November REHEATZ Update
In the first week of November, the REHEATZ team gathered in Zambia for the first in-person meeting of the Prize Phase!
The week started with a meeting at SAIPAR, after which we set off to Build-It International’s Centre for Excellence and a site visit to Zambeef Huntley Farm. We were first introduced to Build-It and their work during the Seed Phase, and we plan to continue engaging with them around capacity building throughout the Prize Phase. During our visit, we met BII Research Coordinator Sarah M. Mulenga for the first time! REHEATZ members Godfrey Hampwaye, Padraig Carmody, and Laura Nkhuwa are excited to work with her as part of the social and societal impact components of our project. At Huntley Farm, we were able to collect a new batch of data from our pilot system and begin planning the full-scale scope of works with the valuable input of Zambeef Environment and Social Risk Manager Priscilla Dinga.
New site visits continued throughout the week, with trips to a seed oil processing plant, a beverage manufacturer, and an animal feed plant, and the installation of temperature monitors in areas of high potential. Each site offered unique opportunities and challenges for WWHR, and we look forward to the results of the monitoring.
One of the great benefits of the Prize Phase is the extended time frame, which gives us more opportunities to explore societal and political impacts of the project in Zambia. On Wednesday, REHEATZ members Godfrey Hampwaye, Eleanor Mancusi-Ungaro, and Paul Coughlan led meetings with the Zambian Ministry for Green Economy and Environment and the Ministry of Energy to learn more about the ongoing energy crisis in Zambia and the potential impacts of WWHR nationwide. While in Zambia, we also met with representatives from the Embassy of Ireland and learned more about international development programs in Zambia that we could potentially partner with to increase our social impacts and extend our project past the end of the Prize Phase
To continue our knowledge dissemination in Zambia, Laura Nkhuwa, the newest member of the REHEATZ team, was instrumental in securing a spot for REHEATZ at the Wiggle Ventures Climate SMART Entrepreneurship conference in Lusaka later this month. Team leader Aonghus McNabola presented virtually on the REHEATZ project, and Laura, Godfrey, and Derrick attended in-person and ran a demonstration stall. You can watch a pre-conference video interview with Madhu K. Murali about the REHEATZ project here.
2025 will be a big year in the REHEATZ project, with a full-scale system installation at Zambeef, the possibility of a second demonstration site in Zambia, and deepening of our collaboration with Build-It and the ministries. The week in Zambia was full of productive meetings and insightful discussions, but by the time the Irish team members got back on the plane to Dublin, we were several steps closer to achieving all of these goals.
