Together we’ve got the power: why SE4ALL needs civil society

Together we’ve got the power:
why SE4ALL needs civil society
Aaron Leopold, Practical Action
Dr Sarah Wykes, CAFOD
What, why, when?
Civil Society as equal 3 pillar of SE4ALL: the
credibility & success of SE4ALL hinges on meaningful
& pro-active participation of all stakeholders
Partnerships: CSOs & CBOs have trusted
relationships with poor communities & expertise in
designing and delivering energy services
Launch of SE4ALL Global Decade: Good moment to
reflect on success & challenges in enabling CSO
contribution to energy transformation by 2030
Who, where?
CAFOD & Practical Action working with HIVOS, IIED
& our local partners to gain a better understanding
of how SE4ALL is being implemented at national
level.
Survey of CSO experience in 6 countries: Indonesia,
Kenya, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe.
Our goal is to provide a “snap shot” at this critical
moment in SE4ALL – not a definitive picture.
Assessing progress
“What is best practice in engaging CSOs in multistakeholder processes”?
Some key success factors :
Commitment by all actors & clear lead/focal point
Consultation design – participatory & inclusive
Timely engagement
Access to information
Gender awareness & outreach to vulnerable & excluded
groups
Capacity building for informed input
Clear action plan & roles/responsibilities
Participation in decision-making
Involvement in implementation/ Monitoring
Survey Design – Questions &
Traffic Light Indicators
Indicator
Traffic-light rating
Explanation
Commitment to multi-stakeholder engagement
• No statements made
What form did this
Government
•
Statements
made
but
expression of commitment
expresses
only to selected
take? Who was told about
commitment to a
groups
it? Do you know how these
multi-stakeholder
• Clear public
groups/ individuals were
consultation
statements made and
selected?
widely shared through
process
media & other
information outlets
Broad-based
outreach by
government to
potential CSO and
private sector
partners
• No outreach (or only
by Civil Society itself)
• Reasonable efforts
made to invite
relevant players to
participate
• Strong efforts made to
include all players
(including some
outside the energy
‘sector’) who would be
relevant to the
consultation
What form did outreach
take? Who was told, and
do you know why these
groups were chosen?
Commitment to multi-stakeholder
engagement
Consultation design
Timely engagement
Access to information
Inclusion of vulnerable / excluded
groups
Civil Society Capacity Building
Post-meeting action
Participation in decision-making
Implementation/ Monitoring
Nicaragua
Zimbabwe
Kenya
Indonesia
Nepal
Nigeria
Overall trends - Snapshot
Nicaragua
Zimbabwe
Kenya
Indonesia
Nepal
Nigeria
A closer Look: CSO Inclusion
Consultation design
Implementation/ Monitoring
Inclusion of vulnerable /
excluded groups
Nicaragua : "[Consultation] hasn't been done systematically...it is more sessions
presenting what the government is doing & experts discussing. So overall the
SE4ALL national plan hasn't been developed in a multi-stakeholder way“
Kenya: “SE4ALL is still a UN and world bank brand – but they don’t own those
goals and not enough is done to make it relevant to national dialogues.”
Zimbabwe: "Gender issues are not well dealt with in SE4ALL plan"
Nicaragua
Zimbabwe
Kenya
Indonesia
Nepal
Nigeria
Capacity Building
Civil Society Capacity Building
Indonesia: "No support from international donor agencies. Need
more help for civil society to develop enabling environment for
implementation of SE4LL, and aligning with national and local
development priorities.“
Nicaragua: "I think there is a lack of knowledge of the SE4ALL,
which means there is no demand from civil society for capacity
building.”
Nepal: “I talk to parliament and local governments in the districts
and nobody can even pronounce the initiatives. It’s not a place for
local participation – INGO’s have some buy-in but only because of
size and status.”
Access to information
Nigeria: “The deliberate lack of information and engagement
favours the few that are made aware, to the detriment of the
majority who can contribute to the achievement of the SE4All
objectives.”
Kenya: “The fact that it is all in English shows who is driving
process and who they think the audience is – SE4ALL is driven
from the outside and the messages are up there. English of this
level is not trickled down to ordinary person”
Nicaragua
Zimbabwe
Kenya
Indonesia
Nepal
Nigeria
Access to information
Some key pointers to
meaningful participation?
more
• Clear commitment from government, UN & MDBs
to CSO participation: Clear & transparent
guidelines/MoU agreed among stakeholders to ensure
meaningful participation at all stages of process
• Resourcing informed & inclusive participation:
Targeted outreach & resources for capacity building to
enable a broad range of CSOs, including vulnerable &
excluded groups, to participate
• Access to timely & meaningful information: wide
dissemination of documentation & sufficient time for
CSOs to self-organise & prepare inputs
Thank you
aaron.leopold@practicalaction.org.uk
swykes@cafod.org.uk