ProGREEN Phase II is Coming
ProGREEN country teams submitted their country reports after several months of hard work involving outreach activities, team meetings, literature review, and field survey data collection with renewable energy project managers and end users of decentralized renewable energy facilities in Burkina Faso and Senegal. The reports were reviewed by the project advisory board and other key renewable energy experts.
The two reports present an overview of the current landscape of the renewable energy sector in the Burkina Faso and Senegal. Important constraints and enablers to advancing and expanding small scale renewable energy systems were identified, as well as critical development impacts linked to the access to energy in remote areas. As evidenced in the reports, access to renewable energy brings significant enhancements for local communities including, but not limited to, increased water security, greater agricultural productivity, strengthened Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) such as dairy systems, improved food security, reductions in food waste, greater availability of biofertilizer, and many more. The testimonies below highlight some of these positive improvements for end users of renewable energy.
“Mr. Daouda SEYDI / milk collector: The platform allowed milk collection all year-round while in the past, milk collection used to stop in February. Personally, with what I earn from milk collection, I buy animals to bear fruit quickly and I also started to build a house.”
The START – ProGREEN team is now focused on working with our partners in West Africa to sharpen our plans for Phase II of the project that will focus more deeply on strengthening capacities of diverse actors in the renewable energy space, and on putting learning into action in support of greater impact.
ProGREEN Project Manager Selected to the FERR-BF Investment Selection Committee
With the work done in Senegal and Burkina Faso on decentralized renewable systems in rural areas, Dr. Mariama Camara from START/ProGREEN was selected to participate in the investment selection committee of the Fonds des Energies Renouvelables et de Résilience du Burkina (FERR-BF). The project is implemented by the United Nations Equipment Fund (UNCDF), with the financial support of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The aim of the Fund is (i) to mitigate the problems of energy shortages associated with the double challenge of the lack of technological and financial capacities of businesses which impede the availability and access to sufficient energy services, and (ii) to lead strengthen the economic and adaptive capacity of the most vulnerable segments of the population to climate change: women, young people, small farmers, micro and small businesses and refugees from rural and peri-urban areas of Burkina Faso.
The chance to contribute to the FERR-BF project, and supporting transitions to renewable energy in Burkina Faso to improve the welfare of the rural communities more broadly, is very exciting and START and ProGREEN thank UNCDF for the opportunity.
ProGREEN to Present at the 3rd Water-Energy-NEXUS Conference
The ProGREEN Team is delighted to announce that their abstract “Strengthening understanding on renewable energy access for broader development outcomes in West Africa” has been selected for an oral presentation at the 3rd Water-Energy-Nexus (WEN) online conference on 2nd-4th December 2020 in Djerba, Tunisia. An extended abstract highlighting findings of the ProGREEN assessments in Burkina Faso and Senegal was also submitted for a proceedings conference paper on Springer.
START thanks the Fonds de research du Quebec (FRQ) and all the experts from Senegal and Burkina Faso for their collaboration in this research.
