Zambia: SEforALL Country Action Process - Kick-off Workshop

Government officials, representatives of international organizations, private sector and civil society, gathered from May 4-6, 2016 in Chimbombo, for the official Kick-off workshop of the SEforALL Country Action Process in Zambia.

Organized by the Ministry of Energy andCWater of Zambia, the workshop marked the launch of the development of the SEforALL Action Agenda and Investment Prospectus in Zambia. The workshop took place in the framework of the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative (SEforALL) launched by the United Nations Secretary General in 2011. SEforALL is a multi-stakeholder partnership between Governments, international organizations, cooperating partners, private sector, and civil society, with three interlinked objectives to be achieved by 2030, namely: ensuring universal access to modern energy services; doubling the global rate of improvement in energy efficiency; and doubling the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.

The SEforALL country action process includes several stages, in particular the preparation of an Action Agenda and an Investment Prospectus. The Action Agenda is an umbrella energy sector development strategic document and also constitutes a national response to the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 7 on energy adopted in September 2015 by the UN General Assembly that strives to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern and energy for all”. The Action Agenda will draw on the many ongoing activities in Zambia’s energy sector and be aligned with Zambia’s commitments contained in its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) on climate change.

Brigadier General Emeldah Chola, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Water Development, reiterated in her opening remarks that Zambia embraced the SEforALL Initiative and that access to modern energy services is fundamental to human development and an investment in our collective future. She further underlined that the SEforALL Initiative has brought together leadership from all sectors of society and that “working together, we can achieve a broad-based transformation of the country’s energy systems and build a more prosperous, healthier, cleaner and safer country for this and future generations.” Furthermore, the Permanent Secretary confirmed the Government’s support and commitment towards implementing and achieving the three set goals of the Initiative. 

Daniel-Alexander Schroth, the SEforALL Africa Hub Coordinator, praised the Government of Zambia for its commitment to the SEforALL Initiative and stressed that “the Action Agenda and Investment Prospectus process envisages to bring together all relevant energy stakeholders in Zambia around a common set of objectives and priority actions with a view to mobilize the required resources to realize these objectives.”

The two-day workshop provided an opportunity for exchanges on ongoing activities in the energy sector, trajectories and possible priority actions. During the workshop, five thematic groups on access to electricity; access to clean cooking solutions; energy efficiency; renewable energy and regulatory framework and financing mechanisms, were set-up to help define the objectives and identify the priority areas of the Action Agenda. The African Development Bank supports the Zambia SEforALL process with technical assistance delivered by the consulting firm SOFRECO and financed via the African Climate Technology Centre (ACTC) following a request from the Government of Zambia.

Energy is a key priority for Africa, for the African Development Bank and for the Republic of Zambia. The Government of the Republic of Zambia will host the AfDB’s Annual Meetings scheduled from May 23-27, 2016 in Lusaka. This year the Annual Meeting’s theme will be “Energy and Climate Change”, which links directly to the New Deal on Energy for Africa spearheaded by the President of the African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina.