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Campaign Updates: April and May 2023

In our ongoing mission to promote renewable energy and drive sustainable development, we have been working diligently across several fronts.

Starting with our efforts in Uganda, we have been proactive in participating in numerous key events. We attended the Off-Grid Solar Coordination platform meeting, organized by GOGLA. The event held on May 31, "Unlocking Solar Capital," was particularly noteworthy as it was a collaboration with Solar Plaza aimed at fostering discussions on the future of solar energy in Africa. Additionally, we had a significant role in a consultative workshop on 'Developing a National Roadmap of Priority Actions to Scale Up Productive Use of Renewable Energy In Uganda.' This workshop was part of a series of technical working group consultative workshops, hosted by USEA and chaired by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. We have also been liaising with UNIDO and EACREEE to develop a concept note for a PUE project, with plans to implement it with the Ministry of Energy.

Parallel to this, the Power Africa Offgrid Program has been piloting and testing a toolkit for the scale-up of PayGo. This initiative has led to the drafting of a roadmap based on the results of these tests. The USEA is also progressing with the development of a national roadmap on PUE, signaling a step in the right direction for Uganda's renewable energy landscape.

Moving to India, our representative, Pooja Kumari, met with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy officials to discuss the work of Power for All in the DRE space. We received encouraging feedback, with the Chief scientist expressing interest in collaboration on future events and Communications. Furthermore, we connected with the UNDP India team, who are now supporting the MNRE in assessing Financial outlay for the DRE livelihoods framework. A meeting with the new CEO of CLEAN is also set to take our partnership to new heights, with collaborative activities planned for the upcoming year.

In terms of partnerships, we've initiated discussions with a number of potential partners such as Purpose Black for conducting market assessment studies; IFPRI for modifying solar pump sizing tools suitable for the Ethiopian context; and with SEDA-E for activating the Taskforce. A significant breakthrough in these discussions came in May when we signed a Partnership MoU with Purpose Black and CGIAR. This partnership aims to conduct a market assessment survey in 25 clusters located in different regions of Ethiopia, focusing on the willingness to pay for PURE, and identifying practical business models that can make the products affordable to the smallholders.

Our work in Ethiopia saw us co-host a meeting with the IKEA Foundation for grantees in the country's energy sector. At this meeting, experts identified challenges such as a lack of knowledge and skills, inadequate local manufacturing, after-sales service, and limited availability of relevant technologies. To address these challenges, solutions suggested included mapping energy requirements, taking an ecosystem-based approach, developing strict policies to remove non-renewable resource subsidies, and creating an inventory of current technology.

Power For All also participated in a series of noteworthy events in Ethiopia, including the ESEDA event titled The National Productive Use of Renewable Energy roadmap, the IFC event on the Agricultural Technologies Project, and the African Solar Industry Association Productive Use Catalog Launch.

Finally, we hosted a two-hour webinar learning session titled "Greening Agriculture: Farmer Perspectives on Productive Use of Renewable Energy." During this session, farmers from Uganda, Ethiopia, and India shared their perspectives on using renewable energy to increase agricultural productivity and production.

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