Rural Energy Access: A Nexus Approach to Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication - Addis Ababa/Ethiopia

The workshop will emphasize the strong nexus between energy and other important development factors such as education, health, gender, environment, economic growth, food security, and water. Extension of national grids, in many countries, is too costly to allow isolated areas to receive energy access. Yet, appropriately scaled renewable energy systems — in particular advanced "clean" cookstoves and stand-alone off-grid electric generation systems — are now both widely available and affordable. The event will include a Technology Exhibition, which will allow organizations to show-case their equipment, products and services relevant to rural communities. The Conference will provide opportunities for South-South, as well as North-South-South capacity building, technical cooperation and exchange of experiences. Participants will gain an enhanced understanding of the opportunities and synergies that can be derived from broader cooperation on rural sustainable energy access and from a nexus approach to sustainable development and poverty eradication. This shared knowledge of measures for enhancing capacity development programs on technical and entrepreneurial strategies, and sharing of best practices and lessons learned will enable important outcomes to be derived.