News Pass-Out and Networking event of the Solar Extension Agents (SEAs)

Two events were conducted by our partner ACSET on the 19^th April, 2024 in Lira.

The pass-out event was attended by old (from ProREU, see here) and new SEAs, District Energy Focal Point Persons (DEFPPs) from the 9 districts in the Lango Sub region, the 2 Vocational Training Institutes (VTIs), representatives of Private Sector Actors (PSA), Uganda Technical College (UTC)-Lira and the GIZ energy coordinator. During the event, important stakeholders of the project gave their remarks about the trainings and future possibilities in the field of renewable energies. Educational Institutes and Politicians now work alongside to broaden the reliable access to green energy in Northern Uganda. The Minakulu Training institute is planning to integrate solar trainings as a fix course into their curriculum.

During the event, the SEAs received their official certificated and a professional solar tool kit, to enable them to start with their services in their communities. Further, they received advice from the Energy Coordinator (GIZ) about employment opportunities.

Afterwards another meeting followed to gather all SEAs for a qualitative exchange. The old SEAs from ProREU shared their experiences and gave advice to the new ones. One success case is the one of Ogwang Caesar. He managed to start an own company, which now employs more than six young people. Also, others report, that they receive a lot of work requests.

Besides, there are also challenges for the SEAs, especially for women it is hard to gain trust from potential customers. Often the male a preferred. Further, clients refuse to buy suitable tools of higher quality is it appears too expensive. When the cheap tools stop working after a short time the technicians are blamed. Also, the seasonality of work, according to the school terms, leads to unemployment and an instable income.

The SEAs used the event to elect leaders of their SEA-Network. We hope, that with a well-structured network and the registration of the SEAs as a company, they gain even more trust in their communities and can gain enough income to also bridge low season.