Statement.

This new SMP group is a Member Forum, sitting alongside the existing SMP Forums in Health, Further and Higher Education, Primary and Secondary Education, etc. Like all SMP Forums this is not an operational group, directly involved in direct delivery, but a space for those involved to come together, network, share their learning, be informed by Malawian input, and discuss future collaboration.

Edgar Kapiza Bayani Country Director Community Energy Malawi