Dr. Robert Ochieng is the focal point for the East African Region. He has over ten years’ work, research and consulting experience in the areas of climate change, renewable energy, (inter)national environmental policies and their implementation at multiple jurisdictional levels, and environmental safeguards. Since November 2018, he is the Regional Consultant for Climate Change and Green Growth at the African Development Bank based in Eastern Africa (RDGE). He has conducted climate risk screening and GHG accounting for over 60 projects, ensuring that the projects are based on climate-informed designs and are designed in a manner that lowers emissions. Between 2017 and 2018, he was freelance consultant on climate change, renewable energy, natural resources, and environmental risk management.
Highlights of some of the assignments he has conducted include: Analysis of barriers to trade in Environmentally Sound Technologies in East Africa (for UNEP-DTU and African Centre for Technology Studies, ACTS). This examined tariff and non-tariff barriers to deployment of wind turbines, hydropower, biomass boilers, lattice masts, biogas and solar PV in the region, and develop policy options to address the same; Training of AU member states on Accessing Green Climate Funds (AU-STRC)), which has today built awareness among many AU member states on international climate financing opportunities; and Assessment of natural resources degradation in areas impacted by the refugee influx in Kakuma Camp, Kenya (FAO), which informed the design of a program to address biomass energy challenges faced by refugees and host communities.
He also served as Short-Term Environmental Safeguards Consultant at World Bank, where he conducted environment audit for project works in Uasin Gishu, Kericho and Kisumu Counties under the Kenya Informal Settlement Improvement Project, and based on the results, organized and trained project contractors and supervision consultants on ways to ensure implementation of identified corrective measures, and enhanced implementation of Environmental and Social Management Plans (ESMPs). As PhD researcher at Wageningen University and Research (2013-2017), he examined the status of implementation of international forest and climate change policy at the national level in Indonesia, Peru and Tanzania, and the political process involved.
Additionally, he has many years of practical experience in climate change, renewable energy, and environmental safeguards having worked as Technical Officer for Renewable Energy and Climate Change at Community Development Trust Fund; as National Technical Officer for the GEF-UNDP Biomass Energy Project; and as Programme Management Officer at International Development Research Centre (IDRC). His countries of experience span Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Peru, Tanzania, Sudan, South Sudan, and the East Africa Community and Southern Africa Development Community regions.
