ECREEE signs MoU with WE4F

On October 27th, Water & Energy for Food (WE4F) and ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) signed an agreement to collaborate in West Africa to scale-up high-potential innovations in agribusiness. These innovations will increase water- and energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy to produce more and better-quality food.

Energy is a driver for economic growth and social development and harnessing the potential of sustainable energy is a prerequisite to achieving inclusive green growth and strong agri-business value chains in West Africa.

ECREEE is a specialised agency of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) with a mandate to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency markets, with the overall objective to contribute to the sustainable economic, social and environmental development of West Africa by improving access to modern, reliable and affordable energy services, energy security and reduction of energy related externalities. ECREEE played a critical role in the adoption of a community vision of ensuring universal access to energy by 2030, as well as in the adoption of major regional sustainable energy policies. It implemented several key regional and national initiatives aiming to address the challenges facing the region.

In the framework of the MoU, the main areas of collaboration are:

1. Policy, regulatory and institutional frameworks through policy formulation, implementation, and monitoring, with policy round tables and field-to-policy learning;
2. Capacity-development of stakeholders in water-energy-food market ecosystems to promote and disseminate best practices for WEF nexus aimed at more sustainable food production at national, regional and global level, as well as to disseminate successful case studies and lessons learned, including on ESG standards´ integration, gender mainstreaming;
3. Demonstration projects and scale-up of innovations with partnership development (public-private partnership) and resource mobilisation (including access to finance).

ECREEE will lead interventions related to policy, institutional and regulatory frameworks while WE4F provides technical and financial support to ECREEE towards identified agreed projects that will impact food security, gender mainstreaming, poverty reduction while building climate resilience of target communities.

According to Mr. Bah Saho, ECREEE’s Ag. Executive Director, “This collaboration with the Water and Energy for Food signals a new paradigm shift in the region’s quest for improving livelihoods and ensuring equity. For too long, the catalytic nature of energy has not been properly harnessed to support key sectors of water and energy due to various barriers. We are proud of this partnership as it addresses one of key missing links in our efforts for an emerging ECOWAS region”.

Mr Luca Ferrini, WE4F Hub Manager in West Africa stated: “ECREEE is leading the way in nexus thinking and is at the forefront of linking of private sector support and policy making to enable innovation. As WE4F West Africa we are proud to join forces as we look to find innovative solutions to produce more food while protecting water and energy sources”.

For more information please contact helayo(at)ecreee.org