Official launch of ‘Promoting Equitable Access to Clean Energy project in Malawi

With funding from the European Union, a consortium of Oxfam, Centre for Environmental Policy and Advocacy (CEPA) and Civil Society Network on Climate Change on Wednesday, 21st June 2023 officially launched the Promoting Equitable Access to Clean Energy (PEACE) project at the Bingu International Conference Centre in Lilongwe.

The Director of Electricity in the Ministry of Energy, Mr Million Mafuta graced the event attended by government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the European Union and other development partners, civil society organizations (CSOs), private institutions in the energy sector, financial lending institutions, community representatives and the media among others.

The project has overall objective of contributing to a more green and resilient economic transformation in Malawi through strengthening an enabling environment for equitable access to clean energy. This is a national-level focused project will particularly pilot clean energy solutions in Salima District and peri-urban areas of Lilongwe and Blantyre cities.

The project is funded to the tune of one million one hundred thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three Euros (EUR1 200 000 from the EU and EUR133 333 from Oxfam and partners) and will be implemented for a period of three and a half years with the following expected outputs:

• Enhanced capacities of CSOs to influence the local, national, and regional policy and legal frameworks within the energy Sector
• Strengthened capacities of CSOs to demand for more transparency and hold the government and energy operators accountable
• Citizens and communities, especially the energy poor and most vulnerable groups (youth, women and people living with disabilities), are able to engage more actively in policy dialogue and decision-making processes related to access to clean energy in Malawi.

The intervention is aligned to the priorities of Malawi national planning frameworks such as the 2018 National Energy policy 2018 on Electricity, National Climate Change Management Policy on climate change mitigation, and Malawi 2063 under Pillar II on Investment in Power Generation and Access.

185 000 poor households (832 500 people) from rural and peri-urban areas in Malawi including women, youth, and people with disabilities and 75 000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) such as tailors, maize millers, grocery shops, barber shops, beauty salons, welding shops will benefit from the action.