This month we’ve been inspired by the winners of the 2012 Ashden Awards. These awards celebrate local energy solutions that reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment, while also reducing poverty. The creativity, entrepreneurial spirit and sheer hard work of the winners make us want to roll up our sleeves and work harder than ever! But one can’t help wondering whether events like the Ashden awards simply serve to make us…
I’m always struck by the huge opportunities for green energy projects that are “win-win”. These projects make economic and financial sense while benefiting the environment. So why aren’t these projects being implemented? Understanding the barriers to energy efficiency and renewable energy investments is key to making projects happen. But successful project design requires going beyond a simple barrier analysis that examines only “what” is happening. Building on E.F. Schumacher’s famous…
When program budgets are tightened, monitoring and evaluation is usually the first place to face cuts. Unlike an efficient building or a solar panel, the effects of good M&E aren’t readily visible to donors – yet they are critical to managing a successful project! Furthermore, sustainable energy projects have a double burden: they are expected to do all of the monitoring of a traditional technical assistance project and also monitor…
Capacity building and training are frequently included in technical assistance projects. But how can you really know what training is needed? What training topics are most valuable to your audience? And what format works best to get your message across? Training Needs Assessments (or Learning Needs Assessments) are one of the tools that we at Eco use to find out what training is really needed while improving the overall effectiveness…
Wow! What a year…momentous on many levels, has there ever been as much dramatic news in one year? From the economic woes of the world to the “Arab Spring”; droughts and floods in Africa, Asia and South America; earthquakes, a tsunami and a nuclear disaster; 7 billion people; neutrinos breaking speed limits and a glimpse of a Higgs Boson; and much more. 2011 has had the lot! And through it all…
If you’re commissioning or managing a project related to energy or climate change, it’s almost certain that you have a component on education, awareness and outreach. Development agencies must raise awareness in their projects. IFI boards require outreach to stakeholders. And the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change mandates education (see the New Delhi Work Programme). However, these are often three words for “lost opportunities.” When done effectively, education, awareness…
Developing project strategies and formulating projects and programmes that make a real and lasting different on the ground takes specialist skills and knowledge. One of the reasons is that the challenges to creating markets for sustainable energy are truly wicked! No – we’re not making a moral judgement, but using a term from the social sciences. As Wikipedia succinctly puts it a wicked problem “… is a phrase originally used in social planning…
