Africa _ left in the dark?Energising Poverty Reduction in Africa

Practical Action is an international developments agency working with poor communities to help them

choose and use technology to improve their lives today and for generations to come.

PRACTICAL ACTION The Schumacher Centre for Technology and DevelopmentBourton on DunsmoreRugbyWarwickshire, CV23 9QZ, UK

Front cover: An elderly lady in Sudan spends many hours a day collecting wood-fuel for cooking. © Practical Action/Nigel BrucePractical Action is the working name of Intermediate Technology Development Group Ltd

Patron HRH The Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB | Registered Charity No 247257 | Comp Reg No 871954, England

The EU ACP Energy Facility is intended to be acatalyst promoting initiatives and projects in the areaof energy, acting as a clearing house and buildingresearch and management capacity. It will combinedevelopment aid and other financial sources,especially private investments. The €220 millionFacility, (but likely to be only €160 million by thetime the call for proposals is made) has a main focuson co-financing of delivery of modern energy servicesto rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa, and of energyefficiency/renewable energy in Caribbean and PacificIsland States. This sum should become available in2006-2007 with a call for proposals and will bemanaged by the European Commission (EuropeAid).

Member States will be involved in the developmentand overall guidance of the Facility and will be ableto ensure the necessary coordination of their ownbilateral activities with those of the Facility. However,if the example of the Water Facility is to be followed,member states will not be involved in the selectionprocess for the approved projects. Currently civilsociety (at least within Europe) has little involvementwith the Initiative and thus little influence on theFacility. There should be a proper open consultationprocess with civil society with respect to themodalities for the Facility.

T +44 (0) 1926 634400F +44 (0) 1926 634401E practicalaction@practicalaction.org.ukW www.practicalaction.org

What Ministers can do nowEstablish clear poverty reduction priorities (bothgeographical and thematic), goals and targets for theEU Energy Initiative so that progress can bemonitored and measured.

Establish mechanisms for improved donorharmonisation both within the EU and with otherdonors building on the outcomes of the OECDmeeting in Paris this year and co-operation with otherenergy partnerships.

Ensure that the relationship between the Initiativeand the Facility is clear and transparent as theyoperate under different governance systems.

Ensure transparency in the workings of the EUEIthrough provision of better information on theoutcomes of its advisory group meetings and open upthe membership to include civil societyrepresentation so that it is a multi-stakeholder bodyrather than just member states, commission staff and‘experts’. This would follow the effective model of theEU Water Initiative.

Provide opportunities for wide consultation on themodalities for the EU ACP Energy Facility. This wasundertaken successfully for the EU Water Facility andallowed for modification and improvement wherepossible and greater clarity in the documentation.

Follow the example of the EU Water Facility in beingmore flexible in approach than traditional EDF rulesand, for example, provide for direct application bynon-state actors.

Ensure that the allocation of funds from the Facilityis balanced without a preponderance of expenditureon large-scale infrastructure schemes.

Ensure a substantial allocation for technical capacitybuilding on decentralised rural energy options, forexample micro-hydro or wind turbines.

Africa _ left in the dark?2.4 billion people worldwide rely on traditionalbiomass fuels (including wood, charcoal, cropresidues and dung) for cooking. Hundreds of millionsof people, mostly women and children, spend up tofive hours a day gathering fuel and water for theiressential needs. As a result, these women andchildren can be denied the opportunity to undertakeother activities or attend schools. They also faceadverse health consequences. Every year 1.6 millionpeople die from lengthy exposure to excessive levelsof smoke in their homes from cooking fires.

Globally at least 1.6 billion people lack access toelectricity for lighting, heating, cooking, refrigerationor telecommunications, even though more than abillion people have gained access to electricity in thelast 25 years. Four out of five people without accessto electricity live in rural areas of the developingworld, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.In sub-Saharan Africa only 8% of the rural and 51%of the urban population have access to electricity.

On current trends 1.5 billion people globally will stilllack electricity in 2030, of whom 650 million will bein Africa. This is some fifteen years after the targetdate for meeting the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), which cannot be met without sustainable,affordable, accessible and reliable energy services.Yet assistance for the provision of energy in Africahas been minimal. According to the OECD only 4% oftotal aid to Africa is spent on energy; the EU pictureis little better, accounting for less than 5% of aidfrom Europe since 1990.

