Mid-Term Evaluation of the Clean Energy in Africa Programme of Naturvernforbundet (Friends of the Earth Norway)

Background:
The Clean Energy in Africa programme is a five-year programme (2012-2016) where Naturvernforbundet is cooperating with the Pan-African organization Jeunes Volontaires pour l’Environnement International (JVE) and Fórum de Energias e Desenvolvimento Sustentável de Moçambique (FEDESMO).

The main programme activities are improving access to clean energy at household and institutional level, through improved stoves, sustainable charcoal production, energy education and policy advocacy. The activities are implemented through community mobilisation and training, market driven approaches to deploying improved cook stoves and micro solar PV systems. Other potential technologies such as biogas and casamance kilns have been introduced. Community-led energy and development committees have been formed in Mozambique, and these are driving local level developments. The approach has also started in Togo.

Purpose/objective:
Purpose:
To make improvements within the programme for the remainder of the five-years’ period.

Objectives:
1. To identify the main achievements so far in relation to the outcome, outputs and selected indicators in the original five-years’ programme plan, and also non-planned achievements
2. To identify the most important learning points and give recommendations to improve relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the programme
3. Based on the experiences in Togo and Mozambique, identify best practices and strategic roles for Naturvernforbundet and partners to contribute to universal access to clean energy in households.

Methodology:
Site visits and key informant interviews were used to collect data.  When possible, focus group discussions and the review of relevant documents were also used in soliciting useful information for this evaluation. Relevant documents including project reports (narratives and financials), the project proposals and logical frameworks were reviewed. Gaps in the over or under expenditure where noted and also challenges and successes that were then confirmed through field visits. In its simplest form, this evaluation highlights the programme contexts, implementation and outcomes.

Field visits were undertaken to a few selected countries due to time limitations and financial resources. These were conducted in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo and Mozambique. Interviews were held one on one with key informants.  Focus group discussions were also held with various groups to gain an appreciation of the local context and also to learn of the results and challenges that were faced.

Key findings:
The member networks have become influential through their demonstration projects and this recognition has seen them participate in national programmes and processes on energy and environment policy. One of the most viable entry points into communities was through micro credit and savings groups and these have become some of the majority members of the networks and instruments for raising awareness about environment and energy issues.

The main achievements of the programme included the setting up and running of strong vibrant energy and environment networks in Mozambique and West Africa. The national network (FEDESMO) in Mozambique has achieved legal status and is recognised by the government. The director of renewable energy in the Ministry of Energy is the chairperson of the network. In West Africa, the achievements include the establishment of the JVE International secretariat which has representation in more than 22 African countries. All networks are running successful energy and environment projects in their countries contributing to universal access to clean energy through improved cook stoves.

Challenges and constraints include the heavy reliance on Naturvernforbundet for funding of project activities posing a risk to sustainability and project implementation. The current status where pilot demonstration projects on stoves, micro PV systems and the establishment of standards are still under development is also a major challenge to goal achievement. Constraints to market deployment of technologies include the high cost of products against low affordability and low awareness of improved cook stoves. Production of the improved cook stoves is very well established in some places but has also met challenges, as lack of adequate quality of soil. Unsustainable and unabated extraction and utilisation of biomass still continues. The demonstration of casamance kilns in Mozambique is still in infancy and its use is still low. The need for improvement was evident in the area of technical skills in biogas construction and promotion in Mozambique. There is no enabling environment through lack of policies and where they exist, implementation has been weak policy. In Togo, Ivory Coast and Ghana, the members have not adequately addressed policy issues on sustainable use of biomass.

There are emerging lessons and best practice cases from the programme in all countries that can be shared among networks. However there is limited knowledge packaging and dissemination. It was evident that there was need to review membership registration, especially the membership drive in Mozambique which was noticeably limited. The need was also evident for the recreation of value for membership so that they do not see their participation as an incentive to gain funding but as an avenue for additional programme funding.

Recommendations:
The following recommendations are provided to Naturvernforbundet and the programme partners to influence the policies and decisions of governments:
• Leverage funding to sustain network activities beyond Naturvernforbundet funding is critical for the networks. Financing from Naturvernforbundet should be used as seed funding by the networks to leverage additional funds and also diversify the resource base. Partners must put in place strategies for fundraising. Among such strategies include joint proposal development among networks and leveraging of skills and experience when bidding for consultancy work. The development of public-private partnerships is also ways of leveraging funding for the networks. Skills training to write project proposals are recommended.
• Evidence based policy advocacy enhances the credibility of advocacy strategy and proposals. The projects will need to strengthen the element of policy advocacy aimed at creating an enabling environment that promotes the sustainable extraction and use of biomass.
• The schools education programme has been demonstrated as a cost effective way for addressing environmental education and information to young school children. Up scaling this approach would be recommended for this programme through the use of environmental education as an as extra curriculum activities to increase school environmental awareness.
• Increased education of the general public and local governments about energy issues; the collation and packaging of lessons from the projects and programme that could be used for cross learning across networks and other international audience should be enhanced.
• Apply sustainable market driven approaches in the promotion of improved clay stoves by addressing the bottlenecks of quality, adequate stoves to satisfy demand and promotion actions.

Comments from the organisation, if any:
We think that the evaluation team did not take into full consideration the project goal; they did not give a proper assessment of the set objectives and the milestones that the programme has achieved; they did not pay due attention to the programme’s results in comparison to the programme’s limited funding and lifetime; and some general statements are only based on isolated cases. When we read the report on this basis, it is useful for us in the identification of where the programme needs improvements to address the lack of progress on energy access for the poor in the programme countries.