Norway supported the first phase of the project, which is completed, with about 7,3 million Rand. Norwegian support was used to strengthen regional capacity and competence among stakeholders regarding policy, legislation, reform and implementation in the energy and power sectors. The Norwegian support for phase II is approximately 5 million NOK from 2008 to 2010.
The Norwegian grant has made a major contribution to consolidating and developing a centre of excellence in Cape Town for the Africa region, through enhancing the quality and relevance of training, capacity building and knowledge-creating activities in the field of power sector reform and regulation. The ultimate consequence is enhanced capacity and understanding in the region to manage reform and regulation in such a way that country and regional development benefits are maximised.
Electricity powers economic growth and contributes to social welfare. Conversely, poor electricity services constrain economic growth and cause hardship and inconvenience. Many African countries face power shortages and unreliable supply. There is a desperate need to increase the efficiencies of state-owned utilities, which often enjoy dominant or monopoly positions, and to bring private investment into the sector. Electricity regulators play a key role in this effort. They control market access, they determine prices and they set and monitor quality standards. They also have to ensure that electricity utilities provide efficient services and invest sufficiently in infrastructure to meet demand.
There are currently about 30 electricity regulatory agencies across the African continent. Over the past seven years, MIR has been running specialist Executive Education courses for managers and professional staff from government energy ministries, regulatory agencies, utilities and the private sector. This new initiative by MIR now aims to take these educational and capacity building efforts to a new level, by moving from the class room to experiential learning in the work place.
Chief Executives from Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and Namibia have joined the peer review and learning network. An inaugural workshop was held in Cape Town on 18 October. Thereafter the executives traveled together with Prof Eberhard and Joseph Kapika, the network’s convener, to Namibia where a week long review was undertaken. The executives participated enthusiastically and in each session during the week they were able to share experiences and provide detailed examples, from their own organizations, which Namibia could potentially adopt or, vice versa, where they could learn from best practices in Namibia. Each of the six Chief Executives’ organizations will be reviewed by their peers over the next two years.
Peer reviews have since been undertaken in Zambia, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania. In November 2010 the experiences of the Peer Review Learning Network will be showcased at an international conference called the “Africa Power Colloqium: The State of Regulation in the Electricity Sector in Africa”. You can find the draft program here.