West Africa

CAPABILITY
STATEMENT
Who we are
Practical Action is a global innovator putting ingenious ideas to work so people in poverty can change
their world. We are a change-making group of problem solvers, knowledge mobilisers and expert
advisors working to catalyze positive change at national and regional levels.

With 50 years of expertise, Practical Action has a strong heritage and track record across Asia, Africa
and Latin America. Our globally networked group consists of a UK registered charity, 9 regional and
country offices with projects in 45 countries across the world.

We also operate at local, national and international levels by providing technical assistance (Practical
Action Consulting), capitalizing experience and sharing knowledge (Practical Action Publishing) also
implementing development projects through our charity branch. We combine these specialties to
amplify our collective impact and contribute to a world that works better for everyone.

Our West Africa office, based in Dakar, Senegal since 2014, represents the consulting arm of the
organization. We provide independent and professional technical assistance and advisory services to
change-makers including governments, NGOs, donors and the private sector. We have extensive
experience in development consulting across sub-Saharan Africa, in the areas of energy, climate
change, nexus sustainable energy-agriculture, disaster risk reduction.

Our ambition in West Africa

• Make smallholder farming more efficient through planet-friendly innovations
• Transform lives through affordable, renewable energy
• Reduce vulnerability created by climate change or disaster

Where we work

We cover all 15 countries of the Economic

Community of West African States (ECOWAS) plus
the Sahel countries: Mauritania, Chad and
Cameroun.
 Our Expertise
Energy that
Transforms
In West Africa, we work with the private sector, NGOs,
governments and international bodies towards the
creation of a more favourable environment for rural
population to access better energy services to boost their
livelihoods.

Our ambition is to ensure last mile delivery to energy-

poor people while contributing to the creation of a
thriving private sector supported by appropriate funding
mechanisms, regulations and policies.

Policy guidelines and energy planning

We conduct studies, assessments and large-scale research to advise and/or inform policy decisions, energy project design
and implementation which takes into account integrated planning from the bottom and mainstream gender and social
inclusion.

Private Sector Support

We provide technical assistance to private sector through technology assessment, market analysis, feasibility studies, user
needs assessment and social and economic analyses through participatory approaches that demonstrate economically
viable business models & sustainable use of RE solutions for its maximum impact for low income and vulnerable
communities.

Market Activation

We provide a unique market systems approach through participatory market mapping, user need assessment and
interventions design to break market barriers addressing decentralized renewable energy and achieve a shift to a more
inclusive and dynamic market that work for vulnerable and remote communities.

Energy – agriculture nexus

We provide technical assistance in promoting the adoption of sustainable technologies and business models for improving
energy access within agricultural market systems, catalyze private sector investment in decentralized energy services that
are affordable and work for smallholder farmers for improving agriculture based livelihood.

Energy in humanitarian responses

We provide support and user need assessment on market interventions for delivery of RE technologies that work for
displaced people and refugees as humanitarian response. Our work focuses on how appropriate RE technologies can meet
the energy needs of displaced people in a safe, sustainable manner.
 Resilience that
Protects
In West Africa, our unique combination of
Climate information and knowledge services
help smallholder farmers and low income
households in settlements which are at high
risk of flooding to increase their resilience to
climate hazards and adapt to climate change.

We leverage the power of ICTs and local

trusted voices to increase reach and impact of
information and knowledge services.

User-centered climate information services (CIS)

We provide ingenious participatory methodologies and a toolkit that position user needs and
perspectives at the center of climate information service (CIS) design, delivery and feedback. We do
this through a participatory systems mapping approach that prioritizes actions and knowledge gaps
to improve user-centered CIS systems. It brings together key stakeholders from across the
information value chain, including users, NGOs, agricultural and meteorological services and the
media, to create space for empowerment and more robust feedback from farmers and facilitate
consensus-building for action.

Last mile communication services for climate resilient farmers

We provide a powerful combination of ICT-enabled communication services and digital extension

models to support last mile rural advisory services and empower smallholder farmers through
accessible, affordable, timely, actionable information that help them increase resilience to climate
hazards, adapt to the changing climate, reduce losses, improve food security and increase income.

