In the past few years, it’s clear that the discourse around energy access has changed in East Africa. While previously renewable energy was often dismissed as not being capable of helping a country to achieve “development”, there has been a significant shift in the perspectives of governments and funders. Commitments to achieving Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) and later SDG 7 have propelled the access rates. When it comes to stakeholder engagement, discussions around decentralized renewable energy and how to stimulate productive uses of energy are commonplace in stakeholder sessions. Similarly, the focus on clean cooking and the policy and regulatory framework that will help the countries achieve this is clear, and has already led to changes including the recent launches of the Kenya Bioenergy Strategy, and the Tanzania SEforALL Gender Action Plan.
Working with a number of civil society organisations in Kenya and Tanzania, Hivos’ Green and Inclusive Energy (GIE) programme has been fortunate to experience a number of wins at both national and local level. The approach of collaborating with local governments was a strategy that paid off for the partners as they found that they could liaise more closely with the community and the government when it came to capacity development, thus creating change when it came to agenda setting, and to policy and practice change. GIE partners have also been active at national and regional levels.
Our partners, many of whom are not traditional energy partners have also experienced growth in the ways they approach renewable energy discourse, in the networks they have been able to grow, and their credibility and legitimacy in the energy sector. The GIE programme took organisations that were progressive in their sectors and worked with them to understand how they could incorporate renewable energy into their work and organisational strategy. Having diverse organizations represented in the network from climate to gender to consumer organisations strengthened the multi-sectoral approach of the programme. The following stories have been selected by Hivos and our partners, to show the impact the programme has had in the communities in which we work in both Kenya and Tanzania. Download our success story booklets (Kenya – English, Tanzania – English, Kiswahili) to learn more.
Success Stories Tanzania_English
Success Stories Tanzania_Swahili
The Green and Inclusive Energy Programme was implemented from 2016 to 2020. In East Africa, the programme was active in Kenya and Tanzania. Partners under the programme are:
Kenya: African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), Arid Lands Information Network (ALIN), Clean Cooking Association of Kenya (CCAK), Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS Nairobi) and Kenya Climate Change Working Group (KCCWG)
Tanzania: Climate Action Network Tanzania (CAN Tanzania), Tanzania Civil Society Forum on Climate Change (Forum CC), Journalists Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET), Nukta Africa, Tanzania Gender and Sustainable Energy Network (TANGSEN) and Tanzania Gender Network Programme (TGNP)
