“There is a need out there for the training we provide”

When Dr Gace Athanase Dalson joined ACES in May of 2023, he had been lecturing at the University of Rwanda for nearly eight years. As a senior lecturer and the Deputy Dean of the School of Agricultural Engineering, Gace’s work covered everything from energy efficiency to fluid dynamics – meaning he arrived at ACES with strong pre-existing knowledge regarding ACES’ key missions.

And yet, he admitted, he has a confession: “I was a person with a background in heat transfer, but I would disconnect my fridge to not use a lot of power at home.” It was only when he joined ACES that he realised “a lot of what we are doing is not actually correct”.

As the Academic Head at ACES, Gace has been leading efforts to ensure that people in Rwanda and beyond have a better understanding of the refrigeration systems that are increasingly prevalent in homes, hospitals, and agricultural hubs across the country. Alongside his team of academics and administrators, Gace was responsible for running the 50 training courses that ACES plans to offer this year, with a target of training 1,200 people.

Now, he will be heading up the newly formed ACES Incubation and Innovation Hub. Gace said the hub, which will be launched later this year, “intends to translate ACES knowledge into help for viable enterprises”. It will feature an incubation program for new enterprises and an accelerator program to support existing ventures. “It is essentially building their capacity and supporting them to reach the market and make partnerships,” he explained.

Gace was seconded to ACES as a training coordinator by the University of Rwanda in May 2023, early in the process of establishing the institution. “When I joined, there were just four of us,” he recalled. “We launched the Train the Trainer program, and I was in charge of all administration and academic matters related to it, supported a lot by international people from universities in the Clean Cooling Network.”

The Train the Trainer program is designed to equip participants with the knowledge and practical skills needed to work across the entire cold-chain sector, Gace said. It also gives students training and hands-on experience in developing sustainable, community-sensitive business models.

“We send them [the students] into their communities for around one month, to interact, track food losses, survey the infrastructure, and come up with a cold-chain business model which they can turn into a financeable business plan,” he explained.

The training courses provided by ACES have proven hugely popular, Gace said: “In most cases, we will get more than 100 applications when we can only accommodate 20 students. It shows that there is a need out there for the training we provide. That is why we are looking forward to increasing the number of trainings we provide and the trainees that we serve.”

ACES is currently seeking accreditation from the Rwandan Ministry of Education to help guarantee that qualifications from ACES are recognised by other institutions. Gace said accreditation is “really important to boost [students’] confidence”. Once accreditation is secured, he added, ACES is planning to introduce a master’s program in sustainable cooling.

Gace said ACES training is unique in its blend of practical skills with theoretical knowledge. “I have been a teacher for almost half of my life, so I can identify what is missing in the education system, especially in developing countries,” he said. “One of those [missing things] is practical training. So, ACES exposes our trainees not only to theoretical knowledge, but also to practical training in labs or study tours, to allow them to identify problems and think proactively about how those problems can be solved.”

Another factor that makes ACES unique, he added, is its systems approach of considering the cold-chain from “each and every angle”. He explained: “In the example of fresh produce, our training starts on the farm, with precooling and post-harvest management, before covering transportation and market dynamics around cold-dependent products. Not only that, but also what the impact will be on community members in terms of behavioural changes or infrastructure needs.”

Gace said he is excited for the launch of the upcoming Learning Journey platform that ACES is developing. The platform will allow trainees to list their qualifications and competencies, suggest further courses they can take, and connect them with employers looking for new recruits. “It will be a chance for trainees to accumulate credits that can be transformed into a certificate or degree,” Gace said. “To my understanding, it will be of great importance.”

Gace also emphasised the importance of engaging with younger generations early on in their own learning journeys. Reflecting on recent school visits to ACES, he said he has enjoyed seeing schoolchildren “become aware of the opportunities in the cold-chain area” over the course of their visit. “They will understand the impact of the cold chain on their lives and the life of their communities, which is really important,” he added.

As he transitions into his new role as Head of the Incubation and Innovation Hub, Gace said: “I am excited that I will be interacting with these new ventures, supporting them to understand and solve the problems the market is facing.” He said the program will support new businesses that align with ACES’ long-term vision of addressing post-harvest losses, developing opportunities for value addition, improving cooling infrastructure in agriculture and healthcare, and mitigating climate change.

“Many start-ups die out after a few months because of a lack of basic knowledge,” he added. “For example, they don’t know how to make business models or financial projections, or properly test their idea against a real market opportunity. It’s really interesting to be leading this effort to support those ventures through teaching financial literacy, capacity building, and making sure they are legally compliant and have proper structures.”

Gace said he stays motivated in his work by focusing on “how the people we are serving are going to benefit” and by engaging with “the opportunities for constant learning” that ACES provides. He added: “When you are here, you just have to keep learning.”