A new thematic fiche has been published. Thematic Fiche no. 8 deals with ownership and community involvement.

Community involvement is an essential aspect of most energy projects. If a project is not understood, adopted or appreciated by the beneficiaries the sustainability of the project can be challenged. The worst case scenario is that hardware is installed by an external project implementer, but not used by the beneficiaries because it is designed in a way that is not feasible, or they do not understand how to use it. Moreover in too many energy projects the installed hardware is left to deteriorate after project implementation because the community is not committed or does not have the financial and technical capacity to maintain it. In this way a well planned and implemented project can be unsuccessful in reaching its overall project objectives because the community was not involved from the beginning.

This new Thematic Fiche goes through the three project phases: Project start-up, project implementation and project hand-over. For each phase it describes activities where community involvement is important. It explains why involvement is important in these activities and how this involvement can be organised. Practical experiences with community involvement from 15 projects sponsored by the ACP-EU Energy Facility is included in the Fiche as cases to illustrate tools, risk and success stories.

The Fiche can be seen as a checklist for project implementers to ensure that community involvement has at least been considered in all aspects of Energy projects.

Thematic Fiche no. 8: Sustainability II: Ownership and Community Involvement (pdf)

All Thematic Fiches which have been published can be found under Publications - Thematic Fiches.