UPHF welcomes and trains Kenyan women engineers
5 Kenyan engineers have been certified at Valenciennes in the electrical field.
The WISEe association
As part of an innovative initiative to strengthen expertise in Kenya's energy sector, the Women in Sustainable Energy and Entrepreneurship Co-op Ltd (WISEe) has reached an important milestone through its participation in the "I-UMEME"(1) capacity-building project, a project submitted under the call for projects Appui au Développement de l'Enseignement Supérieur Français en Afrique (ADESFA), for which UPHF was awarded a prize in April 2023.
The training program
From October 16 to 26, 2023, five members of the WISEe association took part in an intensive training course to obtain electrical empowerment level B1V-B2V-BR (2). The training program enabled the participants to put into practice all the theoretical knowledge acquired during the online courses provided by the IUT's Electrical Engineering and Industrial Computing department, aimed at students at the University of Strathmore's School of Engineering from June to September 2023, in which they also took part.
From theory to practice
During their stay, the participants took practical and theoretical exams under the guidance of Mr. Benoit Delporte, a rigorous process which enabled them to obtain B1V-B2V-BR accreditation. Their ten-day training period was marked by the commitment of UPHF staff, who ensured that their welcome was optimal: the IUT provided the training and associated examinations, while the Pôle de Relations Internationales took charge of the extra-curricular welcome.
Valenciennes, city and university
The week was also punctuated by activities that enabled them to discover the UPHF and the Valenciennes area.
Students in the 2nd year of the Territorial Management and Local Development Master's program (Heritage and Territorial Resources course), under the coordination of Claire Barat, their teacher, took up the challenge of organizing a guided tour of Valenciennes in English.
Kathia Oliveira, teacher-researcher at the LAMIH UMR CNRS 8201 shared a discussion session with association members around the theme of "parity and equality".
Participants were also able to discover an exhibition on biomimicry, the IEMN site de Valenciennes UMR CNRS 8520 and, more specifically, the research carried out by teacher-researcher Sébastien Grondel on the insect mimicking flying object (OVMI). They also had the opportunity to visit the multinational company Alstom and visualize the construction of a train from receipt of materials to delivery of the final product.
Cooperation to benefit Kenya
The successful completion of the training marks an important milestone for WISEe members, who are now positioned as certified professionals in the field of electrical empowerment. This success not only reflects the dedication of those involved, but also underlines WISEe's commitment to promoting sustainable energy solutions, empowering women in renewable energy and entrepreneurship. This will most certainly foster the development of a more resilient and skilled workforce in Kenya.
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