Under the Global Network of Regional Sustainable Energy Centres (GN-SEC) program, UNIDO supports the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) in the establishment of the Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency for Central Africa (CEREEAC), which aims to accelerate the energy and climate transition by providing support “from the region for the region”. The geographic scope of the centre includes Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and São Tomé and Príncipe. The technical and institutional design of the CEREEAC (hereinafter referred to as the “Centre”) is the result of a comprehensive consultative preparatory process, which was undertaken by UNIDO and ECCAS between 2020 and 2021. The centre was adopted by the Energy Ministers on 8 June 2021 and formally established by Decision No. 04/CEEAC/CCEG/XIX/21 of the 19th Conference of Heads of State and Government held on 30 July 2021 in Brazzaville. Following a competitive selection process, Luanda, Angola was designated as the host location of the CEREEAC Secretariat.
The centre received full legal identity with all rights and privileges upon the signature of the host country agreement between ECCAS and the Government of Angola on 3 November 2021. The centre was officially inaugurated on 10 March 2023 during a high-level ceremony, co-organised by the Government of Angola, ECCAS and UNIDO. The Start-Up Unit of CEREEAC has officially been established and operational at the centre’s premises since June 2023. The Start-Up Unit and the CEREEAC Secretariat streamline their operations through a network of National Focal Institutions (NFIs) and Thematic Hubs (THs) among all ECCAS countries. Among the identified THs, there is the Oyo Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (CEO), located in the Republic of the Congo. The CEREEAC management operates under the guidance and oversight of a Ministerial Steering Committee and an Executive Board. The CEREEAC aims to address demand and supply-side barriers for integrated and inclusive ECCAS sustainable energy product and service markets by promoting economies of scales, equal progress, joint learning and positive spillover effects between countries. Through cross-border approaches and methodologies, the centres will complement and accelerate national efforts in the areas of policy, regulation, quality infrastructure, qualification, knowledge and facilitation of investment and entrepreneurship. It will serve as a central hub for knowledge, counselling, as well as international and local partnerships.
The creation of the CEREEAC is an important contribution to the envisaged structural transformation in Central Africa. Global emergencies, such as climate change, the economic crisis and frequent oil price fluctuations are demonstrating the vulnerability of Central African countries, which are highly dependent on the export of raw materials, including oil and gas. The shift towards renewable energy and resource efficiency, as well as circular economy practices is an important prerequisite for the success of economic diversification, industrialisation, and climate actions. The expansion of higher added value manufacturing and servicing in Central Africa requires rapid investments in climate-resilient low-carbon energy infrastructure.
With the creation of the CEREEAC, the GN-SEC covers the entire African continent. CEREEAC is an important triangular capacity hub to accelerate the implementation of the industrialisation, energy and climate goals in the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 “The Africa We want”. It contributes to the AU efforts to establish a harmonised continental electricity market and free trade area, as well as the implementation of the Third Industrial Development Decade for Africa (2016–2025). UNIDO will facilitate south-south and triangular cooperation between CEREEAC and the other African centres, including RCREEE (Egypt), ECREEE (Cape Verde), SACREEE (Namibia) and EACREEE (Kampala) on common energy issues and solutions.
From the very beginning, CEREEAC will operate according to local rules and within the ECCAS ownership and decision-making processes. UNIDO provides mentoring and technical services related to institution-building, technical program development, partnership building and fund mobilisation throughout the first operational phase of the centre. It is envisaged that the centre reaches full independence and financial and technical sustainability by the end of the project period. Currently, the centre is building up its technical and administrative staff capacities. The centre has started with a small, multicultural Start-Up Unit comprising technical and administrative experts. The Unit is expected to become gender-balanced and expand, depending on its performance and raised programmatic funding.
In oder to boost knowledge management, networking, advocacy and strengthening of capacities on renewable energy and energy efficiency (RE and EE) in the ECCAS region, CEREEAC is proposing the establishment of a web-based Energy Community Portal for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency; otherwise known as the CEREEAC Sustainable Energy Knowledge Hub (SEKH). The development of the CEREEAC SEKH will be financially supported from the European Union (EU) under the action titled “Support Programme for ECCAS specialized organizations for the operationalization of the regional market and development of renewable energies”. This action aims to foster the establishment of a regional electricity market in Central Africa by developing the regional market and increasing the share of renewable energies in the energy mix, to contribute to greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Similar GIS based knowledge hubs were established under the GN-SEC by ECREEE, CCREEE, SACREEE and REEECH with varying scope and quality.
The CEREEAC SEKH is expected to address the existing knowledge and information barriers for RE and EE investments in the ECCAS region. The non-availability of reliable and updated energy information creates a major constraint for, among others, investors, project developers and decision makers in the sector. The existing country data is in most cases not updated and comparable with data of neighbouring countries. Different systems, resource maps exist with various models and data sources. This often becomes a challenge for investors and companies to identify cooperation partners due to the absence of specialised interactive platforms that facilitate exchanges of information and experiences. Information on good practices or successful (or even unsuccessful) projects is not readily available for decision makers and experts. Given this situation, significant opportunities are lost for sustainable energy development in the region.
The SEKH will contain and profile updated RE&EE market information / data on resources, geographic information system (GIS) maps, national policies, projects, financial and procurement notices in the ECCAS region. The Hub will support decision makers, project developers, investors and other market enablers with country level and region-wide information, data and planning strategies. The outputs and deliverables of all projects and programmes implemented by CEREEAC will be disseminated through the Hub.
Within the context of this project, CEREEAC is seeking the services of a qualified company to (i) restructure and up-grade the current CEREEAC website to an interactive community platform, and (ii) design and develop an integrated web-based CEREEAC SEKH portal and link it to the CEREEAC website. Further information on CEREEAC can be found at: http://www.cereeac.org.
The objective of the SEKH assignment is to upgrade the existing CEREEAC website (based on Drupal) to a visually appealing, easy to navigate and user-friendly comprehensive SEKH portal, adding a GIS based regional energy information system in line with international best practice and by allowing open-data exchange with other portals, including the ones under the GN-SEC umbrella (e.g. WB, ESMAP, UN and IRENA open data portals). This platform will provide targeted and timely statistical information, country data and GIS map layers on relevant energy indicators, resources, infrastructure, projects and stakeholders (particularly but not exclusively in the field of RE and EE) in Central Africa. As part of the system, each ECCAS country will have its own page with key indicators and relevant information, also linked to documents in the CEREEAC library. The database system will allow the downloading of data, the launch of queries and will open up avenues for more complex analytics in a second step. Moreover, the system should be connected and allow data exchange with other portals under the GN-SEC. The SEKH is based on a CMS and GIS system, which can be operated fully independently by CEREEAC after handover.
Deliverable 1:
• An inception report in French and English (incl. a detailed work plan, execution methodology list of documents to be reviewed, interviews and meetings to be held).
Deliverable 2:
• A development and implementation report in French and English, including the conceptual design of the SEKH (content, modules / components, screen-design and technical specifications), to be reviewed and validated by the CEREEAC Technical team and UNIDO.
Deliverable 3:
• A final report about the development of the CEREEAC SEKH, including all the electronic data and documents in French and English. The service provider
Bidders are requested to submit their proposals by June 24th by registering on the UNIDO e-procurement portal (https://www.unido.org/get-involved-procurement/procurement-opportunities). In case of difficulties, please contact the UNIDO Help Desk at procurement@unido.org.
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