The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI)agreed at the World Summit on SustainableDevelopment (WSSD) in 2002 called for theinternational community to work together at all levelsto improve access to reliable and affordable energyservices for sustainable development sufficient tofacilitate the achievement of the MDGs. The responseof the European Union was to establish the EUEnergy Initiative for Poverty Eradication andSustainable Development.

The EU Energy Initiative The stated objective of the European Union EnergyInitiative (EUEI) is to contribute to the provision ofaccess to energy necessary to achieve the MDGs,particularly, but not exclusively, that of halving theproportion of people in extreme poverty by the year2015. By creating a focus on energy and poverty, theInitiative intends to:

Raise political awareness among high leveldecision makers of the important role energy can play in poverty reduction.

Clarify the need for energy services for poverty reduction and sustainable development.

Make apparent the need for energy services in national and regional development strategies.

Encourage the coherence and synergy of energy-related activities.

Stimulate new resources (capital, technology, human resources) from the private sector, financialinstitutions, civil society and end-users.

The EU is taking the Initiative forward through opendialogue with partner governments at country levelthrough its EC Delegations and member state countryoffices. Local participation will be encouraged fromend-users, communities, businesses and otherstakeholders in both planning and implementation.The EU and partner country dialogue is followed by,or in parallel with, dialogue with the private sector,financing organisations, civil society and end-users.

The Initiative is open to all developing countries, with aninitial focus on African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)countries. It should be noted that the cooperation fundsfor energy under the Energy Facility (part of the 9thEuropean Development Fund) are restricted to ACPcountries. Sub-Saharan Africa has a very high prioritygiven to its energy status and is a crosscutting componentin the current workplan of the UN Commission onSustainable Development. A conference ‘Energy forAfrica’ was held in Nairobi in November 2003 in order toidentify a way forward, making the EUEI operational inAfrica. The conference identified priority themes in whichactions facilitated by the EUEI should concentrate:

Energy for households, biomass and substitutes;

Rural energy in general and in particular rural electrification;

Assistance in drafting strategies and policies for the sector, both at national and at a regional level;

Capacity building at all levels.

Nevertheless, no African country has directlyaddressed energy needs under the CotonouAgreement and only five ACP countries have includedenergy as a focal sector of cooperation. There needsto be a shift in priorities to those identified at theNairobi workshop if the poorest are to be helped.

The focus of most development assistance is currentlyon large-scale supply of energy at national or regionallevel, or the export of energy resources. Getting powerto those living in scattered rural communities willprove exorbitantly expensive using conventional gridextension schemes. Efforts at finding solutions arehampered by inadequate attention at the nationalpolicy level to rural development generally and energyin particular.

The real challenge for both the Initiative and theFacility is rural energy provision in ways that areaffordable and sustainable. Urban areas have beenhighly favoured in terms of grid extension and have agreater likelihood of private sector involvement. Thereis no prospect of this in rural areas where the bestoption is small, decentralised electricity schemes forexample, micro-hydro or wind turbines. Lack of skills,technology and policy hamper this sort ofdevelopment in Africa.

The need to build local manufacturing capacity andstimulate the creation of legal frameworks that enabledecentralised electricity generation sectors to bedeveloped is now urgent.

A critical role for EuropeEurope can make a huge difference in helping toeradicate poverty, especially in Africa, through theEUEI. It is imperative that the Initiative setschallenging targets to reduce poverty, increasesustainability and improve the efficiency of itsdevelopment assistance through greater donorharmonisation. Substantially increased levels offunding through the Initiative are unlikely. Indeed akey objective of the EUEI is to find ways to scale upthe sustainable financing of energy, with a specificfocus on sustainable development and pro-pooroutcomes. One outcome of this objective is theestablishment of the EU ACP Energy Facility usingthe ‘conditional element’ of the 9th EDF (EuropeanDevelopment Fund).

However, although the Facility was generated by theinitiative there is no formal link between the two in implementation. As the Facility is funded by the EDFits expenditure is regulated by EDF rules, which tendto be somewhat inflexible, and as such there is noprioritisation for, or even link to, projects generatedby the Initiative.

© P

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spin

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© P

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Marcyleen from Zimbabwe struggles to study using the feeble light of a lantern.

A micro-hydropower scheme supplies energy to light homes in a Kenyan village.

