The Development of the African Centres for Lightning and Electromagnetics Network

Abstract— Parts of the African continent have the highest annual lightning fatality rates reported in the world.  In February, 2014, the African Centres for Lightning and Electromagnetics Network (ACLENet, formerly ACLE) was established by scientists, academics, professionals, engineers, scientific managers, social awareness promoters, and government officials of 18 countries, including those from Africa, Middle East, Asia, and the United States.  ACLENet is a pan-African network of national and regional centres dedicated to decreasing deaths, injuries and property damage from lightning strikes in Africa.  ACLENet is organized as a not-for-profit organization and headquartered at Makerere University Business School (MUBS), Uganda.  It is a multidisciplinary and multinational organization with broad goals of education, research, and injury prevention. 

One of these core objectives of the ACLENet is education, including public education, instruction in schools, training for safety and injury prevention workers, and graduate student training in collaboration with graduate supervisors.  ACLENet, along with four partner organizations, was included in the first awards of the Global Resilience Partnerships grants for their proposal to bring Severe Weather Early Warnings (SWEW) to farmers and fishermen living and working on Lakes Victoria and Kyoga and in the cattle corridor of Uganda. Because over half of the lightning deaths in Africa reported by the media are to school children, another project is the ‘Lightning Kills!  Save a Life in Africa’ campaign to sponsor lightning protection systems to schools, often the most substantial buildings in a village.  Recently incorporated, ACLENet is now ready to solicit partnerships and funding to accomplish these goals.