On 10 January, SI Representatives in Nairobi, Kenya, met with UNIDO officials to continue discussions begun by SI UN Representative Roswitha in Vienna last year. Michelle Chitechy, Women and Climate Change Project Coordinator, sent the following meeting report:

 

"Dr. Alice Odingo, SI UNEP Represenative, Sophie Koech, Lucy Mburu and I had a very
successful meeting with the UNIDO Representative for Kenya and Eritrea Mr. Ola
Altera and the Project Coordinator-Africa Adaptation Programme Mr. Felix
Kiptum.

 

The meeting started with
introductions and a brief background on the Soroptimist and Women and Climate Change project, given by Dr.
Odingo. We then shared some of the success projects, including the LED
lamps Eldoret project, tree planting
promotion, use of solar lanterns by Karen Blixen Club and the Jiko Kisasa project for
Kisumu Club.

 

Mr. Kiptum then gave a
brief  background of service modules UNIDO undertakes such as: Trade Capacity
Building, Poverty Reduction and Energy and Environment. He also outlined some of
the Kenya projects under UNIDO: Bamboo programme for people evicted from Mau;
Successful Access to Energy programme like the use of coconut shells and briquettes
as an alternative to charcoal; Sustainable Coast Tourism; Bio-Gas project in
Homabay; and a Rehabilitation programme in Mombasa.

 

They also informed us of
some of the upcoming projects – among them Kerosene Replacement Programme (use of
LED lamps) and Soya Beans project.

 

We agreed to continue discussions and create links with other partners, working together and sharing information when developing future projects. Mr. Kiptum also promised
to link us with International Labor Organization (ILO) who are engaged in green
jobs, and a training programme which aims to help youth identify business
opportunities. These are good ideas and a positive direction. We look forward to developing this relationship further."