LEAP Transparency

The Local Electricity Access Programme - LEAP Transparency is an innovative approach to improving rural electrification through better governance and stakeholder dialogue. LEAP is designed to offer government, business and civil society organizations (CSOs) a platform to jointly create an enabling environment for local electrification that meets the real needs of communities, while offering a stable framework for energy investors. The objective is to push for fair, sustainable and productive electrification for the benefit of the African people.

Despite recent progress and many international support initiatives in global electrification, still, nearly 790 million people around the world are without access to electricity, living in the dark. About 72% of those people live in sub-Saharan Africa mostly relying on traditional fuels that are wasteful, unreliable, expensive, unhealthy, slow down social economic development and contribute to environmental problems and climate change. With its strong commitment to and experience in multi-stakeholder governance Berlin Governance Platform, Berlin is carrying LEAP Transparency forward with strong partners from government, private sector and civil society.

LEAP Transparency centers on regular and sustainable dialogue and problem-solving for improved rural electrification, in multi-stakeholder groups (MSGs) at three levels which we accompany with technical and secretarial support.

LEAP is a national initiative owned by its stakeholders: In currently three pilot communes (Ndiob, Bokhol, Baraka/Dakar), local MSGs ensure that their micro-grid installations meet community needs. Phase II aims to increase the number of LEAP communes to 14 in 2023.

A national MSG in Dakar, chaired by the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum and bringing together high-level representatives of government, business and organized civil society, will continue to discuss and propose the necessary sector change and reform.

An International Advisory Group chaired by Transparency International founder Prof Peter Eigen continues to draw on the Senegal experience to develop an international governance standard for rural electrification, to prepare for a scaled expansion of LEAP across Senegal and Africa.

LEAP does not want to replace or duplicate the many very welcome electrification projects in Senegal. It is a neutral governance and capacity-building mechanism that can easily and flexibly accompany electrification projects in communes to ensure these can happen and continue in the best possible conditions and are embedded in wider development and reform initiatives.

The initiative for LEAP prominently arose from recommendations by late Kofi Annan's Africa Progress Panel in its flagship report on Energy of 2017 on better electricity governance on the continent. LEAP firmly builds on our direct experience in building Transparency International and the multi-stakeholder initiatives Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI).

 

Advisory Group

Dr. Peter EigenChairman is the (co-)founder and former Chair of Transparency International (TI), the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), and now Shareholder of BGP.

Timon Herzog is CEO of GRIPS Energy.

Maximilian Jarrett Energy specialist and former Africa Programme Manager of The International Energy Agency (IEA)

Gabriele Schwarz (Bonergie) is Vice President of Conseil Patronal des Énergies Renouvelables du Sénégal " (COPERES), the Director of Bonergie Senegal and the IAG's liaison with the LEAP MSG Senegal

Abdoulaye Ba is Vice President of Conseil Patronal des Énergies Renouvelables du Sénégal " (COPERES) and heads Compagnie Sahélienne en Energies Renouvelables (COSEER)

Prof. Eicke Weber is Vice President of ISES and co-chair of the European Solar Manufacturing Council ESMC, formerly CEO of the Berkeley Alliance for Research in Singapore, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and Professor for Physics / Solar Energy at the Albert-Ludwigs-University of Freiburg, Germany.

Kerstin Schönherr is Managing Director of BMV Mineralöl Versorgungsgesellschaft.

Prof. Gunnar Graef is Affiliate Professor at ESCP lecturing Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Design Thinking on the Paris and in the Berlin campus and Managing Partner of Deutsche Ventures and Founding Chairman of Gräf & Company.

LEADER

Prof. Dr. Peter Eigen

TEAM

Tim Bittiger, Aïcha Kante, Ahmet Gueye

CONTACT

Publications

More projects

  • Checking implementation of transport climate policies

    This project aims to promote information and experience sharing about the implementation of emission reduction policies in the transport sector between the European Union (EU) and Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and [...]
  • Social Actors Project

    Socio-political actors in Germany are increasingly working together to advance the socio-ecological transformation. We explore the opportunities of these alliances and alliances to provide advice and positive examples.
  • Trialogue Series "Energy Systems of the Future" (ESYS)

    In cooperation with the Academies Project "Energy Systems of the Future", the Berlin Governance Platform conducts trialogues as sounding boards for the working groups of the Academies Project.
  • Energy Transition PartnerCity - Sharing Municipal Knowledge Europe-wide

    The aim of the "Energiewende PartnerStadt" project was to exchange know-how and experience on local energy transition across national borders, to facilitate technology transfer in the field of renewable energies and to promote cohesion in Europe [...]
  • LEAP Transparency

    The Local Electricity Access Program - LEAP Transparency is a multi-stakeholder initiative working for fair and transparent access to affordable and clean electricity mainly in rural Africa.
  • Garment Industries Transparency Initiative (GITI)

    The Garment Industries Transparency Initiative (GITI) is a multi-actor partnership with the goal of contributing to the implementation of labor standards in the global garment industries through improved transparency and participation.
  • Foto auf einer Konferenz der Fisheries Transparency Initiative.

    Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI)

    The Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) is a global multi-stakeholder partnership to strengthen transparency and participation for sustainable fisheries.
  • Center on Governance through Human Rights

    The Center on Governance through Human Rights of the Berlin Governance Platform in Berlin advises on governance and human rights issues. Transitional Justice in societies in transition, Climate Justice and Cyber Justice (human rights [...]
  • Center for Natural Resource Governance

    The Center promotes collaboration between the public sector, business and civil society to solve global and local challenges.
  • EnVision

    The project "EnVision – Shaping a Vision for the Energy Transition" identifies areas of tension and value-conflicts in the energy transition, and develops proposals for political decision-makers to develop a common vision.
  • Development of a Climate Policy Implementation Check

    Ambitious climate targets alone are not enough – policy measures must also be implemented to achieve these targets. There is already a wide range of tools and assessments available to evaluate the [...]
  • Climate Compatible Export Credit Policies

    Effective climate policy needs dialogue. In a series of online events, topics of international financing for the energy transition in the Asian region were discussed in a national and supranational context.
  • Climate Transparency: Engagement in seven G20 countries

    The Climate Transparency Partnership brings together climate assessments and expertise from organizations across the G20 countries. The Partnership uses independent, comparable, and comprehensive data to analyze the G20's progress in transforming [...]
  • Climate Transparency

    The Climate Transparency Partnership brings together climate assessments and expertise from organizations across the G20 countries. Since 2014, the partnership has used independent, comparable, and comprehensive data to analyze the G20's progress on [...]