Access to energy is not simply about being able to switch on a light or power a freezer. It is linked to fundamental aspects of people’s lives, whether that’s health, education or the way people make their living. Around one in 10 people worldwide do not have access to electricity, and 80% of those people live in sub-Saharan Africa.[1]
Transforming Energy Access (TEA) is an FCDO research and innovation platform supporting the technologies, business models and skills needed to enable an inclusive clean energy transition, which has seen plenty of successes since its inception. Since 2016, TEA has improved clean energy access for nearly 30 million people and created over 150,000 sustainable long-term jobs through a wide range of partnerships and programmes.
Back in 2019, TEA took a series of steps to increase the inclusion of African-led partners, both at the decision-making and implementation levels. At the heart of this was the African Partnership and Inclusion (API) support service with a remit to increase African expertise and knowledge across the platform.
Charging up for change
As a first step, a needs assessment, led by Dr. Elizabeth Rasekoala, was carried out under the API support service to identify gaps, opportunities, and what was required for a more localised approach. This process was supported by a dedicated working group to review the needs assessment and develop recommendations to mainstream locally-led partnerships across the platform. The working group also identified approaches to deepen inclusion, including mapping local organisations and institutions capable of advancing clean energy access in Africa.
Recommendations were made to the TEA platform including the continuation of the working group for cross-platform collaboration, inclusive practices such as hosting key meetings in Africa, ensuring a diversity of speakers on panels, and partnerships with three African-led organisations.[2] The recommendations were categorised as follows:
- Mainstreaming local partnership inclusion
- Increase accessibility of quality finance
- Build long-term capacity
- Increase local visibility and influence
- Systematic, ongoing learning
In parallel, it was recommended that the TEA platform should partner directly with several African-led partners. Using the horizon scan of local organisation that was undertaken in the needs assessment, Carbon Trust worked with CLUB-ER, SouthSouthNorth, ICLEI Africa and the African Forum for Utility Regulators (AFUR) to develop business cases and work began in 2020.
In 2022, when TEA’s geographical scope expanded to include the Indo-Pacific, the API support service evolved into Local Partnership Inclusion (LPI), extending its focus while maintaining a commitment to locally-led expertise. The expansion enabled the opportunity to test another recommendation: the design of a pilot facility providing grant application support to organisations. It supported 22 locally-led organisations applying for TEA grants to understand the grant requirements and strengthen their proposals, thereby increasing their chances of securing funding. Results from the pilot are currently being evaluated and will be shared soon.
Listening to partners
Steven Hunt, FCDO Senior Energy Innovation Adviser, says:
The name may have changed but its mission has remained the same: to drive the inclusion and funding of locally-led partners in the energy access sector. The initiative reflects the direction of the wider development landscape”, says Dr. Rasekoala.
By highlighting local inclusion as a crucial factor in programme design, TEA sets a precedent that innovative solutions should be informed by comprehensive research, study and analysis of the contexts, realities and socio-cultural situations, along with local ownership of the solutions.By partnering with local institutions, we help ensure that innovative clean energy solutions are tailored to the specific needs and contexts of the communities they serve. This not only empowers local expertise but also fosters knowledge sharing and collaboration across regions, accelerating progress towards our shared goal of achieving the energy SDG7.
Pioneering partnerships
These benefits are echoed by Roy Bouwer, Project Coordinator at SouthSouthNorth, a South African based NGO and co-implementer of a TEA-funded project who said: “Organisations in emerging economies hold a wealth of opportunities and knowledge to deliver impactful and transformative projects.”
But there are also barriers to overcome, adds Roy. “For the vast majority of these organisations, meeting the institutional requirements for international development and aid agencies is extremely difficult.”
This is the key challenge that TEA is tackling through the LPI support service by funding local partners. In 2020, TEA supported three new African-led partnerships to be the pioneers of TEA’s localisation agenda. The partners designed three interventions to tackle clean energy access in Africa.
- The African Forum for Utility Regulators (AFUR), which aims to build capacity among regulators and create a standardised mini-grid tariff-setting process.
- CLUB-ER, the Association of African Rural Electrification Agencies (REAs), which is working in partnership with SouthSouthNorth to create an enabling environment in governments for the large-scale implementation of mini-grids and facilitate better energy access in sub-Saharan Africa.
- ICLEI Africa, which represents City Governments in Africa and seeks to bring clean cooking access to informal settlements across the continent.
Final remarks
The Local Partnerships and Inclusion framework seeks to advance, up-scale, and ‘mainstream’ these ‘not for us, without us’, good practice methodologies across the wider geographical TEA landscape, and should serve as transformative signposts for the clean energy sector, which will directly, inclusively and sustainably, better serve local communities, in these regions.” says Dr Rasekoala. “More broadly, being involved with LPI has seen a variety of positive outcomes, including a strong sense of local engagement and ownership over projects – which is crucial.
Find out more about the 3 pioneering African-Led Partnerships in their individual case studies: AFUR, CLUB-ER, and ICLEI Africa.
This material has been funded by the UK Government via the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) platform. However, the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK Government’s official policies.
[1] SEforALL, https://www.seforall.org/goal-7-targets/access
[2] For more detail on the recommendations please refer to the TEA’s Approaches to Local Partnership Inclusion.