The objective of DFID's new Transforming Energy Access initiative is “(to) deliver new technologies and robust evidence on the critical barriers hampering systemic change and scaling up energy access, working with Southern researchers and entrepreneurs to drive locally relevant innovation and delivery."
TEA is aimed at having a transformative impact on the design and deployment of renewable energy solutions across the Global South, especially in Africa.
The LCEDN has been funded to deliver an integrated 18 month 'Partnerships for Skills Development’ programme of activities designed to fast-track TEA activity under its Developing Skills and Expertise workstream via two major streams of work:
(i) An LCEDN Programme of Skills Development and Research/Innovation Integration - mobilising and developing energy and development capacities and expertise across research and innovation communities in North and South, at the same time as focusing on strengthening the coordination of UK energy and development research and innovation.
(ii) Specific Capacity Building Alliances with key partners and stakeholders through which specific knowledge and skills can be nurtured and developed, including the Africa-EU Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme (RECP), the Africa Sustainability Hub (ASH), the ENERGIA international network on gender and sustainable energy, Energy 4 Impact (E4I), Engineers Without Borders UK (EWB-UK), the International Conference on Developments in Renewable Energy Technologies (ICDRET), the Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN), Practical Action (PA), the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), the Smart Villages Initiative (SVI) and the UK Collaborative on Development Sciences (UKCDS)