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The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and Strathmore University have todayentered into a Memorandum of Understanding that will see the two institutions partner intraining and sharing knowledge on water and energy- related subjects.
This partnership will see Strathmore University offer physical space and technical learningcapacities to ICRC’s team of engineers, staff, and other humanitarian partners, particularly inthe field of renewable energy to enable sustainable power and water supply.
The ICRC will inturn equip the University’s laboratories with customized training equipment and tools to thetune of 100,000 USD to be used by students taking these courses.
The partnership comes inrecognition of Strathmore’s knowledge and expertise in this field under its School ofComputing and Engineering Sciences and its already well-established Energy ResearchCenter.
The new collaboration is intended to strengthen ICRC’s years of working to securebetter living conditions, delivery of health services and livelihood initiatives, which includeproviding access to essential services as water and power supply for thousands of peopleaffected by conflict around the world.
“the number of energyprojects implemented as part of our operational responses has increased tremendously overthe years and is expected to further accelerate in the context of global transition to renewableenergy resources. Our team of specialists, specifically the Water and Habitat engineers, willbenefit from this partnership which will see them consolidate their competence in this area aswe seek to increase the use of renewable sources of energy in our operations and in ourpremises,” he said.
ICRC’s Head of Regional Delegation Olivier Dubois.
Prof. Izael Da Silva, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research and Innovation at StrathmoreUniversity added that the training program will contribute to global efforts in increasing accessto modern energy and water.
“Conflict areas have previously been neglected in such initiatives.Strathmore University is therefore delighted to partner with ICRC in this endeavour”.
By establishing the Energy and Water Knowledge Hub with Strathmore University, ICRCwill create training services for ICRC staff and operational partners from all over Africa andbeyond. The developed courses will also be made available on the market to other individualsand humanitarian agencies in need to scale up their technical competencies in this field.