Dorset Community Energy secretary, Pete West, and Dorset County Council’s Sustainable Schools Project Officer, Alison Jay, met with local educational charity Development Education in Dorset (DEED) in July to develop a sustainable energy and climate change funding application to the Scottish Power Foundation. The project was named ‘Climate Connections’ and is based on sharing information on climate change and sustainable energy solutions between schools in Africa and in Dorset. DEED was set up in 1983 as a centre for global education and learning. They have worked with over 1000 teachers and 350 pupils in Dorset and Hampshire over the last year and have extensive experience of teacher training.
Several schools with Dorset Community Energy solar panel installations are already twinned with schools in Africa and global citizenship is regarded as an important element of the school curriculum. If the funding bid is successful DEED and Dorset CC will deliver the educational activities in schools and Pete West offered time as a volunteer to make links with schools and communities in Africa through his contacts in the International Network for Sustainable Energy (INFORSE)