To contain the spread of COVID-19, the government of Uganda started lockdown restrictions, limiting movement and livelihood activities. Previously, the refugees sourced firewood for cooking from host communities. The majority of the refugees did not have access to any renewable energy sources and relied heavily on low-quality fuels, resulting in higher air pollution, and a greater risk of respiratory tract infections and eye diseases, among other negative implications.

At present, Alen is working as a Procurement Assistant in a UNDP-GEF project on “Derisking Renewable Energy Investment,” which is connected with SDG #7: “Affordable and clean energy.” The significance of this project can be gauged from the fact that 40% of heat production in Kazakhstan is generated from centralized district heating systems that run on combined heat and power plants (typically coal-fired).  The remaining heat is produced by heat-only boilers, which often have low efficiencies.

On 28 June 2016, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme concluded a partnership agreement with Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. UNV has long been engaging with different private sector partnerships, even before the launch of the UN Global Compact in 2000. UNV placed over 200 volunteers from the private sector for short-term assignments to support such diverse areas as food industry and environmental assessments.