ESMES Tunisian partner, the National Agency for Energy Conservation (ANME) in collaboration with the lead beneficiary, the Italian Institute for University Cooperation (lCU); organized the Midterm International Event entitled "Towards a sober energy transition in educational establishments", the 14th of February 2023 in Sousse.

This conference was opened by the General Director of ANME, Mr. Fathi HANCHI, the Director of the Institute of University Cooperation ICU, Mr. Daniele BONETTI, the President of the University of Sousse, Mr. Lotfi BELGACEN and the Regional Commissioner of Education of Sousse, Mrs. Leila BEN SASSI, with the participation of more than 100 participants from public institutions, civil society, secondary schools and universities.

The ESMES project manager presented the project overview, the main and specific objectives of the project, expected achievements and outputs, as well as the various actions supported for the benefit of schools and universities of all the targeted countries in the project. Subsequently, the ANME national coordinator of the ESMES project in Tunisia and the director of energy efficiency in the building sector, presented the inventory and the various support mechanisms for energy management in the sector of the building.

Part of the event was also dedicated to share the experiences of energy rehabilitation of educational buildings in all the project's targeted countries; where the partners had the time and the place to discuss the results of data analysis, energy audit and the development of the rehabilitation plans in the public schools in their areas.

On the sidelines of the International Conference, ESMES Spanish partner, Consorci de la Ribeira, in collaboration with ICU, organized the 2nd Cross-border Thematic Workshop on the 15th of February 2023 in Sousse. This activity is part of the ESMES framework of "institutional capacity building for sustainable energy policy making & rehabilitations management".

The workshop was an internal and hybrid meeting between all project partners from all the targeted countries; where they had the opportunity and the chance to share the updates on the "Approved strategies to support efficient and cost-effective energy mix in public schools buildings" as each strategy focuses on the specific country context, and how it will be approved by the relevant institutions in each country, as well as the "Case studies on REEE project portfolio solutions for enhanced energy rehabilitation" that rely on project experience, e.g. REEE solutions: rationale, implementation, actual performance, possible policy measures for replication; SEM measures: adoption and improvement based on energy performance feedbacks.

Part of the workshop was dedicated to the discussion of "The approval of the administrative and investment planning procedures", that needs to be approved by headmasters of target schools and relevant institutions in project countries.

ICU has concluded the Workshop with the final report timeline and the work organization for the coming months.

This event was a great success! 

Many thanks to all the participants.