The African Development Bank (AfDB), as host of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Africa Hub, organized on January 26 and 27 a workshop in Abidjan with representatives of African countries and partner institutions.
The workshop was organized in collaboration with the Global Facilitation Team headed by Kandeh Yumkella, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General on SE4ALL. Since its launch, more than 90 Governments from around the world have formally engaged with the initiative, including 43 African countries.
The workshop was attended by the SE4All Africa Hub partners: the African Union Commission (AUC), the NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency, and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), as well as by representatives of the European Commission, World Bank, US State Department, UN Foundation, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Energy Efficiency Hub, OPEC Fund for International Development, Agence Française de Développement, Practical Action, Africa-EU Energy Partnership, the ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), and country focal points from several African countries, including Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
The workshop was opened by Solomon Asamoah, AfDB Vice-President for Infrastructure, Private Sector and Regional Integration, who highlighted the opportunity presented by SE4ALL to initiate the required step change from business as usual to achieve the SE4ALL global targets of universal access, doubling the share of renewables and doubling the rate of improvements in energy efficiency. Some of the first draft African SE4ALL Action Agendas - strategic and holistic national documents looking at the three SE4ALL objectives in an integrated manner and intervening as an umbrella framework for the energy sector development until 2030 - were presented at the workshop, which allowed for the identification of lessons learnt and best practice. The workshop also agreed on steps to ensure that the outcome of the SE4ALL Action Agenda and Investment Prospectus processes will yield the envisaged results in terms of policy reforms and mobilization of investments.
The workshop came soon after the launch of the African Energy Leaders Group (AELG) at the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The AELG brings together political and economic leaders at the highest level to drive the reforms and investment needed to end energy poverty and sustainably fuel the continent's economic future. The Bank, in conjunction with its role as Africa Hub, will provide Secretariat support to the AELG.
About the SE4ALL Africa Hub: The UN Secretary General's Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative was launched in September 2011 with the aim of achieving three main goals by 2030 (i) ensuring universal access to modern energy services; (ii) doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency; and (iii) doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix. The African Development Bank is at the forefront of the implementation of the SE4ALL Initiative and host the SE4ALL Africa Hub since May 2013 in partnership with the African Union Commission and the NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency and with the support of UNDP. The mission of the SE4ALL Africa Hub is to coordinate and facilitate the implementation of the SE4ALL initiative on the African continent. The Hub promotes African ownership, inclusiveness and a comprehensive approach to the Initiative's implementation. In addition, the Hub is supporting a number of African countries with developing SE4ALL Action Agenda and Investment Prospectus.
