The Energy Efficiency for Sustainable Livelihoods in Africa (EELA) program seeks to promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth through integrated energy efficiency interventions. Its objectives include driving market transformation towards high-performing, affordable, and energy-efficient appliances, increasing energy efficiency investments in the industrial sector, and promoting sustainable local value chains for energy-efficient products and services.
Building on its achievements since 2019, the EELA program now includes regional interventions in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region through the EELA regional program. The program has now been scaled up to include multiple EELA Country Windows such as EELA KENYA, EELA ZAMBIA and EELA ZIMBABWE.
The development impact of the EELA program is to contribute to poverty reduction through improved access to sustainable energy for women and men, girls and boys, and to mitigate negative externalities of the energy system. EELA interventions aim to accelerate the demand and uptake of high-quality energy-efficient products, services and industrial equipment. This will result in a reduction of household expenditures and energy costs for businesses. It will particularly target the enhanced uptake of productive-use equipment to improve livelihoods and reduce post-harvest losses through high performing and energy efficient on-grid and off-grid cooling and agro-processing equipment. Particular emphasis is placed on implementing various innovative business models that offer cooling, lighting and broader energy as a service. This is premised on the assumption that energy efficiency is one of the quickest and cheapest ways to accelerate sustainable development in these growing regions.
