Stakeholders in the renewable energy sector of the Gambia and Cote d’Ivoire took part in the official launch of activities of the Regional Off-Grid Electricity Access Project (ROGEAP). The events took place in Banjul, the Gambia and Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, on Wednesday 3rd August and Thursday 4th August, respectively. In attendance were experts from the Ministries in charge of Energy, public and private sector stakeholders including civil society organisations, NGOs, the press, and commercial banks in the Gambia and in Cote d’Ivoire.  

The main two-fold objective of both workshops was to present the new structure of ROGEAP to the stakeholders and to sensitise them regarding the implementation of the policy framework for the development of solar technologies and the Off-Grid PV Systems market in the Gambia and in Cote d’Ivoire.

In Banjul, the workshop to launch ROGEAP activities in the Gambia was formally declared open by Mr Alhagie Manjang, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, and attended by Mr Elhadji Sylla, ROGEAP Senior Advisor, representing Sediko Douka, ECOWAS Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalisation.

In Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, the workshop was presided over by Mr Pacôme N’guessan N’Cho, Director of Rural Electrification, representing the Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Energy, and attended by Mrs Sandra Folquet, Head of ECOWAS National Office in Cote d’Ivoire and Mr Arnaud Ba Kouadio, ROGEAP Monitoring-Evaluation Expert representing Sediko Douka, ECOWAS Commissioner for Infrastructure, Energy and Digitalisation.

As a reminder, the aim of ROGEAP is to increase access to sustainable solar energy services in the 15 ECOWAS Member States and in four other African countries (Mauritania, Central African Republic, Chad, and Cameroon) for households, businesses, public hospitals, and schools. The USD338.7 million project is funded by the World Bank, Clean Technology Fund (CTF) and Netherland Cooperation (DGIS).