Stakeholders and Government representatives in Africa have been drilled on the Sustainable Energy For All, SE4ALL, Action Agenda and Investment Prospectus Support, AA/IPs, initiative.

The stakeholders were familarisng themselves with the SE4ALL initiative during a two-day workshop organised by the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, the African Development Bank, ADB, and the SE4ALL Africa Hub, on April 15-16 in Yaounde.

The workshop, aimed at preparing countries for the launch of the AA/IPs and technical assistance provided by SE4ALL Africa Hub, was attended by representatives from some selected countries in Africa.

According to the SE4ALL Africa Hub Coordinator, Dr. Daniel-Alaxander Schroth, the workshop is in response to some African countries that have made commitment to address the issue of lack of energy access and promoting renewable energy resources.

Given that more than 590 million people lack access to electricity in Africa and over 600 million people still rely on unsustainable solid biomass as fuel for cooking and heating,the SE4ALL Africa Hub Coordinatorasserted that advancing concrete country action ideas for the selected country SE4ALL stakeholders will accelerate the action process and improve coordination on the ground.

Dr. Schroth urged African Governments, stakeholders and development partners to scale up their support to Africa in relation to the SE4ALL Initiative. He stated that SE4ALL Africa Hub will launch and provide technical assistance to develop the AA/IPs of Cameroon and other African countries that have formally expressed their support to the SE4ALL Africa Hub.

Meanwhile, the UNDP Regional Energy Project for Poverty Reduction Manager, Aboubacar Oualy, called on the participants at the workshop to exploit the lessons learnt regarding the SE4ALL action process. He stated that implementing SE4ALL AA/IPs in countries can only be effective if best practices in other countries and lessons learnt from the SE4ALL action process are well utilised.

The SE4ALL Africa Hub, which was created through a CEMAC resolution, has, as mission, to coordinate and facilitate the implementation of SE4ALL initiative on the African continent. The Hub promotes ownership, inclusiveness and a comprehensive approach to the implementation of the initiative.