More than 120 stakeholders from Government, private sector, civil society, academia and development partners gathered in Harare on October 20, 2016 for the validation workshop of Zimbabwe's Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Action Agenda.
Opening the workshop with a keynote address, the Deputy Minister of Energy and Power Development, Tsitsi Muzenda, said, "The Action Agenda is not just about aspirational goals, but challenges all of us to play our part in changing the socio-economic condition of our people through a revolutionary paradigm shift [...] It is my dream that in 2030 the whole of Zimbabwe which appears as a dark spot from the satellite images today will be transformed into dazzling light. This workshop is the first foot towards this destination."
For his part, SE4All Africa Hub Coordinator at the African Development Bank, Daniel-Alexander Schroth, stated that "the validation of the Action Agenda is only the beginning of the journey as the focus has to shift now decisively towards implementation and mobilization of the required investments to turn it into reality, to improve living conditions, create economic opportunities, and improve the lives of millions of Zimbabweans." He further underlined that the Bank has prioritized energy as the number one priority of the High 5s with the New Deal on Energy for Africa and referred to the Bank's pledge to increase its energy investments to US $12 billion for the 2016-2020 period with a view to leverage another US $50 billion.
The opening session was followed by panel discussions on energy access, renewables, energy efficiency and investments.
Zimbabwe was one of the first African countries to embrace the SE4All Initiative in 2012. The workshop concluded the work on the Action Agenda that started in 2015 to define Zimbabwe's long-term objectives on energy access, energy efficiency and renewable energy, as well as the priority actions required to achieve them. The process was supported by the AfDB through the Africa Climate Technology and Finance Centre project. The Action Agenda presents an energy sector-wide vision spanning the period to 2030 and effectively constitutes a national implementation framework for the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 7 on energy.
The other key participants included the Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Christian Katsande, and the Principal Director of the Ministry of Energy and Power Development, Steve Dihwa.
