Energy Beyond Electricity - A tool for change and impact

Africa Green Collar Project

The drive to improve energy access in many areas in Sub-Saharan Africa and the growth in investment in renewable energy technology has fueled the conversation on how electricity can be used as a tool for change and impact.Rachel Kyte, CEO of SEforALL, and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All in her opening remarks at the Sustainable Energy For all forum held in Lisbon in May 2018 of this year highlighted that “… we need to think differently about how we deliver affordable, reliable and clean energy services. “On our podcast today, we want to ask ourselves, how can we re-think how we use energy as a tool for change and impact? Our focus is on developing countries.To do so we are joined by Dr. Scott Kennedy, Executive Director of Energy Action partners speaking to us from Boston Massachusetts, USA. Energy Action Partners is an international organisation that works to provide access to sustainable energy internationally with focus on regions with limited energy infrastructure looking at off-grid or weak grid environments for providing electricity access.Links to our previous podcast with Morwesi Ramonyai: Off-Grid Electrification in African Cities - https://www.greencollarafrica.org/podcastsSome of the topics we explored today:

• How can we ensure that the mini-grids and other projects involving electricity access are sustainable (they will continue to operate and function in the future) with significant long-lasting impacts, and generate new innovations locally on how we use energy?
• Energy Action Partners Mini-grid game: a digital tool being used to get communities involved in the implementation of electrification solutions.
• The importance of community involvement in the implementation of electrification solution