Resources

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TR15: Can Smart Villages help to stem biodiversity loss?

Technical Reports /

Biodiversity is important at various levels, including the economic, social and environmental. It is critically important for rural communities through the provision of ecosystem services, including energy access, a link that is often overlooked. The concept of ‘Smart Villages’ is that modern energy access in the form of sustainable renewable energy can contribute as a catalyst for development—education, health, food security, environment, productive …

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Smart Villages announces Nafa Naana as the Winner of the 2017 Off-grid Energy Challenge for West Africa

Press Releases /

Smart Villages is pleased to announce Nafa Naana as the winner of the Off-grid Energy Challenge for West Africa.  Nafa Naana is a social business that improves access to clean and efficient energy solutions through a microfranchised distribution network and microfinance services in Burkina Faso. Nafa Naana develops marketing and financial solutions to strengthen distribution …

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New study in Energy Policy: Indigenous community preferences for electricity services: Evidence from a choice experiment in Sarawak, Malaysia

External content /

In this new publication, two members of the Smart Villages team along with Malaysian experts from Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia explore the question of whether communities prefer a community-based model or a utility-based model. The researchers found that the most value was placed on the operator-model underpinning the …

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WR36: Off-grid energy for rural development in Latin America and the Caribbean

Workshop Reports /

The Smart Villages Initiative organised a workshop in Panama City on 2-3 May 2017, bringingtogether significant actors in rural electrification in Latin America to discuss challenges and opportunities in rural electrification, with the aim of jointly developing recommendations to policymakers. Key topics for discussion included the role of the government versus the private sector in rural electrification, innovative options for financing such …

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BR28: Off-grid Energy for Rural Development in Latin America and the Caribbean – Policy Recommendations

Policy Briefs /

The Smart Villages Initiative organised a workshop in Panama City on 2-3 May 2017 to discuss the challenges of, and opportunities for, rural electrification in Latin America. The workshop was the conclusion of the Smart Villages Initiative’s engagement activities in the region and brought together significant actors in rural electrification with the aim of jointly developing recommendations to …

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Press release: Providing a robust enabling environment investment essential if ambitious ECOWAS clean energy mini-grid targets to be met

Press Releases /

African Energy Week workshop identifies other barriers and opportunities for achieving 2030 access targets in high-impact region Abidjan: With a high percentage of the West African population living in remote rural areas, clean energy-powered mini-grids (CMEGs) have been identified as an essential tool for achieving universal energy access. An ambitious target of building 128,000 in …

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WR35: Energy access in Nicaragua: the nexus between financial mechanisms and energy policies

Workshop Reports /

The Smart Villages Initiative, jointly with the Academy of Sciences of Nicaragua (ACN) and the University of Central America (UCA), organised a national workshop in Matagalpa, Nicaragua on 27-28 April 2017 in order to explore the major challenges to, and opportunities for, achieving electricity access for rural and isolated communities to support productive processes and …

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BR27: Energy access in Nicaragua – financial mechanisms and energy policies

Policy Briefs /

Nicaragua’s energy sector is facing one of the most important challenges of its history in terms energy infrastructure development and electricity access. As a result of substantial investments in grid extension and strengthening of distribution and transmission systems, official figures indicate that electrification rates increased from 47 percent in 2002 to 80 percent in 2014. …

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TR13: Education and the electrification of rural schools

Technical Reports /

The Smart Villages Initiative aims to provide policy-makers, donors, and development agencies concerned with rural energy access with new insights on the real barriers to energy access in villages in developing countries and how they can be overcome. This report aims to give an overview of the links between electricity access and education through a review of the literature in this area. It …

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TR12: Electrification of health clinics in rural areas

Technical Reports /

This report provides an overview of the status of, and challenges facing, the electrification of health clinics in rural areas in the developing world. In addition, it considers the opportunities provided by telemedicine and the barriers to this, along with some examples of innovation and work in this field. The content of this report has been drawn from a review of the …

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WR34: Insights for energy access in West Africa

Workshop Reports /

The Smart Villages Initiative, in collaboration with the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) and the European Union Energy Initiative Partnership Dialogue Facility (EUEI PDF), held a workshop titled ‘High-level workshop on energy access in West Africa’ in March 2017. The inceptive workshop served as a kick-off event to a wider capacity-building engagement on CEMGs in the ECOWAS region and provided …

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BR26: Energy access in West Africa – Policy Recommendations

Policy Briefs /

A high percentage of the West African population lives in remote rural areas without access to modern energy services. Clean energy mini-grids (CEMGs) have been identified as essential to helping achieve universal electricity access in the region and they feature as important parts of national targets and renewable energy action plans for all ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) countries. It is estimated that mini-grids …

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Bottom-up inclusive approach and more evidence of productive uses crucial for smart village success in South and Southeast Asia, concludes final workshop

Press Releases /

Integrated ministerial strategy and micro-grid financing are other key issues identified by first global study of rural off-grid communities Bangkok: Delegates to the Smart Villages Initiative Closing Workshop for South and Southeast Asia in Bangkok March 7-9 agreed that a bottom-up approach involving villagers themselves is essential to catalyse energy access and spread its resultant …

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WR33: The Energy-Health-Education nexus and other insights for Smart Villages in Asia

Workshop Reports /

The Smart Villages Initiative concluded its regional engagement in South and Southeast Asia with a workshop in Bangkok, Thailand, in March 2017. The workshop was jointly organised with the Global Young Academy (GYA), the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), and the National Science Museum (NSM) of Thailand. From 7 to 9 March 2017, the workshop brought together 43 key stakeholders representing …

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BR25: Concluding workshop for Smart Villages engagement programmes in South and Southeast Asia – Policy Recommendations

Policy Briefs /

The Smart Villages Initiative concluded its regional engagement in South and Southeast Asia with a workshop in Bangkok, Thailand, in March 2017. The workshop was jointly organised with the Global Young Academy (GYA), the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA), and the National Science Museum (NSM) of Thailand. From 7 to 9 March 2017, the workshop brought together 43 key stakeholders representing …

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WR32: Energy planning from the bottom up: community-led approaches West Africa

Workshop Reports /

As the world moves towards 2030, the deadline of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Initiative, it is important to review the achievements of the past few years and readjust our path to meet the goal. For this reason, Practical Action together with the Smart Villages Initiative held a one-day regional workshop on rural energy …

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BR24: Rural Energy Access Planning in Togo – Policy Brief

Policy Briefs /

As the world moves towards 2030, the deadline for achieving the targets of the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Initiative, it is important to review the achievements of the past years and readjust our path to meet the goal. For this reason, Practical Action together with the Smart Villages Initiative held a one-day regional workshop …

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TR10: Indigenous communities, ICT and rural development

Technical Reports /

The vast majority of the rural development literature focuses on relatively homogenous ethnolinguistic communities based in periurban and middle-rural areas. This literature has borne much fruit and there is now a general consensus among academics, practitioners and policy makers on the broad parameters of what is required to catalyse rural development in these areas, though …

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