Energy Literacy for Decentralised Governance

去中心化治理的能源素养

• 批准号: EP/L002469/1
• 负责人: Ed Brown
• 金额: $ 13.85万
• 依托单位: Loughborough University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2013 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FL002469%2F1
• 关键词: Energy; Literacy; Decentralised; Governance

Over the last ten years African governments have moved increasingly towards decentralised budgets, giving local authorities increased powers and budgets to govern areas that include both rural and urban population. Yet while cities have a municipal authority to consider new ways of supplying energy to its urban citizens, those governing Africa's rural poor in small and medium towns in the surrounding rural hinterlands have rarely considered energy infrastructure.Existing research indicates that many local authorities in Africa are struggling as they do not have the capacities and capabilities necessary to govern the complex social, political and economic situations they routinely face. Required to contribute inter alia to financial management, local and regional economic development, strategic planning in the local government, budgeting procedures, tax collection, procurement procedures and standards, ethics for local government staff and elected representatives, and action against corruption, it is hardly surprising that against this backdrop the demands placed on their time and capabilities would see energy planning neglected. And yet energy - in particular, clean energy for development - is becoming increasingly important not just to them in their specific geographical location, but to the wider region and world more generally. Local authority capacity across Africa therefore poses a fundamental challenge for successfully implementing clean energy for development programmes. In short, decentralisation could open the way for local authorities to become champions and drivers towards cleaner energy, but at the same time, their lack of capacity and capabilities is currently proving a major barrier to implementing clean energy development in African states. For sure, improving the understanding and evidence base of both the opportunities and challenges associated with implementing clean energy for development in Africa and it is this lacuna which this proposed research seeks to address.To achieve this, the project has a number of foci. First, the project sets out to scope the size of the problem. There is an urgent need to document the roles and responsibilities of local authorities in African states to work out how these new roles impact the capacity and capabilities of local authorities (in different contexts) have been affected by the transfer of powers and budgets under decentralization initiatives. When a hospital needs a new generator, who decides? When the local market needs new lighting, who decides? Who has the power and budget to spend on energy?Second, and having determined who typically holds the power and budgets, we will then explore their 'energy literacy'. Among all the other capacities and capabilities they must have to govern, our central question is do they have basic energy literacy? We take an energy-literate person is to be someone who: can trace energy flows and think in terms of energy systems; knows how much energy he or she uses, for what, and where that energy comes from; can assess the credibility of information about energy; can communicate about energy and energy use in meaningful ways; is able to make informed energy and energy use decisions based on an understanding of impacts and consequences. Put simply, there is an urgent need to ascertain whether decision makers have enough knowledge about energy to make positive decisions towards cleaner energy sources, and wider energy access for their citizens.Here we will focus on local authorities in Rwanda and Kenya. The importance we attached to these two cases is guided by recognition that Rwandan local authorities have been budget holders for a number of years - therefore we expect them to be able to share their experiences of the challenge of running a district - whereas in Kenya, they are about to have elections that will give more power and budget to the local authorities, so they will be able to share both their hopes and expectations

在过去的十年里，非洲各国政府越来越多地转向分散预算，赋予地方当局更多的权力和预算来管理包括农村和城市人口的地区。然而，虽然城市有市政当局考虑向城市居民提供能源的新方法，但那些管理周围农村地区中小城镇的非洲农村穷人的人很少考虑能源基础设施。现有研究表明，非洲许多地方当局正在挣扎，因为他们没有必要的能力来管理复杂的社会，他们经常面临的政治和经济形势。除其他外，他们还必须促进财务管理、地方和区域经济发展、地方政府的战略规划、预算编制程序、税收、采购程序和标准、地方政府工作人员和当选代表的道德操守以及反腐败行动，因此，在这种背景下，对他们的时间和能力的要求会使能源规划受到忽视，这一点也不奇怪。然而，能源-特别是清洁能源促进发展-正变得越来越重要，不仅对这些国家的特定地理位置，而且对更广泛的区域和更普遍的世界。因此，非洲各地地方当局的能力对成功实施清洁能源促进发展方案构成了根本性挑战。简而言之，权力下放可以为地方当局成为清洁能源的倡导者和推动者开辟道路，但与此同时，他们缺乏能力和能力目前正在证明非洲国家实施清洁能源发展的主要障碍。毫无疑问，提高对非洲实施清洁能源促进发展所带来的机遇和挑战的认识和证据基础，正是这项拟议研究试图解决的这一空白。首先，该项目着手确定问题的规模。迫切需要记录非洲国家地方当局的作用和责任，以确定这些新的作用如何影响地方当局（在不同情况下）的能力，这些能力已受到权力下放举措下权力和预算转移的影响。当一家医院需要一台新的发电机时，谁来决定？当当地市场需要新的照明时，谁来决定？谁有权力和预算来花在能源上？其次，在确定了谁通常拥有权力和预算之后，我们将探索他们的“能源素养”。在他们必须拥有的所有其他能力和能力中，我们的核心问题是他们是否具备基本的能源知识？我们认为一个有能源知识的人是这样的人：可以追踪能源流动并从能源系统的角度思考;知道他或她使用了多少能源，用于什么以及能源来自哪里;可以评估有关能源信息的可信度;可以以有意义的方式交流能源和能源使用;能够在了解影响和后果的基础上做出明智的能源和能源使用决策。简而言之，迫切需要确定决策者是否有足够的能源知识，以便就更清洁的能源来源和更广泛的能源获取做出积极的决定。在这里，我们将重点关注卢旺达和肯尼亚的地方当局。我们之所以重视这两个案例，是因为我们认识到卢旺达地方当局多年来一直是预算负责人，因此我们希望它们能够分享管理一个地区的挑战的经验，而在肯尼亚，它们即将举行选举，将给予地方当局更多的权力和预算，这样他们就能分享他们的希望和期望

项目成果

Tools for Improving Decentralised Governance of Energy

改善能源分散治理的工具

• 发表时间: 2014
• 作者: Batchelor, S.

Rwanda Stakeholders Workshop Report, Kigali

卢旺达利益相关者研讨会报告，基加利

• 发表时间: 2014
• 作者: Bahingana, V.

Decentralisation in Sub-Saharan Africa: Prevalence, scope and challenges

撒哈拉以南非洲的权力下放：普遍性、范围和挑战

• 发表时间: 2014
• 作者: Batchelor, S.

The LCEDN USES Network: Crossing Boundaries, Breaking Barriers

LCEDN 使用网络：跨越边界、打破障碍

• 发表时间: 2014
• 期刊: Boiling Point
• 作者: Brown, E. D.

Decentralization: the key to accelerating access to distributed energy services in sub-Saharan Africa?

权力下放：加速撒哈拉以南非洲地区获得分布式能源服务的关键？

• DOI: 10.1007/s13412-020-00608-7
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences
• 影响因子: 2.1
• 作者: Zalengera C