Welcome Remarks

JOHN O. KAKONGE
Senior Deputy Director
Special Unit for South-South Cooperation

MR. MASSOUD HEDESHI
Focal Point for South-South Cooperation and LDCs, Special Programmes Group

United Nations International Development Organization (UNIDO)

Email: m.hedeshi@unido.org

TITLE OF THE SOLUTION:
RURAL ENERGY DEVELOPMENT IN RWANDA

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENTATION:
The Nyamyotsi minihydropower facility in the District of Nyabihu, Western province, was inaugurated on 9 February 2007. It produces 100kW of electricity for the local population of about 4000 inhabitants, serving 250 households, local authorities’ offices, two schools, a clinic, commercial shops and others.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY:
MR. MASSOUD HEDESHI is currently the UNIDO Focal Point for South-South Cooperation and Least Developed Countries. Mr. Hedeshi has 14 relevant years of experience in international relations and development cooperation and he had been exposed to working in the five regions of the world – Asia, Africa, Americas/Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East.

His expertise in this field include competencies in Aid Effectiveness & Results-Based Management (with specialisation in South-South & LDCs); Development Planning (including in post-crisis & transition contexts); Programme Evaluation & Monitoring; Strategic institutional and human resource capacity development planning and implementation; Complex Programme Formulation and Management (inc. Trust Fund Management); Private Sector Development; Quality drafting, report writing, journalism, and advocacy.

MR. KIRAN MAN SINGH
National Programme Manager
Rural Energy Development Programme (REDP), Kathmandu, Nepal

Email: Kiran.singh@redp.org.np

TITLE OF THE SOLUTION: 
ENHANCING RURAL LIVELIHOODS THROUGH ENERGY SERVICES IN NEPAL

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENTATION:
As of September 2009, a total of 550,000 people from 100,000 households have been benefited from REDP activities, of which 240,000 people of 42,828 households have already accessed electricity services. Of the total, women accounted for around 50,000. The vulnerable communities accounted to approximately 64 per cent. Similarly, a total of 34,050 people including 15,000women have been provided with capacity building activities, of which 2,596 are developed in the technical aspects of micro hydro plants operation, maintenance and management. REDP’s contribution to holistic development of the rural communities is immense. Major impacts are seen in (1) Increased capacity of all stakeholders, (2) Enhancement of rural livelihoods, and (3) Improved quality of life with Access to electricity.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY:
KIRAN MAN SINGH has over 30 years of proven expertise Development Planning (including in post-crisis & transition contexts) Programme Evaluation & Monitoring, Strategic institutional and human resource capacity development planning and implementation, Complex Programme Formulation and Management (inc. UNDP TTF), Public-Private Partnership
And Community Mobilization for holistic rural development through rural energy. Mr Singh has been rewarded at national and international arenas for promoting decentralized rural energy systems for sustainable human development, covering highly challenging urban and rural contexts through the mobilization of national, local government and community organizations in ensuring vertical and horizontal partnerships to link community level realities with local and national policy and institutions development. Successfully practiced and led in up-scaling to the formulation and promulgation of the first Rural Energy Policy based on the decentralized planning and implementation.

DR. FRANCISCO CARRION MENA
Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations

Representative of the President of Ecuador to the Yasuni ITT Initiative

Email: onunewyork@mmrree.gov.ec; unvelastegui@gmail.com

TITLE OF THE SOLUTION:
Yasuni-ITT – The ECUADOR SOLUTION

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENTATION:
As a proposal to keep fossil fuel reserves underground indefinitely in areas that are highly environmentally and/or culturally fragile, the Yasuni-ITT initiative is pioneering a mechanism to prevent emissions of greenhouse gases with the participation of developing countries and is a replicable proposal in special in developing countries which combats climate change, maintains megadiversity and have significant fossil fuel reserves in highly biologically and culturally sensitive areas (among the countries that fulfill all of these conditions are Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Papa New Guinea, Peru, Bolivia, the Philippines and Venezuela). Yasuni ITT looks to establish partnerships to promote: 1) Development of renewable energy programs (geothermal, hydropower, wind and solar); 2) Public policies for the protection of indigenous people in voluntary isolation; 3) local development projects associated with the conservation of biodiversity; 4) Public policies for adaptation, mitigation and prevention of climate change, and; 5) Information systems and indicators on climate change at national and local levels.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY:
DR. FRANCISCO CARRION MENA is currently the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations and concurrently the Representative of the President of Ecuador to the Yasuni ITT Initiative. He had been a Career diplomat (Ecuadorian Foreign Service since 1974) and former Minister for Foreign Affairs (October 2005-January 2007). Ambassador Carrion had served in various government, academic and media positions including, among others, as an international consultant on a variety of foreign policy issues, Counsellor and Chargé d’affaires, Paris (1982-1988), Diplomatic Adviser and Coordinator to the President (1988-1991), Minister and Chargé d’Affaires, London (1991-1996), Under-Secretary for National Sovereignty, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1996-1998), Member of the Ecuador-Peru Peace Negotiation Commissions (1996-1998), Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs (1998-2000), Ambassador to Spain (September 2000-10 October 2005), Researcher (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales -FLACSO- since 2007), Columnist (El Comercio newspaper -Quito-), and, Director General of the Andean Observatory of External Politics -OBANPEX- (2009). Ambassador Carrión had been author of several international affairs books -some of them obtained awards-. Ambassador Carrión during his career has received decorations from the governments of Brazil, Chile, Peru, France, Spain and Portugal.