Community Flood Resilience Assessment and Action Planning

The Flood Resilience Portal provides practitioners who live and work in flood-affected communities
with easy access to the resources they need to build resilience to floods. It brings together all of the
practical knowledge and best practices generated globally by Practical Action and others and
exchanged through the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance.

In West Africa we are extending the reach of the Flood Resilience Alliance through a French language
portal to catalyze local knowledge exchange and by building capacity to use the participatory Flood
Resilience Measurement for Communities (FRMC) toolkit and practices to assess community
resilience to floods. This innovative approach combines a methodology for testing and empirically
validating the framework and a technology-based data-gathering and evaluation tool for
measurement and assessment of flood resilience. It empowers communities to develop practical
plans to strengthen livelihood capitals - physical, human, natural, financial and social – to reduce
the risks and impact of floods and recover more quickly afterwards.
Our People
In West Africa we provide quality, efficient and effective consulting services by combining expertise
of our regional team, on the experiences of over 500 regional Practical Action staff and on our global
network of over 1000 associates. Our West Africa team is made of a mix of international and regional
experts. Meet some of our top experts!

Edwin OBIERO, Caroline Heidtmann,

Regional Director Senior Energy Advisor
Area of expertise Area of expertise

- Energy access in development - Mainstreaming gender inenergy

and humanitarian contexts access
- Development of Inclusive - Evaluation of energy access in
market systems ; development projects
- Design and management of - Participatory training andsocial
research and projects on marketing
energy access

Cheikh MBODJI, Mary ALLEN,

Energy Advisor Resilience & Livelihoods
SeniorAdvisor
- Feasibility study projects
(Renewable Energies) & - Design and management of Projects
energy audits on resilient agriculture and
- Productive Uses of Energy sustainable livelihoods, natural
- Energy recovery from solid resourcemanagement
waste - Participatory methods for action-
research, M&E andlearning

Pape Idrissa DIENE Alioune NDIAYE,

Junior Climate Climate Resilience
resilience Advisor Project Manager

- Climate resilience and flood - Agriculture, Pastoralism, Climate

risk management change, Flood risk management
- Statistics and Econometrics - Design & management of Projects
- Methods and tools for data on resilient agriculture and
collection and analysis sustainable livelihoods
- Impact Evaluation, Qualitative &
Quantitative Data Analysis

Mossane Rose DIOUF, Awa MBENGUE,

Finance & Administrative Assistant
Administrative Manager
- Administrative support service
- Audit and Management Control - Tracking utilities bills due dates
- Contract auditing - Logistic support
- Financial controls and procedures - Finscan for consultants & staffs
for large regional programs
Selected Project References
West Africa Flood Resilience project - Zurich Alliance
• Senegal
• January 2021 – June 2024 Funded by the Zurich Foundation

Practical Action West Africa is in charge of the implementation of the project "Promouvoir la Résilience
Communautaire aux Inondations dans la commune de Thiès Nord" (PRECIT) in partnership with the NGO IED
Afrique. This project is financed by the Z Zurich Foundation for a period of three years and six months. It is part
of phase II of the Zurich Flood Resilience Program, which is a multi-sectoral collaboration between Zurich
Insurance Group, NGOs and academia to build community resilience to floods. The project is being implemented
in Thiès, which is one of the urban centres most affected by flooding in Senegal. More specifically, our
interventions focus on the commune of Thiès Nord, which is particularly exposed to flooding. The main objective
of the PRECIT project is to increase social, political and financial efforts in building community resilience to
floods through public, private and civil society partnerships.

