Enabling African Cities for Transformative Energy Access

We create an enabling environment to provide adequate, safe, reliable, clean and affordable access to energy to the urban poor in informal settlements.

Years active:

2020 - 2024

Related ICLEI Pathway(s)

Locations

Kampala, Uganda; Freetown, Sierra Leone

Funded by

ENACT is part of the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) programme, funded with UK Aid from the UK government. It is managed by The Carbon Trust and delivered by ICLEI Africa, with support from Energy 4 Impact.

About

Project summary

Africa’s urban population boom will exacerbate the demand for energy. Despite international efforts in meeting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), challenges remain in terms of achieving the ambitions set out in SDG 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. Lack of access to a reliable energy sources is the primary barrier towards growth for many African businesses and economic sectors.

The Enabling African Cities for Transformative Energy Access (ENACT) project will work with local governments to create an enabling environment to provide adequate, safe, reliable, clean and affordable forms of energy to the urban poor residing in informal settlements and slums Kampala and Freetown.

By partnering with the private sector, local governments and national energy ministries, it is anticipated that ENACT will improve access to clean cooking and provide lighting solutions to at least 3,000 households and micro-enterprises in the two project cities. Such activity is expected to facilitate the creation of at least 2,000 jobs, 30% of these within businesses owned and managed by women.

ENACT is part of the Transforming Energy Access (TEA) programme, funded with UK Aid from the UK government. It is managed by The Carbon Trust and delivered by ICLEI Africa, with support from Energy 4 Impact.

Project aims

The ENACT project has three core components

Build the capacity of local governments in urban energy data collection, planning, financing, and private sector involvement;

Work with the private sector to test and implement financing and business models to improve the delivery of clean energy solutions for households and micro-businesses;

Share knowledge and best practices for scaling up and replication in urban areas across SSA under the #ENACTenergy communication campaign.

Project highlights

Case studies

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Benchmarking energy access: Case studies from five informal settlements in the global south

Webinars

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WEBINAR 1: ENACTing energy access in Africa’s urban informal settlements WATCH RECORDING

WEBINAR 2: Building public-private partnerships to accelerate clean cooking access in Africa WATCH RECORDING

Clean cooking feasibility studies in Freetown

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Identifying viable and scalable solutions to improve clean cooking access for slum dwellers in Susan’s Bay, Freetown (Sierra Leone).

See the Feasibility studies compiled by three companies, appointed by ICLEI Africa as part of the ENACT project, here: ILEM Africa, PayGas and AfriGas.

Capacity building in Kampala

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The ENACT project organises a capacity-building workshop on clean and modern energy cooking services in Kampala, Uganda.

The workshop highlighted the concerning disparity between population growth and clean cooking access rates in sub-Saharan Africa, with Uganda having less than 5% of its population with access to clean cooking. The detrimental effects of traditional cooking methods on climate, environment, gender, and health were discussed, with participants sharing their first-hand experiences. Read more here.

Baseline studies in Kampala

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ENACT conducted baseline studies and compiled a report on the status of clean cooking access in the Kisenyi informal settlement in Kampala, Uganda.

Some key findings from the report include:

92% of households and microenterprises in Kisenyi use charcoal as the primary fuel for cooking
The high upfront and running cost of clean cooking stoves and fuels, and perceived safety concerns in using these technologies are amongst the factors inhibiting the the adoption of clean cooking solutions in Kisenyi. Nonetheless, the community is willing to transition to cleaner options for cooking.

Read the full report here.