The figure below shows the connection between our strategic focus areas, programmes and the five outcomes in SEforALL's Theory of Change (ToC), that together illustrate our vision of how our outcomes contribute to global pathways to achieve SDG7. The individual and collective success of these programmes, in partnership with governments, the private sector, financial institutions, civil society organizations (CSOs) and the international donor community, contribute to the changes needed across the energy sector value chain and ecosystem on a country-by-country basis and to achieve impact globally. This impact goes beyond SDG7 and interlinks with the wider SDG targets. More than ever, we recognize how essential SDG7 is to the success of the other SDGs, with energy access catalyzing progress across all sectors and supporting large-scale social, economic and environmental reform and impacts, including improved climate, health, livelihoods, job creation, gender equality and food security.
Theory of Change
Outcome 1: Inclusive and gender-sensitive action mainstreamed
SEforALL has made gender equality and women’s empowerment a key component of our strategy for achieving energy access and sustainable energy transitions. We are committed to leading by example by further improving our own gender strategy to ensure that gender-transformative work is integrated across all aspects of our operations. We recognize that mainstreaming gender throughout our work is an important precondition to scale at speed through solutions that are inclusive of the needs of men, women and youth.
As of 2023, progress toward mainstreaming gender-sensitive action had been made across the following five dimensions:
- Demonstrating solutions for gender mainstreaming in energy planning
- Elevating women's leadership and participation in sustainable energy
- Gender-sensitive action in energy access through UEF gender policies
- Improved livelihoods and health impacts for women and children through healthcare electrification
- Fostering more inclusivity in the design of a sustainable energy future through youth participation
Outcome 2: Global commitments to implement action to meet SDG7
SEforALL’s advocacy and diplomacy work is an important aspect of achieving energy access and energy transitions through political and financial commitments that can support connections and change at scale. We provide support to both state and non-state actors to shape commitments and investments geared towards achieving SDG7.
Our work advocating for global commitments to SDG7 has yielded significant progress as evidenced across the following areas.
- Growing commitments and increasing impact through the Energy Compacts
- Driving sector action towards the energy transition through global fora
- Building momentum through global and national initiatives
Outcome 3: Enabling policy and regulatory standards implemented for sustainable energy sector
We recognize that an enabling policy and regulatory environment is critical to de-risking business models and unlocking investment in the energy sector, specifically private sector investment and financing to reach the last mile.
In 2023, our contribution to enabling policy and regulatory standards was across two main dimensions:
Development of replicable solution tools and platforms for planning and related policy and regulatory reforms to support implementation of sustainable solutions
SEforALL aims to produce replicable tools and platforms that have relevance to policymakers at regional and country level, to catalyze and drive faster change and ensure that best practices on enabling policy environments can be widely adopted across the sector. Examples include:
- Universal Integrated Energy Access Planning
- Carbon Market Activation Plans (CMAPs)
- Policy Guidance on Energy Efficiency
- Delivering tailored in-country policy support
In 2023, SEforALL enabled and supported tangible on-the-ground progress in multiple countries to advance national energy policy reforms and updates, to increase access and support a just and equitable energy transition. The In-Country Support page contains a full list of in-country results.
Outcome 4: Significant and appropriate finance for SDG7 flowing globally
Our contribution, and that of our partners, is to help leaders unlock finance for energy access, energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy transitions. Partnerships are fostered and knowledge is shared to empower leaders to address barriers to financial flows.
Our efforts have led to a substantial increase in finance mobilized towards the achievement of SDG7 and net zero in countries where we operate through direct implementation and indirect advisory support.
Our work unlocking appropriate and substantial finance for SDG7 globally has yielded significant progress as evidenced across seven key dimensions:
- Unprecedented financial mobilization through the Energy Compacts
- Catalyzing investment in Sustainable Cooling
- Energy Efficiency Marketplaces
- Unlocking renewable energy investments through Results-Based Financing (RBF)
- Clean Cooking finance initiatives
- Carbon markets as a finance catalyst
- Mobilizing finance for the energy transition in Nigeria
Outcome 5: Significant increase in energy connections and energy transitions to meet SDG7
We have integrated country action and direct financing of energy connections into our strategy since 2020. This move aims to accelerate the pace of energy access and transitions, as, together with our partners, we drive progress in the final decade of action.
We are supporting a growing number of direct energy connections through RBF of mini-grids, stand-alone solar, and action-focused interventions. We have also developed knowledge products and provided advisory services to key stakeholders, with a greater focus on supporting countries for energy access and transitions, in particular through the development and adoption of national ETIPs.
Our efforts in securing finance and coordination laid the foundation for more comprehensive projects with partner countries in 2023, setting a strong foundation for greater progress in 2024 and beyond.
This is evidenced across four key dimensions:
- Accelerating access to clean energy connections
- Sustainable electrification of healthcare facilities
- Advancement in sustainable cooling solutions critical for energy transitions
- Supporting energy transition pathways in-country