Impact of Power Sector Reforms on the Poor

The Global Network on Energy for Sustainable Development (GNESD) is a UNEP facilitated knowledge network of industrialized and developing world Centres of Excellence and Network partners, renowned for their work on energy, development, and environment issues. The long-term result of GNESD is to enhance the capacity of national institutions in developing countries to develop policies and undertake planning and research efforts that integrate solutions to energy, environment and development challenges. Member Centres are:

Africa

• Environnement et Développement du Tiers Monde (ENDA-TM), Senegal.

• The African Energy Policy Research Network/Foundation for Woodstove Dissemination (AFREPREN/FWD), Kenya.

• The Energy Research Centre (ERC), South Africa.

• The Mediterannean Renewable Energy Centre (MEDREC), Tunisia

Europe

• AEA Technology, Future Energy Solutions (FES), UK.

• KFA Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany.

• The Department of Energy and Environmental Policies (EPE), Production and International Integration Economics Laboratory (LEPII), Université Pierre Mendès-France, Grenoble, France.

• The Energy Research Center of the Netherlands (ECN), The Netherlands.

• The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), Germany.

• The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE) at Lund University, Sweden.

• UNEP RISØ Centre (URC), Denmark.

North and South America & the Pacific

• The Institute for Energy Economics at Fundación Bariloche (IDEE/FB), Argentina.

• The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), USA.

• The Stockholm Environment Institute’s Boston Center (SEI-B), USA.

• The University of the South Pacific (USP), Fiji.

• CentroClima at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and CENBIO at the University of São Paulo in conjunction, Brazil.

Middle East and Asia

• Institute of Energy Economics (IEEJ), Japan.

• The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Thailand.

• The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India.

• The Energy Research Group (ERG) at The American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon.

• The Energy Research Institute (ERI) of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China.

The  Centres are coordinated by a GNESD Secretariat located at the UNEP RISO Centre, (URC), Denmark. The work in GNESD is theme driven and carried out on the basis of ad-hoc Working Groups consisting of representatives from various institutions and research centres around the globe as shown above. The initial thematic area for the network is "Energy Access" with the primary objective of identifying viable and proven policy options that can assist in providing electricity access to world's poor in the context of a reforming power sector. The Energy Access Theme is coordinated by AFREPREN/FWD and has been conducted in three phases described as follows;

The Policy Research Phase (Phase I) brought together eight (8) energy research centres from different regions in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and China. During this phase, the key research activity entailed undertaking a study reviewing power sector reforms and making an empirical assessment of the impact of the reforms on the poor. Based on the results of the assessment, the studies proposed  policy options for improving the poor's access to electricity services.

The Dissemination Phase (Phase II) focused on consolidating and refining the very large body of work that had been pulled together under the Policy Research Phase as well as dissemination of the findings and involved nine (9) Centres from developing countries. This phase addressed the broad theme of electrification of the poor. The key outputs from this phase included a set of journal articles, a set of conference papers and data compilation by the Centres.

During this phase, the Centres were involved in a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funded project whose  key objective is to strengthen capacity building in the area of policy engagement in developing countries. In East Africa, the initiative will meet its objective by first assessing the policy making process and intervention opportunities and then stimulating dialogue across regional/national stakeholders working on energy and development issues and through networking and outreach activities in the region. The key outputs of this component include a set of project proposals, status reports and study reports from each Centre.

The Policy Implementation Phase (Phase III) is currently ongoing and was approved at the GNESD Annual Assembly held on 15th December 2004 and involves ten (10) Centres from developing countries. It will involve preparation of detailed case studies demonstrating the effectiveness of selected policy options/recommendations based on the work carried out in the Policy Research and Dissemination phases of the Energy Access Theme. This will include examining the envisaged benefits that would flow to different income groups among the poor as well as providing detailed guidance on the most appropriate implementation approach. In addition, GNESD in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), UNDP and the International Energy Agency (IEA) are organising a series of regional engagements and workshops focused on the role of electricity for promoting sustainable development. One of the objectives is to disseminate the outputs of GNESD. Details of these workshops are discussed below. 

