Announcing the Alliance by all the 6 member organizations represented with NESP Team in attendance.
INTRODUCTION
The Formation Of The Renewable Energy And Energy Efficiency Associations REEEA - Alliance
The three (3) year REEEA-Alliance Strategic Plan is the organization’s process for defining her strategy so that she can accomplish specific goals and objectives. The organization also seek to utilize Strategic planning on a large scale, such as planning for organizational growth over several years to reach its mission. The document will also be used on a smaller scale, such as crafting a marketing plan or developing a strategy for the goals of businesses in the RE/EE sector. Either way, the benefits of a Strategic Plan, include the following:
– Aligning the goals of members or projects with larger sector goals;
– Provide clear communication to members, stakeholders, and donors;
– Clearly define the vision and mission of an organization; and
– Provide clarity on how to deal with internal or environmental changes.
BACKGROUND STATEMENT
The REEEA-Alliance is midwifed by the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP II), a technical assistance programme co-funded by the European Union and the German Government and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Power. NESP II aims at fostering investments in a domestic market for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, as well as improving access to electricity in disadvantaged, mostly rural communities. The activities of the programme are structured into three units: Electrification Planning and Data Management; Sustainable Energy Access (On-Grid and Off-Grid); and Enabling Environment for RE and EE Investments.
The Enabling Environment Unit of the programme aims at strengthening quality delivery and control mechanisms to enhance an enabling market environment for the application of and investments in RE and EE. A key aspect to this is the provision of support to existing RE and EE associations in Nigeria in setting up a clear organizational structure that enables them to take up a more strategic role in policy advocacy, market development, standards development and capacity building in the RE and EE sector.
In the early stage of this intervention, NESP in November 2017, carried out research which led to the development of a report that identified and gave an overview of existing RE/EE associations in Nigeria. This formed the basis for collaboration with associations to assess specific focus areas, interests and organizational challenges faced by the associations.
Following bilateral meetings between NESP and the identified associations, gaps and possibilities of establishing an umbrella body arose. Based on the findings, it was clear that a wide range of RE/EE organizations in Nigeria existed, with various levels of activities. Furthermore, the visited organizations were categorized into three (3) groups: Business Membership organizations with a large scope; Business Membership organizations that focus on selected market segments (e.g Mini-Grids or Energy Efficiency); and Membership Organizations that focus on research and academia. Common threads with all the organizations were limited visibility and sustainable financial approaches. However, they differed in the level of organizational development and it was evident that there was huge potential on the strengthen the influence of the associations through collaboration. This led to NESP’s provision of support to encourage the associations develop a suitable framework for a more effective cooperation.
Consequently, two stakeholder workshops in quick succession took place in September and October 2019 and the organizations involved decided on founding the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Associations (REEEA) or also known as The Alliance. The following organizations are founding members: AEE (Association of Energy Efficiency); CREN (Council for Renewable Energy of Nigeria); REAN (Renewable Energy Association of Nigeria); REASON (Renewable and Alternative Energy Society of Nigeria); SEPAN (Sustainable Energy Practitioners Association of Nigeria); and SESN (Solar Energy Society of Nigeria) and most recently, the Women in Renewable Energy Association (WIRE-A)
The sustainability coefficient of The Alliance was further boosted by the proactive decision of NESP to contract an internationally acclaimed consulting company, GeoCode, to facilitate a dialogue process regarding a closer collaboration and possible organizational architecture that allows for the various interests and concerns of all the individual member organizations to feel equally and transparently represented.
The stakeholder dialogue process took around 6 months and included interviews with individual organizations and 2 stakeholder workshops. After each milestone of the project, the consultants submitted a report which was circulated among the involved organizations.
The dialogue has shown that one huge concern is about lack of transparency; this concern is rooted in the weakness of most of the individual organizations. Nevertheless, the meetings have clearly shown that those organizations, who responded to the consultants’ invitation for interview and stakeholder workshops, are open for the idea of cooperation; at the same time, they underlined that they “do not want to lose their identity and autonomy”. In any case, it was realized, that the vast landscape of RE/EE associations and organizations provides a lot of opportunities for collaboration to push forward effectively the agenda in the RE/EE sector, in order to e.g. organize trainings, coordinate advocacy among the stakeholders and link academia with the business sector, this way tackling challenges that affect the growth of the RE/EE sector.
Historical Journey Preparatory to the formation of the Alliance
