Mr. Mario Ronconi, EU Head of Unit of South Asia – South East Asia, took the opportunity to visit two of RELY’s project sites while being in the Philippines for bilateral talks with Philippine Government. He was accompanied by the geo coordinator for the Philippines, Ms. Maria Terron-Puig, Mr. Christoph Wagner, the Head of Cooperation of the EU Delegation to the Philippines, and programme manager Mrs. Mojca Krisper-Figeroa.
Together with the former project team of RELY, the visitors were welcomed by the Governor of Bohol, Honorable Erico Aristotle Aumentado, and his local team in his office. The Governor wanted to thank the EU representatives personally for their valuable support and introduced Bohol’s green regional development plans.
Afterwards, the team accompanied the visitors on their field trip to the island of Hingotanan where they could see how the installed solar equipment changed the everyday school life of teachers and pupils in the Hingotanan elementary and national high school. The trip was rounded off by a visit to the tech-voc laboratory at San Jose National High School (SJNHS), whose Electrical Installation and Maintenance (EIM) track has been upgraded by RELY. The EIM students will be involved in the maintenance of PV systems of the five supported off-grid schools in Bohol province as part of their on-the-job training.
Project RELY, an endeavour supported by the European Union (EU) and co-funded by the Federal Government of Germany, already ended in April 2022, after an implementation period of 39 months. RELY installed rooftop PV systems that now have a joint capacity to generate 195,400 watts-peak (Wp) at 16 remote off-grid schools, upgraded the technical-vocational track of five senior high schools, and provided livelihood assistance to 12 people’s organizations in Cebu, Bohol and Palawan.
