Energy Literacy for Decentralised Governance

在过去的十年里，非洲各国政府越来越倾向于分散预算，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在内的地区。然而，虽然城市有市政当局考虑为其城市居民提供能源的新方式，但那些管理非洲农村贫困人口的政府却很少考虑能源基础设施。这些贫困人口居住在周边农村腹地的中小城镇。现有的研究表明，非洲许多地方当局正在挣扎，因为它们没有必要的能力和能力来管理它们经常面临的复杂的社会、政治和经济局势。他们需要对财政管理、地方和区域经济发展、地方政府的战略规划、预算程序、税收、采购程序和标准、地方政府工作人员和民选代表的道德操守以及反腐败行动作出贡献，因此，在这种背景下，对他们的时间和能力的要求会导致能源规划被忽视，这一点也不奇怪。然而，能源——特别是促进发展的清洁能源——不仅在它们特定的地理位置上对它们越来越重要，而且对更广泛的地区和世界也越来越重要。因此，非洲各地地方当局的能力是成功执行清洁能源促进发展方案的根本挑战。简而言之，权力下放可以为地方当局成为清洁能源的拥护者和推动者开辟道路，但与此同时，它们缺乏能力和能力目前正成为非洲国家实施清洁能源发展的主要障碍。当然，提高对与在非洲实施清洁能源促进发展相关的机遇和挑战的理解和证据基础，这正是这项拟议研究试图解决的这一空白。为了实现这一目标，该项目有几个重点。首先，项目开始确定问题的范围。迫切需要记录非洲国家地方当局的作用和责任，以弄清楚这些新作用如何影响地方当局（在不同情况下）的能力和能力，这些能力和能力受到权力下放倡议下权力和预算转移的影响。当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？谁有权力和预算在能源上花钱？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？我们认为一个懂能源的人应该是这样的人：能够追踪能量流动，从能源系统的角度思考问题；知道自己用了多少能量，用了什么，这些能量从哪里来；能够评估能源信息的可信度；能够以有意义的方式就能源和能源使用进行沟通；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来做出积极的决定，选择更清洁的能源，并为其公民提供更广泛的能源。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，是因为认识到卢旺达地方当局多年来一直持有预算- -因此我们期望他们能够分享他们管理一个地区的挑战的经验- -而在肯尼亚，他们即将举行选举，将赋予地方当局更多的权力和预算，因此他们将能够分享他们的希望和期望

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