Africa _ left in the dark?2.4 billion people worldwide rely on traditionalbiomass fuels (including wood, charcoal, cropresidues and dung) for cooking. Hundreds of millionsof people, mostly women and children, spend up tofive hours a day gathering fuel and water for theiressential needs. As a result, these women andchildren can be denied the opportunity to undertakeother activities or attend schools. They also faceadverse health consequences. Every year 1.6 millionpeople die from lengthy exposure to excessive levelsof smoke in their homes from cooking fires.

Globally at least 1.6 billion people lack access toelectricity for lighting, heating, cooking, refrigerationor telecommunications, even though more than abillion people have gained access to electricity in thelast 25 years. Four out of five people without accessto electricity live in rural areas of the developingworld, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.In sub-Saharan Africa only 8% of the rural and 51%of the urban population have access to electricity.

On current trends 1.5 billion people globally will stilllack electricity in 2030, of whom 650 million will bein Africa. This is some fifteen years after the targetdate for meeting the Millennium Development Goals(MDGs), which cannot be met without sustainable,affordable, accessible and reliable energy services.Yet assistance for the provision of energy in Africahas been minimal. According to the OECD only 4% oftotal aid to Africa is spent on energy; the EU pictureis little better, accounting for less than 5% of aidfrom Europe since 1990.

The Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (JPOI)agreed at the World Summit on SustainableDevelopment (WSSD) in 2002 called for theinternational community to work together at all levelsto improve access to reliable and affordable energyservices for sustainable development sufficient tofacilitate the achievement of the MDGs. The responseof the European Union was to establish the EUEnergy Initiative for Poverty Eradication andSustainable Development.

The EU Energy Initiative The stated objective of the European Union EnergyInitiative (EUEI) is to contribute to the provision ofaccess to energy necessary to achieve the MDGs,particularly, but not exclusively, that of halving theproportion of people in extreme poverty by the year2015. By creating a focus on energy and poverty, theInitiative intends to:

Raise political awareness among high leveldecision makers of the important role energy can play in poverty reduction.

Clarify the need for energy services for poverty reduction and sustainable development.

Make apparent the need for energy services in national and regional development strategies.

Encourage the coherence and synergy of energy-related activities.

Stimulate new resources (capital, technology, human resources) from the private sector, financialinstitutions, civil society and end-users.

The EU is taking the Initiative forward through opendialogue with partner governments at country levelthrough its EC Delegations and member state countryoffices. Local participation will be encouraged fromend-users, communities, businesses and otherstakeholders in both planning and implementation.The EU and partner country dialogue is followed by,or in parallel with, dialogue with the private sector,financing organisations, civil society and end-users.

The Initiative is open to all developing countries, with aninitial focus on African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP)countries. It should be noted that the cooperation fundsfor energy under the Energy Facility (part of the 9thEuropean Development Fund) are restricted to ACPcountries. Sub-Saharan Africa has a very high prioritygiven to its energy status and is a crosscutting componentin the current workplan of the UN Commission onSustainable Development. A conference ‘Energy forAfrica’ was held in Nairobi in November 2003 in order toidentify a way forward, making the EUEI operational inAfrica. The conference identified priority themes in whichactions facilitated by the EUEI should concentrate:

Energy for households, biomass and substitutes;

Rural energy in general and in particular rural electrification;

Assistance in drafting strategies and policies for the sector, both at national and at a regional level;

Capacity building at all levels.

Nevertheless, no African country has directlyaddressed energy needs under the CotonouAgreement and only five ACP countries have includedenergy as a focal sector of cooperation. There needsto be a shift in priorities to those identified at theNairobi workshop if the poorest are to be helped.

The focus of most development assistance is currentlyon large-scale supply of energy at national or regionallevel, or the export of energy resources. Getting powerto those living in scattered rural communities willprove exorbitantly expensive using conventional gridextension schemes. Efforts at finding solutions arehampered by inadequate attention at the nationalpolicy level to rural development generally and energyin particular.

The real challenge for both the Initiative and theFacility is rural energy provision in ways that areaffordable and sustainable. Urban areas have beenhighly favoured in terms of grid extension and have agreater likelihood of private sector involvement. Thereis no prospect of this in rural areas where the bestoption is small, decentralised electricity schemes forexample, micro-hydro or wind turbines. Lack of skills,technology and policy hamper this sort ofdevelopment in Africa.

