Building capacity for ‘energy for development’ in Africa: four decades and counting

Abstract

Since the establishment of the Climate Convention and its recent Paris Agreement, capacity building has been considered as a fundamental prerequisite for achieving the goals of the climate regime. Various institutional architectures have been explored, while the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (COP21) established the Paris Committee on Capacity-Building aiming to address needs and gaps, along with promoting current, emerging, and further capacity-building efforts. Efforts to build capacity have been underway for decades but have largely failed in their objectives as they were not designed from, and rooted in, the local context. Drawing from the author's more than 40 years of personal experience in capacity building in Africa, this paper sheds light on the systemic challenges involved in building capacities. Arrangements that do not entail working on, or being led by, an agenda set by those in capacity needs are not, by definition, capacity mobilization or capacity building efforts. It is argued that capacity is tied to selfreliance and self-determination and thus ability to set and pursue the recipient's own agenda must be at the core of development narratives. Key policy insights:. Self-reliance and self-determination are at the core of capacity development. Therefore, countries need to set and pursue their own agenda by creating and following a bottom-up and inclusive development narrative.. Intellectual, financial, and other important resources need to fall under the control of local leadership.. Partnerships and networks of research centres think tanks and similar institutions in the South should be created and maintained to build capacities.. Climate change, while a global issue, must be addressed based on a deep understanding of the local and national contexts.

Africa needs context-relevant evidence to shape its clean energy future

“…While this agenda would benefit from collaboration between African and international research institutions, it requires investment in local knowledge, skills, and institutions that enable African policy makers, the private sector, NGOs and scientists to organise 13 . Scaling local research and innovation systems with the capacities required for clean energy transitions takes time and effort but this process needs to begin urgently and in all African countries in a way that leverages in-country expertise and builds trust 12,39,49 . have been merged into one row.…”

“…have been merged into one row. The opportunities and risks are sourced from the literature 1,2,6,7,12,38,39,45,49 as well as the authors' analyses.…”

Understanding and redressing imbalances for South-North collaborations in energy and development research

“…In a global effort to achieve universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy by 2030 as described in SDG7, it is not only necessary to mobilise financial resources for developing countries, but also to "enhance North-South, South-South and triangular regional and international cooperation on and access to science, technology and innovation and enhance knowledge sharing on mutually agreed terms" (UN General Assembly, 2015, p. 26). There have also been growing calls for capacity building and mobilization in Africa and the GS to develop and enhance the skills needed to tackle the climate change emergency and promote southern-led development agendas (Sokona, 2022), and meaningful local community engagement to democratise energy solutions implemented in the GS (Krantz, 2020).…”

Energy system analytics and good governance -U4RIA goals of Energy Modelling for Policy Support

“…In developing country contexts, wasted resources and negative consequences are reported. 7 2. Community cooperation: the level of involvement of socio-economic actors is necessarily constrained as resource, time, and other factors create impractical overheads.…”

“…EMoPS and its output) is lacking. Money might be directly wasted 7 as there may be no simple knowledge management process in the analytical team. As its insights might not be scrutinizable, the resulting (much larger indirect) investments and the broader development they drive are at risk as a result.…”