Preparations for 2023: updating SEPAs training material and contact with social organisations

This year, we started by updating the training materials for the Summer Energy Poverty Agents (SEPAs). This was done on the basis of surveys of SEPAs who completed their training in 2022, which allowed us to identify some key points for improvement. Based on these results, the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid launched a proposal to improve the training, seeking to bring the concepts closer to the people. This has made it possible to enrich the content of the energy culture workshops, increasing awareness of outdoor space and its role in the summer season, as well as to go more deeply into the content of the workshops.

We also point out the successful contact made with third sector entities working with vulnerable households, specifically in the districts of Carabanchel, Usera, Villaverde and Vallecas from Madrid. Among the entities involved were Centro Social La Brecha, Asociación Krecer, and La Horizontal. Also, the company Schneider Electric, which has a volunteer foundation, was also contacted. A total of 19 workshops have been scheduled in Madrid, which will start on 28^th February and continue until June of this year.

Meanwhile, in Barcelona, the ABD and Ecoserveis team started arranging some meetings to prepare the exterior space interventions that will take place in the upcoming months. There were two places where community interventions can be made: One of them will be Bon Pastor (placed in Barcelona city) and the other one will be the Espai Llavors (placed in l’Hospitalet, near Barcelona city) which will hold a workshop about electricity bills and, afterwards, the exterior space intervention beginning with diagnosis of the situation, the design of this intervention together with the neighbours and its implementation.

Additionally, once the planification of the activities that will be carried out during the year 2023 was finalised and updated, the materials to promote the SEPA recruitment and training were created for the sessions planned for the months of February and March. The Cooltorise activity sheets want to disseminate the project to organisations that may be interested in being part of the project or the activities related (such as civic organisations, NGO’s, associations, etc.)

The final goal is to attract new volunteers and people willing to engage with Cooltorise activities to raise awareness and take actions to reduce the impact of summer energy poverty in households.