ECREEE STARTS TO SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENT OF NIGER TO FORMULATE AN INCLUSIVE NATIONAL MASTER PLAN TO ACCELERATE RURAL ELECTRIFICATION

Praia, 1^st October 2015 – The project is launched to support the Agency for the Promotion of Electrification in Rural Areas of Niger (ANPER) to conceive an inclusive National Master Plan to accelerate rural electrification activities in Niger, which among other objectives, will allow the Government of Niger to reinforce its capacities to collect accurate data to monitor and follow up the plan implementation. The project, implemented by ECOWAS Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), is developed in the framework of the APIA program of the Spanish Cooperation to support Inclusive Public Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. APIA is jointly managed by the Spanish International Development Agency (AECID) and The International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (FIIAPP).

In the framework of the ECOWAS Program on Access to Sustainable Electricity Services (EPASES) and the APIA program of the Spanish Cooperation, ECREEE is supporting the Agency for the Promotion of Electrification in Rural Areas of Niger (ANPER) to develop an inclusive National Rural Electrification Master Plan. The main purpose of this initiative is to accelerate rural electrification activities by providing electricity services to the vast majority of the population living in the rural areas.

ECREEE will work with ANPER throughout the process, providing highly qualified technical assistance, while strengthening its capacities. The Centre human resources will be complemented by hiring specialized services to support ANER and to ensure inclusion of the most vulnerable population in the Master Plan.

The energy sector in Niger faces challenges, which cross all sectors and affect the whole population and rural communities experience widespread poverty, low incomes, limited scope for moving beyond subsistence activities and the inherent disadvantage of the grid’s remoteness create structural obstacles to rural development. Niger’s untapped renewable energy potential provides opportunities for transforming urban and rural livelihoods.