Towards an holistic approach to energy access in humanitarian settings: the SET4food project from technology transfer to knowledge sharing

Abstract

The increasing number of displaced people in the world not only requires rapid humanitarian actions, but also attention to host communities and a holistic and long-term vision. Energy has not been really considered a major topic in people displacement, yet, resulting in negative impacts on several aspects, including food security. New solutions are required, in terms of energy planning, technology development, and adaptation, as well as decision making, sensitization, training, and support to humanitarian actors. The Sustainable Energy Technologies for food security (SET4food) project phase 1 (2014-2015) developed a number of tools to support identification, adaptation, and introduction of appropriate solutions, tested some pilot innovations in critical areas, and promoted the enhancement of humanitarian response capability in the energy sector via an extensive capacity building program. In addition, a second phase of the project (2015-2018) fostered networking and collaboration between the main actors by developing an e-sharing platform, called ENERGYCoP, including a global not-for-profit community of practices for humanitarian professionals working in the energy sector. The platform may enable the shift from traditional "technological transfer" to a more participative approach on co-design and technological cooperation activated by a knowledge sharing mechanism. This paper outlines the main challenges and the achieved results of SET4food, providing recommendations for researchers and practitioners on the way forward.

Comprehensive energy solution planning (CESP) framework: an evidence-based approach for sustainable energy access projects in developing countries

“…The methodology mentions site selection, energy resource assessment, energy need assessment, BM design, demand forecast, and sizing as crucial actions for the design of an off-grid mini-grid. A similar on-field contribution comes from Barbieri [39], who applied a holistic framework for the deployment of the SET4Food (sustainable energy technologies for food security) project for energy access in humanitarian settings. More recently, Matthey-Junod et al [18] expanded the notion of sustainable energy interventions in displacement settings, proposing an integrated framework for their planning also in terms of BM and tariff design.…”

Enhancing Understanding Through Data Visualization: What Can Available Data Reveal About Access to Energy in Displacement Contexts on the African Continent?

“…The Global Platform for Action, a working group hosted by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), estimated that in 2022, 94 percent of displaced persons living in settlements and camps did not have access to electricity, and 81 percent of displaced persons living in settlements and camps relied on biomass for cooking [16]. The limitations in accessing clean energy services have direct, multilayered, and far-reaching implications, including impacts on health, nutrition, education, protection, and livelihood [6,[17][18][19]. For example, food security is directly linked to a reliable fuel source [17], the use of firewood for cooking is linked to health risks [20] especially respiratory and eye diseases [7] -and the lack of lighting in public spaces is associated with conflicts, and sexual and gender-based violence [21,22].…”

A PESTLE analysis of solar home systems in refugee camps in Rwanda

“…Existing research has established that most refugees and the host communities surrounding them currently rely on unsustainable, unreliable and unsafe forms of energy [1][2][3][4][5]. This is in part because energy is not currently embedded within the humanitarian response system [6][7][8] and is often not prioritised [9,10]. This lack of access to energy is known to exacerbate multiple issues in humanitarian contexts including impacting the protection [11], health [12,13] and education [14] of displaced people.…”