Next week will mark the anniversary of the rehabilitation of the first Rwandan boreholes in the frame of the successful partnership of co2balance and Climate Corporation Emission Tradning GmbH. The first 12 boreholes rehabilitated in Gatsibo district has been in operation for nearly a year and have been supplying fresh and clean water to the local communities. According to the monitoring studies conducted by our in-country partner Rwandans4Water, on average more than 500 people are served by one borehole, meaning that just the first 12 borehole provide clean water to 6,000 people. This is a great achievement in a sector, according to the Rwanda Ministry of Infrastructure (2010), the sustainable operation and management of rural water supply infrastructure is one of the key challenges with approximately one third of the existing infrastructure (about 850 rural water systems) needs rehabilitation. Please see the photos of few of those 12 borehole below and stay tuned for more good news from Gatsibo district, Rwanda.
Author: co2balance
Cookstove LSC in Rwanda
On the 16th of September another successful Local Stakeholder Consultation took place in Gashora, Rwanda which marked the launch of a new cookstove projects in Bugasera sector. The projects will be implemented in the frame of a partnership between co2balance UK Ltd and Climate Corporation Emissions Trading GmbH, while the field activities will be facilitated by our in-country partner FAPDR with whom we have successfully worked together in previous projects. The stakeholder consultation started at 10:00am and was attended by a high number of participants from six sectors of the district as well as by the representatives ofClimate Corporation Emissions Trading GmbH and co2balance UK Ltd. FAPDR took an active role in the moderation of the meeting which was held both in Kinyarwandan and English. After answering the questions from participants, the meeting was concluded with stove demonstration and the closing ceremony, following Gold Standard guidance. Please see some pictures of the meeting below and stay tuned for updates about this new project. 
Borehole LSC in Kayonza
After the successful rehabilitation of more than 60 boreholes in Gatsibo district in Rwanda, co2balance is exploring the opportunities to further expand its operation in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. As a part of this process, we have invited people to the local stakeholder consultation which will take place at 10 am on the 16th of September at the Head Office of Kayonza District. The stakeholder meeting will be facilitated by our in-country partners FAPDR and Rwandans4Water and will be attended, among other, by representatives from both Co2balance and Climate Corporation Emissions Trading GmbH. We welcome anyone interested in our clean-water projects and hope to see many local and international stakeholders next Wednesday.
More boreholes rehabilitated
In partnership with our local NGO partner Rwandans4Water, we have finished the rehabilitation further 30 boreholes in Gatsibo district this month. According to the data collected on the field, it means that at least 15,000 more people have now access to clean water, many of them are young children. Borehole users are also involved in community sensitization programme and in the monitoring so our project partner can always have the most up-to-date information from each and every boreholes. Rwandans4Water have complied a fantastic video of their ongoing work in the district which also features the projects we are working on together, please have a look!
Progress in Rwanda – borehole rehabilitation in Gatsibo
In partnership with our local NGO partner Rwandans4Water, we have finished the rehabilitation further 30 boreholes in Gatsibo district this month. According to the data collected on the field, it means that at least 15,000 more people have now access to clean water, many of them are young children. Borehole users are also involved in community sensitization programme and in the monitoring so our project partner can always have the most up-to-date information from each and every boreholes. Rwandans4Water have complied a fantastic video of their ongoing work in the district which also features the projects we are working on together, please have a look!
Eritrean Borehole Projects in Gold Standard Listing Process
As a result of its pioneering global micro Programme of Activities (mPoA), co2balance are assisting partners develop projects in countries that have yet to see much benefit from carbon finance initiatives. The most recent additions to our PoA are GS 4422 and 4423 which are first of its kind clean water borehole VPAs in Zoba Maekel, Eritrea. These VPAs are implemented along with our partners Vita an Irish Charity. Both projects proceeded to the Gold Standard listing process this week. Watch this space for updates from the borehole rehabilitation programme as the success of these projects goes from strength to strength.
