EUROPEAID offers grants to engage African cities in sustainable energy planning

On 23 December 2015 EuropeAid issued a call for proposals to: “Support the participation of Sub-Saharan cities in the Covenant of Mayors”. The budget for the overall support is 5,900,000 EURO and the deadline for submission of the proposals is 03/03/2016. Background Energy policy is gaining momentum in the political agenda worldwide, not only at the national level but also at the local level, as shown by the success of the EU "Covenant of Mayors (CoM). The CoM is a political commitment that was initiated by the European Commission Communication 545 (2006) “Action Plan for Energy Efficiency: Realising the Potential” and which currently counts with over 6600 signatories in the European Union and beyond since its launch in 2008. The CoM aims at bringing together in a permanent network mayors and local authorities(also including subnational regions). The Covenant has been open since the beginning to all cities, not only in the European Union but also outside of it. The model proved to be very attractive to cities that seized the opportunity to stress their role in energy and climate action and to attract visibility and investments. A grant will be allocated to Sub-Saharan African (SSA) cities for proposals that will finance and engage them into sustainable climate-energy planning and local development processes, increase their capacity for planning and acting, access to energy and include them in a regional and global community of engaged cities. The project will allow cities of the Sub-Saharan Region to set up efficient planning tools and action plans for their energy, transportation and/or spatial organisation, to improve their legal and institutional framework as well as their technical and resource mobilisation capacities, and will contribute to the dissemination of political ownership and best practices through networks of cities, therefore ensuring the extension and adaptation of the EU CoM initiative in the region. The global objective of this call for proposals is: to increase the capacities of cities to provide access to sufficient, sustainable and safe energy related services to urban and peri-urban populations (especially the poor), with special attention to energy efficiency and renewable energy as drivers for local, low emission, climate resilient, sustainable development. The specific objective of this call for proposals is to increase the local authorities' planning capacities on urban design, mobility and energy. For more information on the call for proposal please turn to

• https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?do=publi.welcome&nbPubliList=15&orderby=upd&orderbyad=Desc&searchtype=RS&aofr=150842
• http://www.eumayors.eu