Local Electricity Access Program - LEAP.
Connecting people to overcome energy poverty

According to United Nations estimates, despite recent progress and numerous international support initiatives in the area of global electrification, some 790 million people around the world still lack access to electricity. About 72% of these people live in sub-Saharan Africa and rely mostly on traditional fuels that are wasteful, unreliable, expensive and unhealthy. They also slow social and economic development and contribute to environmental problems and climate change. Kofi Annan pointed out in his lead report for the Africa Progress Panel that indoor air pollution alone causes the premature deaths of four million people worldwide each year, with about 600,000 people in Africa alone dying prematurely for this reason; his successor organization Africa Progress Group is implementing LEAP with the Berlin Governance Platform, Berlin.

LEAP is intended to help improve access to electricity for many people by improving the local framework for off-grid access. In parallel with the accompanying implementation of concrete projects, governance parameters are to be developed so that first-hand experience and requirements can be taken into account at the local level. In the long term, LEAP plans to expand across rural Africa and evaluate the most promising strategies from these pilot projects.