Barry Streek
The Royal Dutch/Shell group has allocated R4,5-million to two South African educational programmes concerning energy use over the next three years.
This is part of the new Shell Foundation, which has received initial funding of more than R200-million for social and environmental projects relating to energy use throughout the world and which was launched in London on Monday by former president Nelson Mandela.
One project in South Africa, to be administered by the Mineral and Energy Policy Centre, is to build and monitor capacity among various projects.
The other project, to be administered by the Energy and Development Research Centre at the University of Cape Town, is aimed at the delivery of energy services to the rural poor in South Africa.
The aim of the project is to provide information, training and evaluation programmes to support the government’s off-grid rural electrification programme.
At the launch of the foundation, Mandela said: “One of the major issues in South Africa and the developing world generally is access to energy and, in particular, clean, affordable sources of power.
“I am delighted to see that Shell is setting an example by launching a charity to fund projects which will encourage the use of sustainable energy sources in South Africa and worldwide.”