Household Energy and Universal Access Project

closed

The Household Energy and Universal Rural Access (HEURA) Project will support the Government of Mali's efforts to increase the access of isolated low income populations to basic energy services to help achieve economic growth and poverty reduction targets, including those linked with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The project has the following three components: Component 1) The Capacity Development and Institutional Strengthening component will have four main purposes: (i) carry out their responsibilities of contract oversight, monitoring and compliance more effectively; (ii) to support institutional strengthening of the National Directorate of Energy (DNE) to monitor implementation progress of energy sector strategy and reform; (iii) to support institutional strengthening of the National Directorate of Nature Conservation (DNCN) to play an active role in the management of the household energy sector; and (iv) to support the capacity development of AMADER to become an operational institution. Component 2) The energy services delivery is composed of three main sub-components: (i) The promotion of investments to support energy services, (ii) The promotion of multifunctional platforms Investments, and (iii) information, education, and communication. Component 3) The main issues associated with the household energy sector in Mali can be summarized as follows: (i) a high consumption of wood fuels representing a risk to deforestation and environmental degradation (ii) low energy efficiency for both charcoal production and consumption; (iii) household fuel substitution is hampered by a lack of fossil fuel resources, reliance on expensive petroleum imports, and very low incomes. This component is a scaling up and strengthening of the former Household Energy Project (HEP) which closed in 2000. The component is subdivided in three sub-components: (i) community-based woodland management (ii) interfuel substitution and household energy efficiency; and (iii) information, education and communication.