NGO Global Communities Partners with USAID's Power Africa

Global Communities Partners with Power Africa

SILVER SPRING, Md.– Global Communities announced that it has joined Power Africa, the groundbreaking USAID partnership focused on increasing the number of people in Africa with access to power. Power Africa brings together technical and legal experts, the public and private sectors and others with the goal of adding more than 30,000 megawatts of cleaner, more efficient electricity generation capacity and 60 million new home and business connections throughout the continent.

Global Communities will partner with energy developers to improve consumer understanding and uptake of power by employing a community-led approach that provides technical assistance, support and education, to help targeted countries in Africa reach its electrification goals.

Since its inception in 1952, Global Communities has empowered communities in the developing world to benefit from new infrastructure and service delivery projects. Recent energy-related projects have included bringing solar power to earthquake-displaced persons in Haiti, which helped improve safety, health and education in the area; and in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana, where Global Communities worked with communities to help them understand electrical distribution and effective ways to engage the company in ensuring effective service delivery. Building on this experience, and because communities vary significantly in their social, educational and economic makeup, Global Communities will engage communities to ensure the success of Power Africa micro-grid projects, especially in areas where national or provincial legal and regulatory structures may not be understood, consistently applied, or fully operational.

Using their signature Participatory Action for Community Enhancement methodology, Global Communities aims to facilitate approximately 250,000 connections, reaching about 1.5 million people as well as leverage nearly $1,000,000 in microfinance lending directly tied to electrification projects in under-served markets. Additionally, in partnership with energy developers, more than $500 million in power sector investments will be de-risked and strengthened through implementation of community engagement activities.

“At Global Communities, we are proud to be one of just a few NGOs partnering on this groundbreaking public-private partnership. We know from decades of experience that energy and public service infrastructure projects are most effective when communities are engaged from the beginning and lead the progress that helps better their lives and livelihoods,” says David A. Weiss, President & CEO of Global Communities, “We look forward to partnering with project developers to ensure that their engagement with the community is a successful one which leads to sustainable energy delivery to those who need it most.”

About Power Africa
Two out of three people in sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity. In 2013, Power Africa was launched, bringing together technical and legal experts, the private sector, and governments from around the world to work in partnership to increase the number of people with access to power.

Power Africa’s goal is to add more than 30,000 megawatts (MW) of cleaner, more efficient electricity generation capacity and 60 million new home and business connections.

About Global Communities
Global Communities is a global non-profit organization founded in 1952 that works closely with communities worldwide to bring about sustainable changes that improve the lives and livelihoods of the vulnerable. Global Communities believes that the people who understand their needs best are the people of the community itself. Global Communities has worked in the West Bank and Gaza since 1995. Learn more at www.globalcommunities.org and @G_Communities.

Source: Global Communities
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