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WISIONS Shares Lessons Learnt with Young Students
Young international students recently had the chance to take a closer look at the lessons learnt from WISIONS experiences of implementing sustainable energy solutions in developing countries. 22 young students attended the ‘Development Education Programme’ organised by STUBE-Rheinland in Bonn between the 12th and 14th October 2012.
The group was not only diverse in terms of nationality (students came from Nepal, Iran, Cameroon, Morocco, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Brazil and India) but also in terms of the academic fields represented (engineering, economics, social sciences and law).
WISIONS presented an overview of existing options for meeting basic energy-related needs. The presentation highlighted the technical, social, environmental and economic challenges that are often faced by the implementation of community-based energy projects. Experiences of SEPS projects illustrated how these challenges can be addressed in practice. Following the presentation the students had to apply the concepts they had learnt by developing hypothetical project concepts that met the main sustainability criteria for WISIONS.
The activities provoked keen interest from the students on topics that were of particular relevance in their home countries. For WISIONS it was inspiring to have the chance to share its vision and experiences with young people who would probably become development practitioners in the near future.