Two missions of UNIDO were recently undertaken in the east African countries for developing small hydro power in the off-grid mountainous villages of these nations.

The first mission headed by Prof. Tong Jiandong, Director General, INSHP/ICSHP with Prof. Li Zhiming, Chief Engineer, INSHP accompanying visited Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda in December 2003 for 12 days to identify suitable sites for the proposed UNIDO project for demonstrating SHP backed community development centers, with ICT connectivity.

The second mission headed by Mr. Alexander Varghese from UNIDO headquarters with Prof. V. K. Damodaran, Managing Director of INSHP, China and Dr. Praveen Saxena, Director of Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources, Govt. of India, New Delhi, undertook two split missions of 17 days each in December 2003 and in January-February 2004 to delineate model project proposals for cluster development of micro/mini hydels projects and to initiate energy efficiency measures in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.