Zoba Maekel Stakeholder Consultation July 2015
Vita Team addressing the stakeholders in the district
Our Carbon Zero Federation Dashboard
The Carbon Zero Federation Dashboard (FED Dashboard) is an online interface, designed in-house by CO2balance that provides project partners a central access point to all the key documentation relevant to project development as well as data entry tools for monitoring activities. Due to the data intensive nature of carbon projects, ensuring that all records are stored in a secure location both in hard copy and electronically is important so that they are easily accessible for auditing purposes. A key advantage of the FED Dashboard is that the functionality can be customised according to the requirements of our clients. As outlined below, the Dashboard has three primary functions;
1) Project Documentation
Documentation and templates relating to each stage of the project cycle are stored in this section of the FED Dashboard. This provides a master copy of all documents that can be accessed and downloaded both internally and by Partners working with CO2balance on specific aspects of the project. Access for Partners can be set up and tailored so as to provide only the necessary information and documents for each stage in the project development.
2) Stove Sales Record and CTF Management
Obtaining the carbon rights form (CTF) is a crucial element of the project development process and a copy of each form needs to be uploaded to a database in order for an electronic copy to be stored and made accessible for project auditors. One of the primary functions of the Dashboard is to provide a secure space for storing the CTFs electronically and creating a total sales record (TSR) which is ultimately used to calculate the emission reductions. The following functions provided by the FED dashboard allow for easy management of the TSR;
- CTF forms can be downloaded directly from the FED Dashboard in PDF format
- Once the CTF details of a stove recipient have been collected, a photo of the CTF is uploaded to the FED Dashboard from any location in the world in close to real time. This means that field staff in remote locations can transfer data quickly and efficiently and thus minimise the risk of mislaying important information.
- After the details of each CTF have been entered into the Dashboard, they are automatically transferred to a spreadsheet, which can be downloaded as an excel file. This crucial process enables the user to track and manage the technology records easily in close to real time which allows for accurate management and monitoring of project sales.
3) Data Entry
An additional function that Partners can access in the FED Dashboard is a data entry system for the monitoring surveys such as MKS’ and KPTs, which considering the data intensive nature of carbon projects, can help save time and minimize the risk of data entry errors.
Confirmed this past week, World Vision Kenya will be using our in house written software for the development and monitoring of 2 improved cookstove projects in Kenya, Wema and Mogotio. This is a great step forward for the collaboration of our two companies and will allow us both to have instant access to data, which will improve efficiency and ease of communication.
Goodbye, CO2balance!
I’ve been at CO2balance for two years and am now moving on. Despite computers notorious (and frustrating) ability to cease functioning for no clear reason I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time and would like to thank everyone I’ve worked with over the two years.
Despite the fact I was initially employed as IT support it didn’t take long for us to realise it’d take more than a few computer issues to keep me busy and as a result I quickly started working on web development projects to occupy my time.
One of the projects I was able to work on was the Challenge Africa project sponsoredby SCC. The project allowed 5 employees from SCC to travel to Kenya to build a fence around a school to help benefit the local community. I built a website to allow the employees to raise money through events and publish them through an events feed. The trip was a great success with the participants raising £5,636 in just a few months.
In addition to creating websites, some of my time at CO2balance was spent streamlining day to day tasks of others. One nifty system I created allows the projects team to tag photos from their trips to countries and events, then upload them to the server to be globally accessed throughout the office by simply searching for the tags, thus allowing us to vastly increase our image library for the future – keep an eye out for some new photos in the future!
After spending two years in such a great office with such great people there’s a great many things I’ll miss. Here’s just a few:
- Listening to Richard’s music – from 15 meters away (despite his use of headphones).
- Matt and his need for help with the simplest of IT matters.
- The grubs up van and their fancy horn to reminding me it’s almost lunch time!
- Everyone in the offices ability to forget every password, no matter how simple.
- The projects teams stories of the outside world (I will continue to argue it’s overrated).
- Being with people who think I know what I’m doing (Although I think you’re all well aware by now that my standard procedure is click buttons for a minute or two then turn the computer off and on again).
- Paul’s quick cooking tips.
- The Shop of Doom and their delicious Southern Fried Chicken baguettes
- Pretending I understand what CO2balance does.
I’d like to extend a big thank you to everyone at CO2balance. I’ve been given brilliant opportunities in my time here and the experience I’ve gained has been invaluable. I’d like to say an extra big thank you to Martin (if he reads this) for teaching me everything I know about programming, Dan for keeping me company for the last few months and Matt for frequently interrupting my workload and giving me a quick chuckle.
