Promoting Employment through Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in the MENA Region (RE-ACTIVATE)

Project Outline

The project “Promoting Employment through Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in the MENA Region (RE-ACTIVATE)”, implemented by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) aims to explore and harness the multiple dynamic linkages between sustainable energy technologies and local socio-economic development.

In particular, RE-ACTIVATE seeks to support the current ambitious plans of MENA states to use renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) technologies and applications as a catalyst and driver for local job and value creation. It therefore puts a particular focus on small(er)-scale, decentralized energy generation and conservation technologies, which are particularly labor-intensive and can easily be sourced locally.

RE-ACTIVATE is simultaneously working on several related issue areas:

• It is identifying and disseminating relevant good practices and success cases among its partners and stakeholders;
• It supports the development and implementation of new integrated policy concepts and market development strategies for labor-intensive RE/EE technologies and applications;
• It helps to build up and strengthen the necessary technical and professional capacities at both individual and institutional levels;
• It works on concretizing and operationalizing the achieved insights with the help of pilot projects and other on-site measures that have a measurable impact on local stakeholders;
• and last but not least, it supports the exchange of experience as well as the creation of networks both within and among the countries of the region.

Team and Contacts

Head of the Regional Project RE-ACTIVATE: Dr. Steffen Erdle (GIZ)

The RE-ACTIVATE Team is situated and primarily active in three countries:

• Morocco
  • Renewable Energy: Simon Inauen (GIZ)
  • Energy Efficiency: Najia Bezzar (GIZ)

• Tunisia
  • Energy Efficiency: Martin Bader (GIZ)
  • Renewable Energy: Ali Ben Abdallah (GIZ)

• Egypt

Cooperation with RCREEE: Rana Elguindy (RCREEE)

Activities

Work Package 1: Advice and support for knowledge and strategy building:

Allows the partners to better understand the socio-economic implications and impacts of RE/EE technologies and applications, to evaluate correctly the associated tradeoffs and goal conflicts, to draw the right policy conclusions and to direct them specifically toward local socio-economic development. Enhanced awareness of decision makers leads to an improved quality of policy choices which in turn translate into improved framework conditions for local market actors. The multiple linkages and synergies between energy and development policies can be leveraged for local value creation and employment.

In the framework of this work package, RE-ACTIVATE is currently focusing on the following priority activities:

• Sustainable Energy for Jobs (SE4JOBS) Assessing and Disseminating International Good Practices for RE/EE Employment Effect Optimization in Developing and Emerging Countries
  
• Deepening and Disseminating Analytical Insights into RE/EE Employment Creation Effects in MENA Countries (MENAEnergyWorks)

Work Package 2: Advice and support for improved support policies and support tools:
Helps partners to specifically develop and deploy policies and tools that allow them to maximize the potential socio-economic benefits for local stakeholder groups - specifically in terms of employment, value and income creation - and to foster the latter's participation in the emerging RE/EE markets at both national and international levels. This will support the industrial and technological catching up of MENA countries and multiply markets opportunities specifically for MSMEs.

In the framework of this work package, RE-ACTIVATE is currently focusing on the following priority activities:

• Facilitating Local RE/EE Cluster Development in MENA and International RE/EE Cluster Cooperation with Germany and Europe
  
• Promoting the Development and Consolidation of Particularly Promising and Labor-Intensive Market Segments for RE/EE in MENA
  

Work Package 3: Advice and support for skill and capacity building:

Helps partners to specifically build up and strengthen technical and organizational competencies and capacities at both individual and institutional levels which they need to effectively implement the decisions they have taken, to deliver the quality that is required, and to reach the objectives they have set for themselves, espcially in view of their envisaged participation in emerging RE/EE markets.   

In the framework of this work package, RE-ACTIVATE is currently focusing on the following priority activities:

• Developing, Disseminating, and Pilot Testing of Adequate Quality Standards and Quality Assurance Mechanisms for RE/EE Professional and Further Training (Quality4Training)
• Developing and Implementing Human Capacity Building Activities for Local Key Stakeholders in Selected Priority Areas

Work Package 4. Supporting intra- and inter-regional cooperation and knowhow transfer through network building and stakeholder dialogue:
Allows partners to engage in a mutually beneficial exchange, to learn from relevant experience elswhere, to pool available resources and to profit from cross-border synergies. This supports both the inter-linking of energy systems as well as the establishment of attractive and dynamic regional markets for RE/EE products and services. Where applicable, relevent development experience shall be utilized for energy policy cooperation, and vice versa: always with a view to maximizing the socio-economic benfits of RE/EE technologies.

In the framework of this work package, RE-ACTIVATE is currently mainly engaged with the following partner institutions:

• Regional & International Organizations in the Energy Sector: RCREEE, IRENA
• Regional & Sector Dialogue Platforms of GIZ: MENREM, MINO

Further Information

Further information will be distributed soon.

Reference

• RE-ACTIVATE Team