AFREC has ramped up its capacity building initiatives by continuing to increase the African pool of trainers in energy statistic, through the Training of the Trainers (ToT) programme between 09-13 May 2022 in Cote d’Ivoire.

With support from the Africa-EU Energy Partnership (AEEP), a ToT is geared towards building skills of trainers who benefited from a beginner training course which was undertaken in Cote d’Ivoire, in December in 2021.

The advance skills training also aimed to enhance knowledge and quality in energy data collection and processing at national and regional level. The one-week training qualified eighteen (18) participating energy experts from various member states as trainers of others, whilst getting them on par with the previous pool of trainer’s who were trained between 2019 and 2021 at an advanced level.

Speaking on behalf of AFREC Executive Director, Mr Abdoulaye Oueddo, Senior Policy Officer for Energy Information System (EIS) at AFREC welcomed the participants and highlighted that the training is in line with the call from member states, to ensure that statistics forms the basis of all policy formulation, monitoring and evaluation for Africa’s energy sector development.

‘‘The capacity building programme supports the National Focal Points (NFPs) in the AU member states to strengthen National information system by coordinating energy data collection and validation at national level’’, he emphasised.

The training will also empower trainers with coaching and mentoring skills necessary for coaching other national and regional energy statisticians.