Our Call to Action has been executed at the national level in Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe and Nigeriathrough bringing together stakeholders to make commitments to accelerate distributed renewable energy (DRE). Here are some highlights from the launch events:
Nigeria
Nigeria started strongly, with a commitment to creating an enabling environment for DRE growth from Permanent Secretary, Louis Edozien of the Ministry of Power
This was followed by CEO of Lumos Nigeria, Mr Yuri Tsitrinbaum, who outlined his company’s commitment to deploying 6 million solar home systems in the next 5 years
Finally Solar Nigeria, represented by Ifunanya Nwandu, talked about their commitment to supporting the Government of Nigeria with distributed power for community facilities, as well as catalyzing private sector growth through grants (up to 13 million pounds worth by 2020), potentially reaching 25 million Nigerians with solar power.
Sierra Leone
Sophie Johnson of the Renewable Energy Association of Sierra Leone (REASL) put the call out: ‘how can we, help you?’ - demonstrating the commitment of REASL to support the sector in partnership with all the stakeholders.
Energy Minister McAuley outlined the commitment of the Sierra Leone Government to continue the ‘Energy Revolution’, and to never forget the reality of the villages and communities where people live without power.
Finally, Richard Rose, Private Sector Development Adviser from the Department from International Development, addressed a call to the international donor community: work with us to support the Government of Sierra Leone, sign on the Energy Africa compact as a co-signatories and join the UK in scaling this effort across Africa.
Zimbabwe
Among many commitments, the Renewable Energy Association of Zimbabwe (REAZ) committed to improving market data to better inform policy makers, the Government of Zimbabwe committed to establishing a DRE taskforce, the private sector committed to partnering with civil society in demand creation projects and civil society committed to providing support to government to help unlock finance.
Our partner Practical Actions explains the significance of bringing together stakeholders to make commitments.
Shepard Zvigadza of Zero Trust comments on the political will shown by the presence and commitments of Government, and the issues which have now united the private sector and civil society.
SNV comments on the power of the Power for All campaign to unite stakeholders in Zimbabwe, creating an opportunity to widen the space for the DRE sector to be discussed and for real change to be achieved.