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A Community of Champions – Supporting ongoing exchange between public, private and development sectors

What is the Community of Champions?

The Community of Champions – supported by GOGLA, World Bank/ESMAP, Shell Foundation, USAID/Power Africa, the UK Government and SEforAll – was formed as an opportunity for ongoing exchange between governments, the private sector and development partners to work collaboratively towards creating a supportive policy environment to help achieve universal energy access in Africa.

DFID and USAID logos

 How does the Community of Champions support dialogue between governments, the private sector and development partners?

Through three events in 2018-2019, the Community of Champions has facilitated interactive and open dialogue among government decision-makers, industry and the international donor community. The emphasis is on government-to-government learning, focusing on topics such as:

  • How government policies can encourage the scale-up of energy access off-grid solar products
  • The promotion of quality products
  • Energy access in the last mile
  • Opportunities and challenges in the off-grid sector

 What is happening next?

The next Community of Champions event will take place in Dakar, Senegal on Friday 18 October, following the “Unlocking Solar Capital” conference. At the upcoming community event, we will focus on promoting dialogue within the off-grid sector, affordability of quality products and consumer protection. Invitees include government policy makers from Benin, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, EAC, EACREE, ECREEE, ECOWAS, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Lesotho, Madagascar, Rwanda, Togo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zambia, fellow industry members and the international donor community.

In 2019, the Community of Champions has expanded to include a webinar series for its members. You can watch the first webinar on policies to promote quality products below (led by GOGLA) or on the GOGLA Policy Hub.  The next webinar will take place in early November and the topic will be macro-economic balancing in the off-grid sector.

In case you are interested in joining or want to know more about the community, please contact Kia Muukkonen (k.muukkonen@gogla.org).