Experts call for global action to help refugees and host communities access reliable energy

Following a two-day conference attended by Practical Action energy experts a number of foundations for sustainable solutions for displaced people have been agreed. 

These include:

• Improving energy practice and policy in humanitarian settings. This will result in reduced energy and associated environmental pressures in host countries, and improved resilience of communities and host countries.
• Involving displaced people and host communities in the new Global Plan of Action to reflect their priorities and needs. This will require coordinated strategies and effective communication across all stakeholders for long-term sustainable energy access.
• Bolstering finance for sustainable infrastructure investments. This will include delivering innovative financing methods for the sector.
• Utilising the skills and capacities of displaced people and ensure they have an active role for future energy interventions. This includes creating jobs where possible.
• Harmonising and standardising high-quality, usable data and evidence across the sector for monitoring, learning and evaluation.

Practical Action also launched a new research paper "Sustainable Humanitarian Energy Services: Inclusive participation, lessons learnt, and paths forward" which can be downloaded here.

For more information about energy access in refugee camps, visit the Moving Energy Initiative website. 

More information about the conference can be found here.