MR. ZIA ul-ISLAM
CO-PANELIST 1 
Chairman

Peoples Housing Cell

Government of Sindh/Pakistan, and
Chief Minister’s Special Assistant

Email: zia.zislam48@gmail.com

TITLE OF THE SOLUTION:
BENAZIR HOUSING TECHNOLOGY
-A Poor Person’s House in the Age of Climate Change!

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENTATION:
In the age of climate change, where billions of human being are motivated to change their way-of-life best suiting to environment, housing is relatively neglected sector. Millions of brick kilns across Asia and Africa are emitting green house gases while burning the precious trees as kiln fuel. With “Benazir Energy Efficient Disaster Resisting Housing Technology” of GEF SGP Pakistan which is now being mainstreamed and piloted through the funding and partnership of the Government of Sindh, Pakistan, the usage of bricks is being replaced by sun-dried compressed earth blocks (CEB). This dawns as an era of new innovation in housing sectors from both adaptation and mitigation perspectives. Our housing technology is energy efficient, earthquake and cyclone resistant, and exotic looking despite low cost. With a ready material this house can be built within seven days. Through our designed mechanized block making machines 3000 blocks can be made in one day as against 200 blocks per day on a conventional machine. By making one million CEBs in as short a period as three months to construct 500 houses in six months in 31 villages remotely scattered in a 400 square kilometers region, we have almost made history . GEF SGP Pakistan’s “Benazir” model is an answer to the world’s housing problems from cost-effectiveness as well as community based adaptation perspectives.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY:
MR. ZIA UL-ISLAM is currently the Special Assistant to Chief Minister, Sindh and Chairman, People’s Housing Cell. Mr. Islam is in-charge of carrying out the new government’s initiative to cater to the housing needs of poorer sections of society. This primarily entails the provision of free, low-cost houses to the shelter-less and disaster-affected families in rural areas and affordable housing units in other parts of the province of Sindh. Mr. Islam has served in several top management positions in public and private sectors such as trade and finance, economic planning and development, security, public works and transportation, labor and resource management. He has also conducted extensive research in social enterprise and his published works on public policy have received local as well as international recognition.

MR. MASOOD LOHAR
CO-PANELIST 2 
UNDP PAKISTAN

Email: masood.lohar@undp.org

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY:

Currently working with the UNDP Pakistan as the National Coordinator GEF Small Grants Program Pakistan. With a delivery of 330% and over $ 4 million co-financing the Pakistan program stands out in the crowd of 121 GEF SGP country programs all over the world and the performance is rated as “outstanding”. He is also the National Project Manager of $2.5 million “Benazir Energy Efficient Disaster Resistant Low Cost Housing Project” and moving spirit behind the research on energy efficient low cost housing in Pakistan. Before joining the UNDP, Masood worked with corporate sector for almost a decade on Corporate Social Responsibility and Educational Publishing. He was affiliated with Eni Pakistan, the Italian Oil and Gas Company, and Oxford University Press Pakistan. Masood is a creative writer and currently working on his novel “The Original Sinner”.

 

DR. LIN JIAN
President
South-South Global Assets and Technology Exchange System

TITLE OF THE SOLUTION:
SOUTH-SOUTH GLOBAL ASSETS AND TECHNOLOGY EXCHANGE SYSTEM (SS-GATE)

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENTATION:
The South-South Global Assets and Technology Exchange (SS-GATE) System was launched in response to the development challenges in countries of the South. It is envisioned to be a self-sustaining virtual and physical venue where entrepreneurs, civil society organizations and local governments in developing countries can interact and obtain needed technology, asset and finance in a secure and transparent environment.

Components of SS-GATE
Track I: Global Asset and Technology Exchange: focus on project bidding, matching, and financing services for small or medium sized enterprises.

Track II: Global Human Development Investment Exchange: attract funding and partnerships for under-funded development projects.

Track III: Global Creative Industries Technology Exchange: create a platform for the creative projects in developing countries.

Track IV: Global Climate Change Technology Exchange: focus on energy and environment sectors.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY:
Visit the site for updates.

MR. KEITH KLINE
Moderator

Senior Research & Development Scientist

Global Change and Developing Countries Programs, Environmental Sciences Division,

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

Email: klinekl@ornl.gov

MODERATOR

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY AND RELEVANT EXPERTISE:
MR. KEITH KLINE has contributed to the design, management and evaluation of programs in support of sustainable environmental solutions to development challenges in over twenty nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Keith spent 22 years living in developing countries to support projects that enhance human welfare while maintaining ecosystem services and protecting biodiversity. Keith helped design and initiate the Central American Regional Natural Resources Management Project, the Maya Biosphere Project (Guatemala) and the Integrated River Basin Management Project in Southern Africa. He served as Team Leader for a variety of regional and bilateral projects, the most recent being the multi-national program for biodiversity conservation and water management in the Okavango Basin of Angola, Namibia and Botswana. These projects have incorporated community-based forestry concessions, protected area management, rehabilitation and reconstruction after natural disasters, and conflict resolution addressing issues related to land tenure, commercial agriculture and extractive industries in sensitive ecological areas. Before becoming a Senior R&D Staff member at ORNL, Keith served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador, a consultant to support reconstruction and mitigation in response to “El Nino” in Peru. He holds a B.Sc. from the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Masters from Framingham State College, Massachusetts. Recent research has focused on sustainability indicators, the drivers of land-use change, biomass resource assessments and biofuel feedstock potentials around the world.