Skills Development Workshops For 10 Off-Grid Bungalows’ Operators

A 4-day skills development workshop jointly organized by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the Government of Vanuatu, through the Department of Energy and the Department of Tourism and the Australian Government funded Vanuatu Skills Partnership (TVET) was held on the week of 23rd to 27th October, 2017.
The first training workshop session was held at the Holiday Inn Resort in Port Vila on the 23rd and 24th October, 2017 and was attended by selected bungalow operators from Tanna, Nguna and Pele.
The second workshop was held at Lonnoc Beach Bungalows on Santo, with selected participants in attendance from Santo and Malekula. Representatives from all ten bungalow operators attended the training sessions at either Port Vila or Santo. The trainings were delivered by representatives from the Vanuatu Bureau of Standards, Energy4All and GGGI.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Antony Garae, the Director of Energy, acknowledged funding support from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) under the guidelines of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) partnership program, GGGI, TVET and the Vanuatu Government for funding the workshop. He also thanked the bungalow operators for meeting their own travel and accommodation cost to participate in the workshops.
The workshops were organized in conjunction with a pilot project on Solar Freezer for ten off-grid bungalows.
“This is one of a unique project that the Department of Energy is delivering in partnership with another Government Department, a skills development program and small rural business entrepreneurs.
“We hope to scale up and replicate this project if it proves to be successful with financial backing from the Government, the off-grid bungalow operators, and external donor partners,” said the Director.
The project aims to improve livelihoods and electricity access, reliability and affordability for small rural tourism operators in selected off-grid sites in Vanuatu through access to refrigeration powered by solar systems that enables diversification of services and improved income streams. The workshop included a session on gender-specific requirements for the project which could provide increased employment and income creation opportunities for women. With thirty five percent of the workshop participants being women, many of whom are co-owners of the bungalows, this project has high potential to positively impact gender equality. A specific session on understanding the projected increased productivity of bungalow owners as a direct impact of the project was also held. The outputs of this session will support justification of the project scale up, and identification of appropriate financing sources.
The solar refrigeration for Vanuatu Rural Tourism Operators program responds to Vanuatu’s NDC to increase use of renewables in all sectors and reach 100% renewable electricity production by 2030 and will mobilize finance towards greener economic growth through the rural tourism sector.
The project has replication potential within Vanuatu and includes private sector engagement (tourism micro-enterprises and solar PV product suppliers).
The Updated National Energy Road sets rural tourism bungalow targets of 25% by 2020 and 65% by 2030 under its green growth objectives.
The project will contribute towards achievement of the above stated renewable energy targets.
It also aligns with one of the key strategies under the Department of Tourism’s Vanuatu Strategic Tourism Action Plan 2014-2018, to support Green Tourism initiatives and practices that contribute towards addressing high energy costs.
The funding for this project is provided by the BMZ implemented as per the guidelines of the NDC partnership and is administered by GGGI.
 
(Source: Vanuatu Daily Post 31 October 2017)