Energy Literacy for Decentralised Governance

Over the last ten years African governments have moved increasingly towards decentralised budgets, giving local authorities increased powers and budgets to govern areas that include both rural and urban population. Yet while cities have a municipal authority to consider new ways of supplying energy to its urban citizens, those governing Africa's rural poor in small and medium towns in the surrounding rural hinterlands have rarely considered energy infrastructure.
Existing research indicates that many local authorities in Africa are struggling as they do not have the capacities and capabilities necessary to govern the complex social, political and economic situations they routinely face. Required to contribute inter alia to financial management, local and regional economic development, strategic planning in the local government, budgeting procedures, tax collection, procurement procedures and standards, ethics for local government staff and elected representatives, and action against corruption, it is hardly surprising that against this backdrop the demands placed on their time and capabilities would see energy planning neglected. And yet energy - in particular, clean energy for development - is becoming increasingly important not just to them in their specific geographical location, but to the wider region and world more generally.
Local authority capacity across Africa therefore poses a fundamental challenge for successfully implementing clean energy for development programmes. In short, decentralisation could open the way for local authorities to become champions and drivers towards cleaner energy, but at the same time, their lack of capacity and capabilities is currently proving a major barrier to implementing clean energy development in African states. For sure, improving the understanding and evidence base of both the opportunities and challenges associated with implementing clean energy for development in Africa and it is this lacuna which this proposed research seeks to address.
To achieve this, the project has a number of foci. First, the project sets out to scope the size of the problem. There is an urgent need to document the roles and responsibilities of local authorities in African states to work out how these new roles impact the capacity and capabilities of local authorities (in different contexts) have been affected by the transfer of powers and budgets under decentralization initiatives. When a hospital needs a new generator, who decides? When the local market needs new lighting, who decides? Who has the power and budget to spend on energy?
Second, and having determined who typically holds the power and budgets, we will then explore their 'energy literacy'. Among all the other capacities and capabilities they must have to govern, our central question is do they have basic energy literacy? We take an energy-literate person is to be someone who: can trace energy flows and think in terms of energy systems; knows how much energy he or she uses, for what, and where that energy comes from; can assess the credibility of information about energy; can communicate about energy and energy use in meaningful ways; is able to make informed energy and energy use decisions based on an understanding of impacts and consequences. Put simply, there is an urgent need to ascertain whether decision makers have enough knowledge about energy to make positive decisions towards cleaner energy sources, and wider energy access for their citizens.
Here we will focus on local authorities in Rwanda and Kenya. The importance we attached to these two cases is guided by recognition that Rwandan local authorities have been budget holders for a number of years - therefore we expect them to be able to share their experiences of the challenge of running a district - whereas in Kenya, they are about to have elections that will give more power and budget to the local authorities, so they will be able to share both their hopes and expectations

Ultimately, our goal is that this research will (i) raise the profile of local government roles within clean energy transitions in rural Africa amongst key national and international stakeholders, (ii) raise the profile of energy issues amongst local authorities themselves and (iii) help increase the capacity of those local authorities to play a facilitative role within clean energy transitions across their territories.
We believe that the impact of this will in the long term lead to increased adoption of clean energy services among Africa's poor, which in turn will benefit communities by strengthening livelihoods, encouraging economic growth, improving health and protecting the environment. To this end, our simplified theory of change is captured in our key research questions. We will first seek to identify the roles and responsibilities of local authorities in relation to energy issues across Rural Africa. Once the frame of the research is established this will lead to an analysis of whether this role has already been affected by the transfer of powers and budgets under decentralization initiatives. The analysis leads us to hypothesise, with evidence, the implications of further more profound transformations under current decentralization impulses, and to determine whether action on the level of awareness of local authorities in terms of energy literacy will be likely to affect the outcomes of longer-term planning for the increased uptake of clean energy technologies within this context? If, as we predict, the research leads to the conclusion that such action in enhancing the energy literacy of local authorities will have substantial positive implications on clean energy transitions, then our research will have formed the basis and provided evidence for a more substantial intervention by governments, donors or civil society, to strengthen the energy literacy of local authorities.

We will work hard in interacting with the key relevant stakeholders within the two target countries and beyond in ensuring that the evidence distilled through this research will help convince policy-makers and donors of the crucial need to invest in enhancing the energy literacy of local authorities and improving their capacity to play a strong facilitative role within clean energy transitions. The key stakeholder groups are policy actors in and beyond the specific countries of study and the market actors in the specific countries of study. Policy actors includes both donors and other agencies that design or implement energy related interventions, as well as national and local government agencies that manage the policy environment. National authorities include those responsible for building the capacity of local authorities and may not be directly related to energy planning. For instance, the Uganda Ministry of Local Government would be a prime stakeholder, as would the equivalent Ministry of Local Government in Kenya. The market actors include both the formal and informal private sectors including the utilities, emerging Energy Supply Companies and civil society organizations involved in energy-related projects.

Within the study areas, key informants from local authorities will contribute data while at the same time have their awareness of the issues enhanced by the questioning process. At a National level we expect that the feedback of our findings will enable some specific actors to enhance or redirect their interventions, possibly to engage local authorities or to begin programmes of awareness building. The workshops will be convened by Practical Action who have convening power within the chosen countries. Beyond the specific workshops we will use opportunities to present our findings at relevant national, regional, and international conferences convened by others. The findings of the research will be documented in a series of guidelines or policy notes tailored to the different audiences.