Open Africa Power - OAP is an educational venture initiated by Enel Foundation in 2018, in partnership with top academic institutions in Italy and Africa, including Venice International University. Since 2019, the VIU TEN Program on Sustainability has been a key contributor in the program, delivering modules and engaging African participants with co-design activities exploring the issue of Public Engagement and Science Communication, both in person and online.

In occasion of OAP’s sixth edition, on February 28, 2023 the TEN Program will lead an online training afternoon, featuring a Lecture and codesign workshop on Public Engagement for a Better Energy, with Dr. Ilda Mannino and Alessandra Fornetti, and a Lecture on Decision-making under uncertainty with Prof. Carlo Giupponi, former dean of VIU.

The goal of the Open Africa Power program is to train the next generation of energy sector leaders in Africa by developing the technical, regulatory, and leadership skills needed to electrify the continent and to promote a just and equitable clean energy transition. OAP is offered to talented professionals, Master’s, PhD Students and Alumni already working in the energy sector and now counts over 400 alumni. Since 2021, the Open Africa Power Program is comanaged in partnership with the international organization Sustainable Energy for ALL (SEforALL), in order to foster new opportunities for women and youth to participate and lead in the solutions that will create a more sustainable and equitable energy future.

In its past editions, the VIU contribution to the program also included a joint session in the framework of the VIU Summer School on Critical Infrastructure Resilience, on September 18, 2020. A series of features linked to the core topic were discussed, among which Resilience and Infrastructure Management, Disaster Risks Reduction, Distribution network resiliency against extreme weather conditions, and Decision-making under uncertainty.