One of Malawi’s largest distributors of cook-stoves- Self Help Africa (SHA) will implement a-21 21-month Malawi Demand-Side Subsidies project, which is aimed at increasing access to improved energy technologies in Dowa district.
The project is aligned to the policy framework Malawi 2063 Enabler 7 Environmental Sustainability and is in the Dowa District Development Plan (DDP), which has the objective of increasing access to clean and affordable energy from 37 per cent to 50 per cent, connecting 280,212 households by 2030.
The project will provide fiscal incentives for environmentally friendly cooking equipment, expand the use of energy, increase access to electricity to 50 per cent by 2030 and increase by 3.16 per cent the population with primary reliance on clean energy for cooking.
Launching the project to the District executive committee (Dec) in Dowa, SHA’s subcontractor CUMOs Project Coordinator Clement Mwinjira, said the project has a duration of 21 months and this will be extended for 9 more months up to March 2026.
Mwinjira said the project is a new approach and is being tested in countries such as Liberia, Niger and Uganda intending to test and refine it for future scale up saying Nkhata-Bay, Salima, Dedza, Balaka, Kasungu, Dowa and Mzimba have been selected basing on 100 percent availability of Unified Beneficiary Registers (UBR) data.
He said the districts were selected based on low electrification rate, strong presence of Off-grid Solar (OGS), and implementation partners such as Endev- the financier, Self Help Africa (SHA) responsible and accountable for the project budget, and CUMO- subcontracted by SHA.
The Project Coordinator said only 15.6 per cent of Malawi’s population has access to electricity, 54 per cent urban access, 6 per cent rural access, where 80 per cent live, saying these people are lacking access to improved energy services, negatively impacting quality of life, economic development and the environment.
“The project is aimed at addressing the affordability barrier to Off-grid Solar (OGS) products for people in ultra-poor, vulnerable settings, who would otherwise not be reached by commercial markets or existing public initiatives,” Mwinjira.
In her remarks, Dowa District Council’s Director of Planning and Development Mercy Mpakule, appealed to partners implementing energy projects to work together with Self Help Africa (SHA) for it to achieve its intended outcomes for the Dowa people.
Self Help Africa (SHA) will implement the Malawi Demand-Side Subsidies project with support from Endev at a total budget of 3,499,999 Euros.
