Patricia Vilchis Tella
(SEI, Sweden)
Ishmael Edjekumhene
(KITE, Ghana)
Pol Arranz-Piera (UPC,
Spain)
One of the main outcomes of the Rio+20 Conference was the agreement to launch a process that should develop a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), built upon the Millennium Development Goals and converge with the post 2015 development agenda. UN Member states set themselves the goal to facilitate an "inclusive and transparent intergovernmental process open to all stakeholders, with a view to developing global sustainable development goals to be agreed by the General Assembly"[1]
Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), with their experience
on a wide range of areas, from aid and relief, advocacy and campaigning, training,
research, to project implementation on
the ground - in particular in remote rural areas of poor countries - have a
deep understanding of the problems that hinder sustainable development, and therefore
have an important contribution to make to the +2015 process, not only on the
development of the values, criteria and indicators for the new SDGs, but also
in planning its specific implementation.
Now that universal energy access is included as
goal number seven in the draft of the SDGs, the European Union has an important
role to play beyond being a major donor for project implementation. This
broader role includes capacity building and facilitation of African
organizations participation in shaping the SDGs, so that the genuine voices of
small and remote organizations are also heard.
During 2013, the Energy for All 2030 team (Stockholm
Environment Institute, Practical Action, the Technical University of Catalonia
and Educon), together with KITE, have worked to enrich the dialogue between the
UN High-level panel of eminent persons on the Post-2015, the European
Parliament and African CSOs. The team conducted a survey to gather the views of CSOs working on energy access in
Africa about the Post 2015 process, the role of energy access in the
achievement of the SDGs in Africa and the performance of EU institutions as
major supporters. The results of the survey were presented and discussed at a high level event at the European Parliament in Brussels in June 2013, with representatives of
Civil Society, the EU and UN.
One
of the key outcomes of the 2012 Earth Summit (Rio+20) was the agreement by
member states to launch a process to develop a set of Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs), to build on the Millennium Development Goals and converge with
the post-2015 development agenda. According to the Rio+20 Outcome Document –
The Future We Want – the SDGs are expected to have the following
characteristics:
- Should be action-oriented, concise and easy to communicate,
limited in number, inspirational, global in nature and universally applicable
to all countries while taking into account different national realties and
include targets and indicators;
· - Focused on priority areas for achievement of
SD and driven by governments with involvement of all stakeholder
Consequently,
UN Member States are required to establish “inclusive and transparent
intergovernmental process opened to all stakeholders” in developing SDGs to be
endorsed by UN General Assembly.
It is against
this background the Energy for All 2030
Project[1]
launched an online survey among African CSOs working in the energy sectors to,
among other things, ascertain the extent to which they have been involved in
the consultations leading to the development of the SDGs. The survey was
conducted between March and May, 2013 and covered 3 main areas: the
participation of CSOs in the SDGs process; the role of energy in the SDGs; and
the level and quality of collaboration between CSOs and European Union Actors. The
survey was administered to a total of 400 CSOs (drawn from NGOs, Research
Institutions and Industry Associations), and obtained a response rate of 17%.
The survey had
two parts: a questionnaire administered online, complemented by 9 interviews of
key CSOs in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde (ECOWAS coverage), Burundi and Kenya.
The main
findings of the survey, which are summarized in rest of the paper, were
presented at a high level event at the European Parliament in Brussels on June
5th, 2013[1].
An inclusive process?
UN institutional efforts are being put to facilitate
the drafting of the SDGs as a very open process, reportedly with
consultations to more than 5,000 CSOs, surveys
of over half a million individuals on priorities for the future, country
and regional thematic consultations, as well as open contributions on the
internet. This point was particularly stressed by Mrs. Betty Maina (Member of
the UN Secretary general’s High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015
Development Agenda and Chief Executive of Kenya’s Association of Manufacturers),
during her presentation in the high level event held in the EU Parliament.
To assess the level of participation of African CSOs,
in the first part of the survey respondents were asked to indicate the extent
to which they have been involved in the SDG process. Their responses are presented
in Figure 1 which shows that nearly half of the respondents (47%) said they
were not aware of the SDGs process compared. For the 53% who were aware of the
process, only 30% reported that their organisations have been directly involved
in the process. Some of these CSOs were well-known and active in the Africa’s
energy sector, hence this finding raises concern about the quality and depth of
the SDGs consultation process. The drafting process of the SDGs has been said
to be very consultative (cite) since the surveyed.
Concerns were also raised with the structure of the
consultation. As one respondent reported: “if you
look over internet you will find three or more official sites; the future we
want, the site for the high level panel, UN sustainable development …, I think
it is confusing, it may be difficult for people that are not familiar with the
process to know where to look!”
During the debate at the EU Parliament, the convenience
of on line information gathering was discussed. A majority of the African organizations
based on rural areas would never get to participate, “maybe they don´t even
have a computer, even if they did internet connection may not be available...”a
participant said. The difficulty to access reliable internet connections is
seen as a main barrier for African rural CSOs to be able to engage in online
consultations, let alone videoconferences or virtual meetings. As an
alternative, interviewees from Ghana and Burkina Faso have indicated that joint
CSO sessions could be planned and organized around good IT facilities (such as
research centers like KNUST in Ghana or 2ie in Burkina Faso) on a trimester or
semester basis, so that rural CSOs could meet and share good online
connectivity; but dedicated budget would be needed to mobilize these
organizations.
What can be done to improve African CSO participation?
To the
question “What do you think can be done to facilitate African civil society’s
meaningful participation in the development of the SDGs?” the respondents proffered the
following solutions:
·
Access: the
process should be made more accessible to African CSOs by adapting it to the
Africa context in terms of access to information, existing capacity and
distances.
