Co-sponsored by the e-Parliament and The World Future Council

The e-Parliament is pleased to announce a new project funded by the European Commission. It is entitled Energy Access for the Poor and will focus on informing and engaging legislators throughout Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) regions.

The project will take place over the next three years in collaboration with three partner organisations - The Mali Folkecenter (MFC) in Mali; Energy, Environment and Development Network for Africa (AFREPREN/FWD) in Kenya; and The South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) in Fiji.

Brief outline of the project:

The purpose of this project is to inform, empower and activate members of national parliaments in the ACP nations to play a stronger role in improving governance on energy issues and thereby improve energy access for the poor.

The project will consist of four main components which will look at all aspects of energy governance from the perspective of the poor:

Poll ACP Legislators: By polling legislators internationally about what aspects of energy policy the e-Parliament should focus on, we enable the ACP legislators to jointly set the priorities for the project. We will seek to involve as many ACP legislators as possible in a poll on what areas of energy policy are of particular interest to them. After we have begun our parliamentary hearings, we will conduct three further polls at the regional level in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, to enable to express their preferences regarding some of the policy ideas on how to improve access to energy for the poor that emerge from the hearings.

Gather ideas: Responding to the priorities of ACP parliamentarians, expressed through polling and other consultations, we will gather ideas from experts and organisations on how to implement those priorities. Innovative ideas and examples of best practice in energy governance will be summarised in a standard format for inclusion in our online Ideas Bank. The ideas will be discussed in our parliamentary hearings, and dispersed more widely to legislators through a Parliamentary Tool Kit on energy access for the poor.

Convene International Parliamentary Hearings: Over the three years of this project, the e-Parliament will convene nine e-Parliament hearings on energy access for the poor. Each hearing will bring together in person some 15-20 legislators, enabling them to question leading experts about different policy options, and to conduct a dialogue among themselves about which ideas they would like to advance in their own parliaments. These hearings will help to create a critical mass of legislators who are well briefed, armed with good policy ideas, and motivated to take stronger action in their own parliaments on energy access for the poor.

Location of hearings: The e-Parliament has announced the locations for the Energy Access hearings. For details please click HERE.

Support Action in ACP Parliaments: To assist legislators who are interested in taking ideas emerging from the hearings and promoting them at home, the e-Parliament will help to facilitate whatever advice they need from leading experts and develop legislative Tool Kits adapted to the needs of each of the ACP regions. We will also help those parliamentarians who are working on similar issues in different countries to stay in touch with each other so that they can work together and learn from each other's experience as they move forward.

Please check the website regularly for updates on this series of Hearings.

The e-Parliament would like to thank the European Union and the Swedish Development Agency (SIDA) for funding this project.This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union and SIDA. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the e-Parliament and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.