6 February 2025: This week marked the official inauguration of the BGFA co-funded solar mini-grids in the communities of Totoquelleh and Farwhenta in Gbarpolu, northern Liberia. Customers, mini-grid workers and staff from Energicity, government representatives and representatives from the Swedish embassy in Monrovia gathered at the sites to celebrate. Construction of the company’s first sites in Liberia, and the first completely new mini-grid sites commissioned in Sub-Saharan Africa with BGFA support, began in 2023. The two completed sites each have a total capacity of 26.88 kWp and distribute electricity to customers through ABC overhead line networks that can be easily expanded to meet growing community demand.

“Commissioning our first two mini-grids in Liberia in partnership with BGFA and the Liberian government marks a significant milestone in our mission to bring clean, reliable and affordable energy to off-grid communities. The BGFA project demonstrates the power of innovative financing, technology and community-led development in bridging the energy gap and contributing to reducing energy poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa. We look forward to continuing our work in Liberia and beyond, empowering communities to thrive and grow with access to productive sustainable energy,” says Nicole Poindexter, CEO and founder at Energicity.

BGFA is financing three further energy service providers in Liberia providing standalone solar home systems and solar battery rental services in remote communities. The aim is for all four portfolio companies to establish over 95,000 energy connections over the next few years. If all projects are implemented as planned in the challenging business environment, the companies could provide electricity to almost half a million people in Liberia.

“Sweden is happy to be part of this journey to bring electricity to rural Liberia, a vital step towards development that strengthens local businesses, enhances essential services and empowers communities for a brighter future,” comments Karl Backéus, Sweden’s Ambassador to Liberia.

Energicity’s mission is to provide affordable, reliable and scalable electricity solutions to rural communities in Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone. An agreement with BGFA to develop business operations in Liberia was signed in May 2022 to support the company to develop and operate mini-grids to serve low-income customers in remote areas across the country. The aim is to develop up to 30 solar-based mini-grids in Liberia, relying on local materials and workers for the construction. Once in operation, the mini-grids will provide over 4,400 residential, commercial and institutional energy service connections.

“It is fantastic to see that Energicity has come so far in Liberia with the support of BGFA funding and is now delivering electricity. Access to mini-grids will improve everyday life tremendously for the people living in these rural farming communities,” says Aleksandra Reskalenko, Programme Officer at Nefco.

BGFA is currently conducting a study to evaluate the effectiveness of results-based financing mechanisms in supporting mini-grid investments across Africa in collaboration with The Future of Energy (TFE), an African consultancy firm working with renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure developments in the global south.

“We see that the results of this study will greatly support BGFA and inform other results-based financing programmes on how they can improve their support for mini-grid developers in Sub-Saharan Africa to overcome challenges associated with implementing projects,” comments Kari Hämekoski, Senior Programme Manager at Nefco.

In total, the Beyond the Grid Fund for Africa has contracted 30 companies in Sub-Saharan Africa, across Burkina Faso, DRC, Liberia, Uganda and Zambia since 2021. Once implemented, the current programme portfolio will have the potential to reach over 8.7 million people across these six countries. The BGFA funding window in Liberia is funded by Sweden.

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About Energicity: Since 2015, Energicity has been dedicated to electrifying rural communities in West Africa. Energicity builds and operates solar-powered mini-grids for off-grid communities with more than 100 households, targeting customers using up to 1,000 Wh/day, in Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone. By prioritising customer needs and satisfaction, implementing cutting-edge solar technology and harnessing innovative financing, Energicity paves the way for long-term growth and prosperity in the regions it serves. Energicity so far supports more than 45 communities in these three countries, and it aims to reach 100,000 customers by 2025. For more information, visit www.energicitycorp.com.

24 February 2025: The government of Sweden and the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) today announced a partnership to mobilize resources to power thousands of healthcare facilities across South Africa, Eswatini, Malawi, and Kenya. This partnership will create a replicable blended finance model that countries across Africa can use to electrify health clinics on a national scale.

The initiative tackles an urgent challenge: one in four primary health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa lacks electricity, while only half of hospitals have reliable power. The partnership will initially focus on four countries, implementing an innovative financing model that combines public and private funding to ensure long-term sustainability.

“I’ve seen dedicated doctors and medical professionals working in darkness one too many times,” said President Bill Clinton at the launch at the Swedish Embassy in Pretoria. “Today, we’re helping to change that story. This partnership will bring sustainable solar power to thousands of healthcare facilities, ensuring that from delivery rooms to emergency wards, the power to save lives stays on.”