Good Bye CO2balance!
It’s been a pleasure to work with all of you and wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavours. I hope CO2balance can continue its great work in Africa and the rest of the world.
Risi Cheshire
Getting stakeholders views in Nakuru and Baringo Counties
Due to the expertise that co2balance has in developing carbon projects it has partnered with World Vision to develop a clean cook stove project in two Counties in Kenya. As a result on 4th and 5th of March 2014 co2balance team together with the World Vision managed to successfully carry out three local stakeholder meetings in Wema – Nakuru County and Mogotio – Baringo County respectively. The meetings were very crucial as they provided vital feedback from all stakeholders who attended the meetings. More importantly the meetings provided feedback from community members who will be the users of the stoves. Through the meetings much was gathered in relation to the needs of the community in this project that will provide good guidance in rolling out the project.
During the meetings it was our pleasure on our part (co2balance represented by Lloyd and Moses) as carbon experts explaining in the simplest way to the communities about carbon credits, carbon market and carbon finance issues that seemed to amaze them very much. Most of the community members were passionate and we look forward to a successful engagement as a result. This is justified by the fact that many of the stoves that were brought on-site for viewing by a local producer called SCODE were bought by stakeholders in attendance even to the surprise of the seller.
Managing to have government ministries, County government representation and NEMA in the meetings was a great achievement for us as it clearly indicates the kind of support we together with World Vision have from the government. Most importantly was seeing various government officials and NEMA officers in attendance fully endorse the project as they urged the local communities to take advantage of the opportunity.
Listening to the local communities share their sad stories on how their smoked kitchens have negatively affected them and their children moved hearts of many thus confirming the fact that this clean cook stove project could not have come at a better time. Many also narrated stories regarding difficulties they undergo to get these vital pieces of wood; firewood and dear costs and time consumed in search of firewood. Despite all these, we gave them hope in our solution that using clean and energy efficient cook stoves would provide a solution to their current menace.
The meetings went well; however to make the process adequately participatory and following Gold Standard requirements we still continue to collect more views from stakeholders through the contacts provided to the stakeholders. At the end of it all, community stakeholders were happy, government officials were happy, world vision were happy, as co2balance representatives we were happy thus with confidence we can say the three LSC meetings were a success and the battle against climate change continues!
Team Building and Training in the Aberdares
On 11th and 12th of February 2014 co2balance Kenya held a rigorous training in the Nairobi office then proceeded to the field in Aberdare’s one of co2balance project areas for practical’s. The training was attended by the three regional coordinators and myself; the newly recruited PDC in Kenya. Lloyd a UK based project manager who is in Kenya currently attended the training too while at the same time playing a key role of coordinating the whole training process.
The training couldn’t have come at a better time as it enabled me as a person and the rest of the team to visualize things that seemed vague initially and gain deeper understanding about the whole project cycle and other project nitty gritties. The training provided a rear opportunity for the trainees to gain a diversity of essential theoretical skills regarding various project monitoring surveys in terms of when and how they should be conducted, validation process, verification, how to create and effectively use GPS maps, carrying out a water boiling test and many more.
We further took time in the field in one of co2balance project areas and had very informative practical lessons where the trainees were given an opportunity to put theory into practise with the guidance of the trainers. In the field we were joined by some of the education community liaison officers (ECLO’s). Seeing members of the team shed tears and some with their handkerchiefs blowing their running noses they developed after the kitchen got “smoked” by the three stone stove was a lifetime experience. It was indeed a great learning experience working with the team in a small village kitchen carrying out a comparative WBT on both three stone and CZK stove.
As away to measure impact of the training, trainees were asked to indicate their confidence in carrying out project tests and surveys and they all confirmed that their confidence had been increased. The regional coordinators and the ECLO’s who attended the training were tasked to go and train other staff on the project hence boost the technical knowhow of the whole Kenyan team in totality.
Good manners compel me on behalf of all trainees and the whole Kenyan team who will as a result benefit from this training thank the management of co2balance for having provided resources that were instrumental in facilitating this very important activity. Lloyd’s ability to coordinate the process remains commendable. I must also mention and thank the trainers (Jack and Teddy) too for their wonderful job.
co2balance 