ECOWAS - Regional Initiative for Efficient Cooking Energy
Background of the Initiative
energy policies on energy efficiency and renewable energies in Dakar, Senegal, in June 2012, the Economic Community announced the launch of five new regional energy initiatives, including one on sustainable, efficient and affordable cooking. The initiative, which will be administered by ECREEE (ECOWAS Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency based at Cape Verde), will be officially launched at the ECOWAS High Level Forum "Paving the Way for Sustainable Energy for All in West Africa through Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency"., 29–31 October 2012 in Accra, Ghana.
The Accra Forum will be a forum:
- to persuade policy makers to en-gage in a sustainable way to achieve the objectives of the initiative
- to bring together other players in the industry for coordinated and integrated actions
- to mobilize financial partners.
ECREEE, together with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), GERES and ENERGIA, is leading the elaboration of the efficient cooking initiative for West Africa, in close cooperation with SEEA-WA partners and other partners. A detailed concept, policy paper and a promotional video for the cooking initiative are currently under preparation.
The initiative is not meant to duplicate efforts. Rather, the initiative partners are seeking to coordinate vari-ous initiatives that are coming up at the moment and provide linkages and exchange. Given the current momentum, the partners of the initiative feel that the time is appropriate to come up with a more coordinated effort between key stakeholders and experts to increase access to more efficient cook stoves and clean energy fuels for cooking.
On the international level, in the spirit of the UN’s goal for sustainable energy access for all by 2030, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC), a public-private partnership under the aegis of the United Nations Foundation, aims at reaching 100 million households with clean cookstoves and fuels by 2020. The Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (PCIA), founded in 2002, integrated into GACC in order to develop greater leverage for reaching this goal.
Management Structure and Partners
The ECREEE (Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency) is a major agency of the Economic Community of African States (ECOWAS). Its overall objective is to contribute to a sustainable development of West Africa by improving access to modern, reliable, affordable energy services, energy security and reduction of outsource-related negative energy (e.g. local pollution, GES). Created by the C/REG.23/11/08 rule of the 61st Session of the Council of Ministers of ECOWAS, ECREEE aims at creat-ing favourable conditions for renewable energy markets and energy efficiency through support, the objec-tive being to reduce the existing technical, legal, institutional, economic, financial, and political barriers and connected with development abilities. ECREEE will assume the role of the Secretariat of the ECOWAS Initiative for Cooking Energy.
ETC Foundation is the legal host of ENERGIA, the International Network on Gender and Sustainable En-ergy. ENERGIA is a collaborating partner of both PCIA and GACC initiatives. It provides advice and technical assistance on integrating a gender-responsive approach. ENERGIA has been providing assistance, for gender mainstreaming, to several energy projects in Africa, including the GIZ-assisted PERACOD programme in Senegal. This is in addition to an improved cook stoves component to the Africa Biogas Partnership Programme, which has national biogas programs in the West Africa Region in Senegal and Burkina Faso.
GERES is associated with GACC and PCIA in order to share its knowledge based on the largest program of improved cookers in the LDCs: the "New Lao Stove" distributed up to 1.3 million specimens in Cambodia (40% of urban market) between 2004 and today; this represented 15% of the world improved cookers in 2010. Internationally, GERES has begun to develop the "Global Stove Program" which aims to extend assistance to local private channels beyond Cambodia (either directly or through assistance structures) to widely disseminate both energy equipment and sustainable fuels in similar social and economic contexts, notably in South-East Asia and West Africa.
Since 1980s, GIZ has longstanding experience in the development of programme for improved biomass technologies; especially assistance for the dissemination of improved stoves, with a high concentration in African countries. This assistance from GIZ has facilitated the introduction of over 3 million improved stoves especially in rural markets since 2005. GIZ is a founding member of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC). In January 2012, GIZ and ECOWAS, through ECREEE, started a programme for Efficient Cooking in West Africa (ProCEAO) with interventions in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mauretania, and Senegal. The programme is funded by the European Union Energy Facility.
Objective of the Initiative
The initiative aims at reaching 13 million households (20 % of households) in the ECOWAS region with clean and efficient cooking energy by 2020. It will focus on biomass fuels and cooking equipment with an increase in efficiency of at least 30%.
Strategy at Regional Level
- Refreshing the regional strategy of ECOWAS in cooking energy
- Building upon the existing initiatives on fuel and cooking equipment in the region
- Accumulate and share knowledge (technologies, technical approaches, etc.)
- Adopting standards for cooking technologies in accordance with international agreements (GACC) – in close coordination with the Energy Efficiency Initiative of ECOWAS on Standards and Labelling
- Strengthening research and policy development on guidelines for the value chain of cooking fuels (wood, charcoal, etc.)
- Assisting selected research centres
- Developing a consistent system for monitoring and evaluation in accordance with other M & E systems
Strategy at National Level
- Mapping the existing initiatives on fuel and cooking equipment at national level
- Updating national strategies for cooking energy and fixing national targets
- Evaluating and providing solutions to problems of biomass fuel supply
- Assessing bottlenecks and developing approaches for the local production of equipment and / or imports
- Assisting the development of the market, including the establishment of financing mechanisms
- Implementing awareness campaigns
- Capacity building of all stakeholders in the sector
- Sharing of knowledge
- Implementing the M & E
Further Information