The need to build local manufacturing capacity andstimulate the creation of legal frameworks that enabledecentralised electricity generation sectors to bedeveloped is now urgent.

A critical role for EuropeEurope can make a huge difference in helping toeradicate poverty, especially in Africa, through theEUEI. It is imperative that the Initiative setschallenging targets to reduce poverty, increasesustainability and improve the efficiency of itsdevelopment assistance through greater donorharmonisation. Substantially increased levels offunding through the Initiative are unlikely. Indeed akey objective of the EUEI is to find ways to scale upthe sustainable financing of energy, with a specificfocus on sustainable development and pro-pooroutcomes. One outcome of this objective is theestablishment of the EU ACP Energy Facility usingthe ‘conditional element’ of the 9th EDF (EuropeanDevelopment Fund).

However, although the Facility was generated by theinitiative there is no formal link between the two in implementation. As the Facility is funded by the EDFits expenditure is regulated by EDF rules, which tendto be somewhat inflexible, and as such there is noprioritisation for, or even link to, projects generatedby the Initiative.

© P

ract

ical

Act

ion/

Cri

spin

Hug

hes

© P

ract

ical

Act

ion/

Zul

Marcyleen from Zimbabwe struggles to study using the feeble light of a lantern.

A micro-hydropower scheme supplies energy to light homes in a Kenyan village.

Africa _ left in the dark?Energising Poverty Reduction in Africa

Practical Action is an international developments agency working with poor communities to help them

choose and use technology to improve their lives today and for generations to come.

PRACTICAL ACTION The Schumacher Centre for Technology and DevelopmentBourton on DunsmoreRugbyWarwickshire, CV23 9QZ, UK

Front cover: An elderly lady in Sudan spends many hours a day collecting wood-fuel for cooking. © Practical Action/Nigel BrucePractical Action is the working name of Intermediate Technology Development Group Ltd

Patron HRH The Prince of Wales, KG, KT, GCB | Registered Charity No 247257 | Comp Reg No 871954, England

The EU ACP Energy Facility is intended to be acatalyst promoting initiatives and projects in the areaof energy, acting as a clearing house and buildingresearch and management capacity. It will combinedevelopment aid and other financial sources,especially private investments. The €220 millionFacility, (but likely to be only €160 million by thetime the call for proposals is made) has a main focuson co-financing of delivery of modern energy servicesto rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa, and of energyefficiency/renewable energy in Caribbean and PacificIsland States. This sum should become available in2006-2007 with a call for proposals and will bemanaged by the European Commission (EuropeAid).

Member States will be involved in the developmentand overall guidance of the Facility and will be ableto ensure the necessary coordination of their ownbilateral activities with those of the Facility. However,if the example of the Water Facility is to be followed,member states will not be involved in the selectionprocess for the approved projects. Currently civilsociety (at least within Europe) has little involvementwith the Initiative and thus little influence on theFacility. There should be a proper open consultationprocess with civil society with respect to themodalities for the Facility.

T +44 (0) 1926 634400F +44 (0) 1926 634401E practicalaction@practicalaction.org.ukW www.practicalaction.org

What Ministers can do nowEstablish clear poverty reduction priorities (bothgeographical and thematic), goals and targets for theEU Energy Initiative so that progress can bemonitored and measured.

Establish mechanisms for improved donorharmonisation both within the EU and with otherdonors building on the outcomes of the OECDmeeting in Paris this year and co-operation with otherenergy partnerships.

Ensure that the relationship between the Initiativeand the Facility is clear and transparent as theyoperate under different governance systems.

Ensure transparency in the workings of the EUEIthrough provision of better information on theoutcomes of its advisory group meetings and open upthe membership to include civil societyrepresentation so that it is a multi-stakeholder bodyrather than just member states, commission staff and‘experts’. This would follow the effective model of theEU Water Initiative.

Provide opportunities for wide consultation on themodalities for the EU ACP Energy Facility. This wasundertaken successfully for the EU Water Facility andallowed for modification and improvement wherepossible and greater clarity in the documentation.

Follow the example of the EU Water Facility in beingmore flexible in approach than traditional EDF rulesand, for example, provide for direct application bynon-state actors.

Ensure that the allocation of funds from the Facilityis balanced without a preponderance of expenditureon large-scale infrastructure schemes.

Ensure a substantial allocation for technical capacitybuilding on decentralised rural energy options, forexample micro-hydro or wind turbines.