·
Facilitation: African
CSOs needs to be supported to take part in the process in the form of financial
support to attend meetings, etc.
·
Process: There is
the need to struck a balance between face-to-face meetings and virtual
meetings; and,
·
Inclusiveness: The
process should be made more inclusive by enabling small and local organisations
to effectively participate in the consultations. And broaden the spectrum of
consulted organisations: there needs to be more outreach to grassroots
organisations—not just those focused on energy but especially those dealing
with agriculture, women and poverty alleviation—so they understand how
additional access to energy can help them improve the situations in their
communities.
Definition of Energy Priorities in the SDGs
The High Level Panel recognizes the centrality of
energy within the goals for development. During the event in the EU Parliament,
the HLP representative, Betty Maina gave her opinion about the draft of the SDG
dedicated to energy: “The goal has
targets on efficiency, access and expansion on energy and focus on renewable
energies. This goal is critical to move forward in Africa as it is central to
production. We would like to see expanded capacity in terms of energy
generation for the continent, it will be very critical for boosting business.
There will be no economic growth without energy. So I think that the centrality
for energy in Africa is energy for productive activities. For Kenya’s
Association of Manufacturers, the organization I represent, the quality and
quantity of energy we have is a concern. Africa is a very dynamic economy.
Expected to grow around 6 or 7% a year. This will require an expansion of our
energy capacity.”
Respondents to
the CSO survey were asked to indicate their prioritized energy needs and
services they would want incorporated in the SDGs definition. Results show that improved access to energy at the household level followed by
access for productive applications are the two priorities of the respondents.
It also suggests that the respondents do not care too much about the source of
the energy being used hence the lower priority given to low carbon options.
As it can be
seen the responses contrasts with Mrs Maina’s speech, however respondents
answers in the survey and the open interviews, regarding this matter varied a
lot from country to country and between regions. On one hand organizations in
countries like Kenya and Ghana that may be more advanced in the race for energy
for all prioritized energy for productive uses while countries like Burundi,
Cameroon or Nigeria prioritized household energy the most. The importance of
considering different countries conditions was also discussed during the event
in the Parliament, highlighting the importance of facilitating the
participation of grassroots organizations in the planning an implementation of
the SDGs at local level as they have the expertise and knowledge of the area
and can contribute to develop an effective strategy to achieve energy for all.
Level of Satisfaction with European Collaboration
The European
Union remains as the major institutional donor to development action worldwide,
and has a long track of support to energy access. Respondents to the survey were
asked to indicate their level of satisfaction with the current level of
collaboration with European administration (EC in Brussels, in country EU
Delegations, EU related multilateral organisations), private sector and CSOs in
six main areas – funding, training, networking, dissemination, regulatory
assistance and technical assistance.
The majority of respondents are quite happy with how the EU
administration has been collaborating with them in the area of funding and
dissemination with over 60% and 55% of respondents respectively indicating that
they were either satisfied or very satisfied with EU in these areas. Also, training and regulatory assistance are the areas that
respondents are least satisfied. In the interviews, the role of the EU as the
main donor in energy access action is well recognised, but also concerns about long
bureaucracy and formulation cycles (sometimes over several years) have been
raised.
With regards
to their dealings with European private sector entities, respondents were quite
satisfied in the areas of equipment supply and technical assistance. In the interviews, concerns about discontinuous presence of EU
suppliers in some African countries have been raised, as a barrier to assure
proper spare parts provision and duly coverage of equipment warranties.
Regarding
European CSOs, networking and dissemination were the two main areas that
respondents found quite satisfactory as far as their dealings with European
CSOs are concerned.
Future Collaborations Between EU and Sub-Saharan Africa
Respondents to the survey were also asked to indicate
priority areas for future collaboration between EU and SSA stakeholders and the
following were the areas listed:
·
31% of the respondents mentioned funding as the main contribution
of EU institutions to achieve the SDG on energy, however the focus was not on
project implementation per se, but providing funds for capacity building,
EU-SSA private and public partnerships and the implementation of pilots
·
Capacity Building; In an open interview, a representative of the
Organisation pour la défense de l'Environnement au Burundi said: “EU funding should strengthen the technical
capacity of the organizations and civil society in the South but also
facilitate technological exchange and access to equipment because this aspect
sorely lack. There should be more scholarships oriented to innovative sectors
so that the beneficiaries can contribute to the development of their country
once returne.”
·
Joint Innovation and Technology Adaptation; Intensify access to
modern energy in rural areas; Co-design of programmes and interventions
(African and European experts) training and research programmes on energy access,
renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency; facilitate the conception
of new solutions which take into consideration social, environmental,
technical, economical aspects.
·
More focus needs to be placed on developing and implementing
innovative financing mechanisms that allow SMEs to access finance for project
development and execution, and that allow civil society to participate in and
develop less economically viable but vital projects. More concrete capacity
building and training for SMEs and entrepreneurs in the development of bankable
projects is vital.
Conclusions
In order to guarantee a real participative
process in the next steps of the post 2015 process and the adaptation and
implementation of the SDGs at the local level, there is a need to implement
innovative mechanisms that allow organizations in remote areas and with scarce
resources to contribute and express their opinion.
The EU has an important role to play to
facilitate the implementation in achieving the goal of Universal energy access,
not only as one of the major funders of energy projects but also facilitating
investment, private sector partnerships
between regions, and advocating for a balanced participation of African
organizations in the post-2015 process.
[1] Sustainable development goals: Sustainable Development Knowledge
Platform. http://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/index.php?menu=1300