Håkan Juholt, Ambassador of Sweden to South Africa said “Clean, reliable electricity is a cornerstone of effective health service delivery. From powering vaccines cold chains and essential medical equipment to providing lighting for safe deliveries of newborns, energy access directly supports sexual and reproductive health and rights services. This partnership is a testament of Sweden’s commitment to advancing health equity through sustainable energy solutions, using innovative financing approaches and partnerships with private sector.”

The financing model aims to address the primary reason previous solar electrification efforts have failed: insufficient funding for system maintenance. CHAI will provide technical assistance to help governments secure and blend private and public financing, ensuring sustainable operations. CHAI will work with governments to mobilize new funding over the next several years. The funding will be used to electrify health facilities across the region.

CHAI CEO Dr. Neil Buddy Shah emphasized the initiative’s comprehensive approach: “Reliable electricity is essential for any functioning health system. One of the biggest challenges we’ve seen is solar infrastructure falling into disrepair because maintenance costs weren’t properly funded. This new financing model changes that—it’s designed to ensure sustainable operations over the long term, so doctors and nurses can focus on saving lives rather than worrying about power outages.”

Sweden and CHAI have worked together for over a decade in seven countries across Africa to strengthen health systems in support of sexual and reproductive health and rights. The new solar program is part of this broader partnership and will leverage the existing network of health financing advisors that CHAI has working across those countries.

“Our health financing advisors have been working alongside governments for years,” said Raphael Hurley, Senior Director of Health Financing at CHAI. “This means we understand each health system’s unique needs and can structure solar investments that align with national plans.”

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About the Clinton Health Access Initiative: The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a nonprofit global health organization committed to saving lives and improving health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries by enabling the government and private sector to strengthen and sustain quality health systems. Through our collaboration with Sida, we work with governments in Africa to strengthen health systems in support of sexual and reproductive health rights. For more information, visit https://www.clintonhealthaccess.org/.

About the Swedish Embassy in Pretoria: The Embassy of Sweden in South Africa represents the Swedish government in the Republic of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Lesotho.  The Embassy is also responsible for the cooperation with the regional organization SADC (Southern Africa Development Community) with its head office in Gaborone, Botswana.  The Embassy is responsible for Sweden’s foreign and trade policy promotion and diplomatic, cultural, commercial and trade exchanges between Sweden and South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Lesotho. To implement the Strategy for Sexual and Reproductive Health in Africa 2022-2026 the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has a team based at the Embassy in Pretoria.

25 February 2025: As part of the Ford Foundation’s broader mission to combat inequality around the globe, the foundation has initiated a multi-faceted, five-year initiative to support the advancement of Africa’s just energy transition. The initiative brings together partners based in and working across Africa to advance equitable and just energy transitions. Supported by three Ford Foundation programs (Natural Resources and Climate Justice, Civic Engagement and Government, and Future of Workers), this initiative recognizes that a just energy transition is a whole-of-society endeavor that must respect human and environmental rights, promote sustainable development and economic justice, reduce poverty and inequality, and create decent work and quality jobs.

This initiative recognizes that as African countries initiate their respective energy transitions, they will display a range of approaches and needs. These differences emerge from the unique contexts of their transitions and the different impacts on various stakeholders. A just energy transition will not come from a one-size-fits-all approach; social, economic, and environmental justice—underpinned by inclusion, transparency, and rights protection—must be at the core of its design, ambition, and implementation.

“Energy transitions will have systemic, far-reaching consequences with differing impacts on various communities, sectors, and more. Working with diverse partners from across civil society, labour, government, and the private sector, this initiative aims to support multi-stakeholder processes of negotiating this distribution of losses and gains in an equitable way that advances climate justice and delivers social and economic development,” said Emmanuel Kuyole, Ford Foundation program officer, Natural Resources and Climate Justice in the Office of West Africa.

“A just and viable transition must include all voices from civil society, Indigenous communities, and those protecting the environment, as well as address different justice claims, and any alternative peaceful views must not be criminalized or punished,” said Otto Saki, Ford Foundation program officer, Civic Engagement and Government International.

This initiative brings together a diverse group of partner organizations that will navigate and respond to competing definitions of justice through grants, convenings, learning, and research. It will help nurture the broad-based societal coalitions, made up of civil society organizations, policymakers, the private sector, and others, that are needed to advance transformative action that puts Africa on a path towards a more equitable and inclusive low-carbon development trajectory. Additionally, this initiative will prioritize impacts on historically excluded communities and workers and embed gender justice and feminist thinking and approaches.

