SNV advocates for market based solutions to provide energy access for displaced people

On the 21 June, SNV’s energy expert Martijn Veen participated in an event organised by the Dutch Coalition for Humanitarian Innovation (DCHI) giving an overview of how our market based approach can be applied to a humanitarian context.

The event focused on the need for Humanitarian Innovation and explained that in the last 10 years the necessity for humanitarian assistance has grown and become more complex while at the same time the number of people affected by crises has almost doubled. DCHI is striving to reduce the cost of emergency action through innovation.

Around 50 people attended the event which included representatives from the private sector, government agencies, humanitarian and development NGOs.  Attendees at the event showcased their initiatives and contributed to the discussion which looked at what next steps need to be taken in order to meet this increasing need.

Martijn Veen’s presentation focused on developing energy markets in the context of refugee camps which is a new and growing area for SNV. Following the event he commented, “This event was a great step forwards in terms of strengthening connections between different Dutch stakeholders in this area. It is clear though that further follow-up is needed to close the gap between humanitarian and development fields, and further define the specific offerings and business models the private sector can bring to this space.”

Currently we are implementing a market based energy project with support from EnDev at Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya which is one of the largest and longest established refugee camps in the world.  The main objective of this project to promote sustainable market based energy access for cooking and lighting by supporting clean energy entrepreneurs. To learn more about this project, please visit our project page Market Based Energy Access(MBEA) Project Kakuma