OREANDA-NEWS. July 02, 2015. In partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and under the aegis of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Initiative, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) organized a workshop from April 15-16, 2015 in Yaound?, Cameroon, with the objective of helping six new African countries prepare their respective SE4All action agendas and investment prospectuses.

The event brought together some fifty major national energy sector players in six African countries (Malawi, Zambia, Swaziland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Cameroon), as well as many global partners. The event served as an opportunity to present to them the process of developing these action agendas and investment prospectuses within the framework of the SE4All initiative. The objective was to build participants’ capacity in the preparation of these documents, while sharing other countries’ experiences and best practices to ensure the success of the initiative at the national level.

The SE4ALL action plan is a comprehensive document covering the entire energy sector, with a roadmap leading up to 2030 aimed at meeting the three related objectives: universal access to modern energy services; doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix; and doubling the global rate of energy efficiency improvement.

The representative of Cameroon’s Ministry of Water and Energy, Dieudonn? Ombala, opened the workshop stressing his country’s strong involvement in SE4All. He urged other countries in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) to follow suit in order to give effect to the white paper on regional policy on universal access to modern energy adopted six months earlier in Yaound?.

Speaking at the event, SE4All Africa Coordinator, Daniel-Alexander Schroth, underscored the importance of these action agendas and investment prospectuses in responding in a global and integrated manner to energy access, renewable energy and energy efficiency objectives, in addition to their crucial role in mobilizing much-needed investments to attain these objectives.

Thanks to this workshop, the countries represented had the opportunity to discuss the process of preparing SE4All action agendas and investment prospectuses, while also being advised on the possibilities taking into account recent developments. Twenty-five African countries are now committed to the process and their initial experiences could be useful to everyone. The workshop therefore underscored the importance of consulting all stakeholders in each country.

The African Development Bank will finance the necessary technical support for the preparation of SE4All action agendas and investment prospectuses in Malawi, Cameroon, DRC, Zambia and Angola, through the African Climate Technology and Finance Center hosted at the AfDB, while Swaziland will be supported by the UNDP.

The SE4All Africa Hub is hosted by AfDB’s Energy, Environment and Climate Change Department, in partnership with the African Union Commission, the NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency, and the UNDP.