Key Outputs of the Energy Access Theme:

The key outputs from the first phase on "Energy Access" are regional study reports with an empirical assessment of the impact of power sector reforms on the poor and proposed policy options for improving electricity access for the poor. The regional reports from the centres can be downloaded from the GNESD website http://www.gnesd.org. Prior to commencement of the studies, AFREPREN/FWD prepared a common approach paper (Available for downloading in PDF format) and an annotated bibliography (Available for downloading in PDF format). The common approach paper provides an analytical framework for the various studies, while the annotated bibliography is a collation of  literature on energy services for the poor and energy sector reforms (mainly in the electricity sub-sector) provided within the context of its implications to the poor.

Key Outputs of the Policy Research Phase (Phase I) Prepared by AFREPREN/FWD

-          Eastern Africa Regional report (AFREPREN Working Paper No. 317)

-          Synthesis/Compilation Report (Download the Synthesis/Compilation report in PDF format)

Key Outputs of the Dissemination Phase (Phase II) Prepared by AFREPREN/FWD

-          Data compilation (Download the Data Compilation in PDF format)

-          Eastern Africa Renewable Energy Conference Paper (Download the 2004 Renewable Energy Conference Paper in PDF format)

-          Journal Articles: Special Issue on Power Sector Reform and its Impact on the Poor (Published in the Energy for Sustainable Development Journal of the International Energy Initiative)

Key Outputs of the Policy Implementation Phase of the Energy Access Theme (Phase III) Prepared by AFREPREN/FWD

-        Eastern Africa Regional Report (Download Regional Report in PDF Format)

-     Synthesis/Compilation Report (Download Synthesis/Compilation Report in PDF Format)

-        Study Proposal for the Policy Implementation Phase of the Energy Access Theme (Phase III) (Download the Proposal in PDF format)

-        Terms of Reference for the Policy Implementation Phase of the Energy Access Theme (Phase III) (Download the Terms of Reference in PDF format)

GNESD Regional Workshop

GNESD in collaboration with UNEP, UNDP and the IEA organized a series of regional engagements and workshops focused on the role of electricity for promoting sustainable development. The workshops brought together the best minds in economic development, energy infrastructure and technology, finance and public policy from developed and developing countries to forge new, cost effective approaches to help create a sustainable energy future. The dual challenge of linking electrification enhancement with national development goals, while providing increased electricity access to the poor,was the key theme of these series of workshops. 

Regional workshops:

• Nairobi, Kenya,  13- 14 July 2005. Click here for more information on the regional

Other Associated International Workshops and Conferences

AFREPREN/FWD has participated in the following conferences of relevance to the work of GNESD:

• The First Global Energy and Development Workshop hosted by the IEA in Paris, France, 17 - 18 January 2005

• Energy for Development conference held in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, 15 December 2004.

• The International Conference for Renewable Energies held in Bonn, Germany, 1 - 4 June 2004. During this conference, AFREPREN/FWD participated in the side event organised by GNESD.

• The Fourth Global Forum for Sustainable Energy (GFSE) conference held in Vienna, Austria, 17 - 20 February 2004.

• The EU Energy Conference for Africa, held in Nairobi, Kenya, 20 - 23 November 2003.

Related Project - AFREPREN/FWD is also involved in a Global Development Network (GDN) study that is linked to the UNDP funded project, which is a component of the GNESD "Dissemination Phase (Phase II)" study.  However, the AFREPREN/FWD/GDN study has a wider coverage than the UNDP project and focuses on the link between policy formulation and research in the energy sectors of five Eastern and Southern African countries, namely: Botswana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe as opposed to the UNDP study that focuses on two countries namely: Uganda and Kenya. Researchers involved in this project participated in two regional seminars held in Nairobi on 18-19th March, 2004 and on 23rd - 24th September, 2004 conducted by AFREPREN/FWD in conjunction with the Global Development Network (GDN) to discuss an AFREPREN/FWD/GDN study that has adopted methodological approaches similar to the UNDP study.  This project will also assist in the dissemination of GNESD findings through the AFREPREN/FWD website, updates, meetings and newspaper articles.  For more information on the AFREPREN//GDN study, please visit: http://www.afrepren.org/project/gdn/gdn.htm

For more information on this study, please contact the AFREPREN/FWD Secretariat at the following address:

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