BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – St. Kitts has completed the hosting of three workshops on sustainable energy.
The Organization of American States (OAS) through its Department of Sustainable Development and the Energy Department of the Caribbean Community Secretariat collaborated with the Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corporation (CARILEC) to accelerate the transition toward cleaner and more sustainable energy in Caribbean countries.
Three organizations working under the umbrella of two EU-funded initiatives, namely, the Caribbean Sustainable Energy Program and the Caribbean Renewable Energy Capacity Support (CRECS), co-hosted the three regional workshops on sustainable energy from September 10 -14, 2012 at the Marriott St. Kitts Resort.
The workshops were attended by official delegates from Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The first workshop from September 10-11, focused on building capacity for the design and implementation of sustainable energy and energy conservation awareness programs.
The second workshop on September 12, was attended by government officials from Ministries responsible for Education, and energy and climate change, as well as science schoolteachers and reviewed the Caribbean Energy Awareness and Education Programme (CEEAP) and its campaign Learn and Save and explored avenues for its expansion as a follow-up to the CSEP.
The intention is that CEEAP would help to reinforce institutional and pedagogic capacities to integrate in the curriculum, the importance of energy efficiency and renewable energy sources.
On September 13 and 14, a Teacher’s Sustainable Energy Workshop was held with the session attended by government officials from the Ministries of Education and science school teachers.
This session consisted of lectures and hands-on exercises in renewable sources of energy, energy efficiency and energy conservation. In addition, a package of educational materials and toolkits were handed-over to the six independent OECS countries and the Bahamas
The workshops were led by Dr. Alexandra Daval, an expert in Information and Communications and Mr. Jonathan Rand, who has taught thousands of teachers and students about wind energy, and has facilitated teacher workshops on renewable energy science across the United States as well as Canada, Costa Rica, Chile and Ireland. “We are pleased to bring to the region the extraordinary skills and experiences for the workshop leaders together with the deeply committed education and energy sector representatives of the Caribbean to help expand clean energy educational practices,” said Mark Lambrides, Energy and Climate Change Mitigation Section Chief at the OAS
The changes taking place in every aspect of today’s world have a powerful and immediate influence on the nature and function of professional educators, whose roles include the ability to mediate between students and the world around them. These challenges have already been recognized by the Education Ministers at the Twenty-second Meeting of OECS Ministers of Education held in St. Kitts in 2012
Given that synergistic efforts are needed to strengthen the capacity building of government officials to implement educational and awareness programs that endorse sustainable energy in the Caribbean, the OAS is working closely with other relevant agencies, such as the Caribbean Renewable Energy Development Programme, CARILEC, the University of the West Indies and the OECS Secretariat, among others.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the recent workshops that Dr. Alexandra Daval and Mr. Jonathan Rand led were a big step towards educating more people in the Caribbean about clean energy. At the 2012 Twenty-second Meeting of OECS Ministers of Education in St. Kitts, the education ministers had already acknowledged the difficulties brought about by the changes in the modern world. Professional educators have a crucial role to play in mediating between students and the world around them, and these challenges require them to adapt continually.
Representatives from the education and energy sectors in the Caribbean are doing a good thing by wanting to teach more about clean energy. Experts like Dr. Alexandra Daval and Mr. Jonathan Rand will help them reach their goal. To learn more about the efforts to promote clean energy, read here about energy software development.
