African Centres for Lightning and Electromagnetics Network (ACLENet) Progress Report

ACLENet (https://ACLENet.org) is a pan-African network of centres dedicated to decreasing deaths, injuries and property damage from lightning. Lightning is more common in tropical and subtropical climates and 90% of sub-Saharan buildings are not ‘lightning safe’, leaving families at risk 24/7. Lightning damage to infrastructure such as utilities, aviation, mining, banking and small businesses hampers development of already economically challenged African countries. ACLENet works at all levels of education to promote lightning safety and injury prevention, improved forecasting, and adoption of internationally recognized lightning protection codes (IEC62305-1,2,3,4) by governments. ACLENet actively promotes improved undergraduate, graduate and ongoing professional training of engineers with respect to lightning impacts, working in partnership with national universities, professional organizations and standards setting groups, as well as writing proposals for grants to support training, research, and disaster management. ACLENet welcomes volunteers, advisors, partners, and donors who want to be part of decreasing deaths, injuries, property damage from lightning (https://ACLENet.org/how-tohelp/overview.html.