Poor people's energy outlook 2013

Mar 2013

The theme for PPEO 2013, the third in the series, is energy for community services: health, education, public institutions, and infrastructure. The report has been informed and guided by discussions with people in Bolivia, Bangladesh, and Rwanda. Practical Action has engaged with community members, civil society organizations, and government officials to hear their perspectives on how energy – or the lack of it – affects their lives.
Among the countries where Practical Action works, Bolivia, Bangladesh, and Rwanda were selected for PPEO 2013 research in order to represent different
geographical, environmental, and development contexts:
• With a population of 10 million, Bolivia is the most developed of the three countries in terms of both the UN Human Development Index (HDI) and energy access. Overall, four out of five people have electricity, but in rural areas over half are still without access. A relatively high 70 per cent of the
rural population are still cooking with traditional fuels (IEA, 2011). There is limited data on energy access for health centres and schools. Although
there are policies to improve rural energy access, little progress has been seen during the last few years. Bolivia has formally joined the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative.
• Bangladesh (population 161 million) is ranked 146 out of 185 countries according to the HDI. Less than half the population have access to electricity
and only 9 per cent cook with modern fuels (IEA, 2011). Seventy-seven per cent of health centres have electricity, but there is no national data on electricity for schools (Saha, 2002). Ambitious and targeted policies to improve energy access are being challenged by demographic growth and rural poverty. Bangladesh has also opted in to the SE4ALL initiative.
• With a population of 11 million, Rwanda is ranked 166 by the HDI and has very low electricity access (5 per cent) and less than 1 per cent of the population cook with modern fuels (UNDP/WHO, 2009). Although four out of five schools are reported to have electricity, only 36 per cent of health centres have access (UNESCO, 2011; MOH [Uganda] and Macro International, 2008). In response to such high needs there are strong policies in place, with clear targets for energy access. Rwanda has also opted in to the SE4ALL initiative.
Chapter 1 is dedicated to Energy for Community Services. Firstly, it look ast why energy access is important in this context and the scale of the challenge. Then it explores how energy is used in the community, the practicalities of energy supplies, and how to go about monitoring progress.
Chapter 2 presents the emerging framework for defining and measuring access to energy. This chapter reflects the joint work between the World Bank, the Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme (ESMAP), Practical Action, and other agencies on the Defining and Measuring Access to Energy for Socio-Economic Development project.
In Chapter 4, the report refined the Energy Access Ecosystem Index first proposed in PPEO 2012. The ecosystem approach looks at different aspects of policy, fi nance and capacity to draw conclusions on the conditions for achieving progress. With Total Energy Access as the goal, an improved energy access ecosystem is a prerequisite. In this chapter results are presented from national assessments in Bangladesh, Bolivia, and Rwanda and rank their ecosystem ‘health’.

By: Practical Action

 
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