“A just energy transition needs to be worker-centered and gender-transformative in order to be truly just,” said Ghada Abdel Tawab, Ford Foundation senior program officer, Future of Work(ers). In that sense, the need for social dialogue and negotiation is at the heart of the fund’s mission to catalyze broad social coalitions that can agree on how to balance impacts on communities with different— and often conflicting— justice claims.

In collaboration with Ford’s Office of Strategy and Learning, the initiative will also produce analytical pieces and case studies that will provide evidence and reflections on what it means to center justice in energy transitions. Through this collaborative effort, where the different strengths of partners are leveraged in the interest of furthering the just transition, the collective influence and expertise of these organizations will support decision-making that keeps the well-being of those most affected by the transition at the forefront.

“Successful just energy transitions that reduce inequalities will require agreements in which the voices of the majority of—and ideally all—societal actors are represented and have some degree of power, but also in which all actors are prepared to compromise, and in that way build a broad coalition in support of these transitions,” said Anthony Bebbington, Ford Foundation International Director, Natural Resources and Climate Justice.

The five main partners for this initiative were selected to tackle specific challenges surrounding the just energy transition in Africa:

• The Coalition for Human Rights in Development (CHRD): A worldwide Global South association of movements, communities, and organizations that demands accountability from DFIs, governments, and corporations.
• Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP): An organization based in Ghana that works to improve economic transformation and inclusive sustainable development in Africa’s extractive governance space.
• The African Climate Foundation (ACF): An organization based in South Africa that focuses on developing, supporting, elevating, and catalyzing climate action across Africa through grants, research, technical assistance, and targeted advocacy.
• The International Trade Union Confederation Just Transition Center (JTC): An organization that brings together workers, businesses, and governments in social dialogue to ensure that labor is actively engaged in planning for a just transition.
• ENDA Energie: A Senegal-based nonprofit with the objective of supporting and guiding communities through transition processes towards lasting and sustainable development.

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About The Ford Foundation: Is an independent organization working to address inequality and build a future grounded in justice. For more than 85 years, it has supported visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. Today, with an endowment of $16 billion, the foundation has headquarters in New York and 10 regional offices across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

27 February 2025: On the sidelines of the Finance in Common Summit (FiCS) 2025, the Agence française de développement (AFD) and Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) announce the signing of a statement of intent to strengthen their collaboration in accelerating universal access to sustainable and affordable energy in sub-Saharan Africa.

This initiative is part of Mission 300, a large-scale program led by the World Bank and the African Development Bank, aiming to electrify 300 million people in Africa by 2030. The signing of this statement marks a decisive step in mobilizing public and private sector stakeholders to address the continent’s energy challenges.

A Structuring Partnership to Transform Energy Access in Africa

This partnership is built on four key strategic pillars. First, a strengthened strategic dialogue to align priorities, with the establishment of an annual dialogue and joint participation in international events to mobilize additional funding. Second, the mobilization of new financing through innovative mechanisms to catalyze investments and support local financial institutions in financing energy sector businesses.

Innovation is also at the heart of this collaboration. AFD and SEforALL will organize an innovation challenge in Nigeria in 2026 to reinforce the European Union co-financed Digital Energy program (an initiative under the Global Gateway strategy) in order to accelerate the digital transformation of the country’s electricity sector. Additionally, both organizations will explore the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence applied to energy, optimizing efficiency and infrastructure management. Finally, AFD and SEforALL will work to integrate existing initiatives, particularly through SEforALL’s Universal Energy Facility (UEF), while mobilizing SMEs, start-ups, and local operators to ensure the viability and impact of electrification projects.

Turning Political Ambitions into Concrete Solutions

Through this partnership, AFD and SEforALL reaffirm their commitment to translating political ambitions into concrete solutions. By combining their expertise and leveraging their respective networks, both organizations aim to play a key role in implementing a sustainable, inclusive, and resilient energy transition in sub-Saharan Africa.

This strategic partnership with SEforALL is a major step forward in accelerating energy access in Africa. Building on the commitments made by France, through the AFD Group, at the Mission 300 Summit in Dar-es-Salaam, we aim to combine our efforts, stimulate innovation, mobilise finance and provide concrete solutions for populations still without electricity. said Rémy Rioux, Chief Executive Officer of AFD Group.

AFD’s support to SDG7 is testament to its commitment to advancing the global energy transition in a just and inclusive manner. AFD and SEforALL recognize the need for stronger collaboration to promote sustainable energy solutions, mobilize financing, and enhance knowledge sharing to achieve meaningful impact in the energy sector. I am particularly pleased about the resonance between our initiatives and our forthcoming cooperation. Damilola Ogunbiyi, UN Special Representative of the Secretary General and CEO of Sustainable Energy for All, and Co-Chair of UN Energy.