Alvine Kapitako
Windhoek-The Namibia Red Cross Society (NRCS) received a N$7.2 million grant from the European Union and the Spanish Red Cross (SRC) to promote renewable energy for climate change mitigation in Namibia.
The NRCS and SRC will be working on a project titled ‘Promoting renewable energy for climate change mitigation initiatives in Namibia.’
The main objective is to promote the use of renewable forms of energy and energy efficient technologies in ten selected rural communities in Kavango East, Kavango West and Zambezi regions.
NRCS secretary general Naemi Heita said the project, which started in March 2017, covers a period of 24 months and will last until February 2019.
She explained the aim is to have households and small-scale farmers increase the use of selected renewable forms of energy and energy efficiency technologies in their daily life.
The project also aims to ascertain that vulnerable communities of the targeted regions have increased awareness about the integration of renewable forms of energy into the rural community system.
“To do this, the two partners would have to facilitate the distribution of solar lamps to 200 households,” she said.
In addition, they would facilitate the construction of 200 improved biomass cooking stoves, added Heita.
Demonstration workshops will disseminate information on the benefits of energy efficient technologies.
Meanwhile, the communications manager at the NRCS, Rosemary Nalisa, said Namibia is unable to generate sufficient electricity to meet its needs. As a result, about 60 percent of its electricity is imported from countries in the region.
“This energy dependency has clear risks for Namibia. In order to both reduce energy dependency on its neighbours and address climate change, the government has prioritized climate mitigation actions, especially the generation of clean and renewable energy,” according to Nalisa.