Strengthening the resilience of pastoralists in the Sahel - FAO

• Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger
• June 2021 – November 2022 Funded by FAO

Practical Action West Africa works as part of the FAO project "Strengthening the resilience of pastoralists and
agro-pastoralists in the Sahel through innovative tools and improved data" in the component on the contribution
of pastoral households to the economy of Sahelian countries. The main outcome of the project is that the
resilience of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists is strengthened. Governments and pastoral organizations of
Sahelian countries will be trained and equipped with innovative tools and improved data on the contribution of
pastoralists and agro-pastoralists to the economy and the SDGs. In particular, they will have access to methods
and tools to improve data on pastoralism, including the collection of detailed data led by pastoral organizations
themselves, thus generating evidence on the multiple contributions of pastoralism to the different dimensions of
sustainable development. In terms of process, we developed a questionnaire, trained interviewers from pastoral
organizations, and developed a methodology for assessing the economic contribution and analysis of coping
strategies with various shocks. As part of the data analysis process, national workshops were held to conduct a
mid-term review of data collection. Subsequently, it is planned to hold national workshops to disseminate the
results to the main pastoral stakeholders in May in Burkina and Mali, and in November in Mauritania and Niger.
Policy briefs on the economic contribution of pastoralism and the resilience of pastoralists will also be produced.

Business Development Support to Solar Village

• Senegal
• 2021 Funded by RTI

Practical Action assessed the appropriateness and potential market entry strategies for Solar Villages’ Battery Stick
in Senegalese agriculture, and in particular in the cotton and horticulture sub-sectors. We determined the most
commercially and technically viable business models for Solar Village to pursue in the two selected value chains and
identified the most suitable partnerships with agribusinesses, off-grid companies, crop cooperatives, financial
institutions in Senegal. And finally created a market entry strategy that will guide Solar Village to achieving the
business model.

Productive Use of Energy (PUE) assessment in Cote d’Ivoire

• Cote d’Ivoire
• 2021 Funded by RTI

Our productive use of energy (PUE) assessment provides information to off-grid companies, actors in agriculture,
the Government of Cote d’Ivoire, and development partners on the opportunities that exist for off-grid solar
systems can add value within the agriculture sector in Cote d’Ivoire, such as solar irrigation systems, solar
processing equipment and solar cooling. The report includes a demand-side assessment of potential beneficiaries
as well as current barriers of PUE technologies. Finally, it presents pathways to scale up these technologies
through support services, organizations, agricultural support programs, agro-processing companies,
cooperatives, associations and off-grid solar companies.
REACT Household Solar Program Funding Competition, Round 2
• Senegal
• 2021 Funded by AECF

Practical Action provided technical support for the REACT Household Solar Competition and Shortlisting Phases
As such we conducted the due diligence procedure of the applying solar companies and prepared investment
memos and provided technical and logistical support in AECF’s selection process.

Technical assistance for the preparation of a national action plan to

implement the ECOWAS policy on gender mainstreaming in energy
access
• Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Guinea Bissau
• September 2019 – March 2020 Funded by ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and
Energy Efficiency (ECREEE)

ECREEE with its ECOWAS Programme on Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access (ECOW-GEN) is one of the
pioneers in mainstreaming gender in the energy sector. Under this programme, ECREEE developed the ECOWAS
Policy for Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access which was adopted in June 2017 by the ECOWAS Head of
States. Another achievement of the program was the validation of the ECOWAS Directive on Gender Assessments
in Energy projects. It was during this validation workshop that it was recommended that Action Agendas be
developed at the national level to facilitate the adoption and implementation of the directives.

Productive Uses of Energy Product Catalogue

• Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda; and five in West Africa, namely Ghana,
Senegal, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and Niger
• December 2019 – July 2020 Funded by RTI International

This Catalogue seeks to increase the knowledge base on productive use of energy appliances (PUE appliances),
addressing the needs of the Eastern and Western Africa regions, focusing on the various economic sectors which
can stimulate economic development with greater adoption of PUE appliances.

Facilitate PUE priority agricultural value chains

• Senegal
• March 2020 – September 2021 Funded by UFC/MCA Senegal

The MCA program aims to unlock the country's agricultural productivity and expanding access to markets and
services through critical infrastructure including sustainable energy. Practical Action role was to (i) identify
productive electricity consumers and their energy and equipment needs in all the targeted sector (ii) identify
suppliers, manufacturers and repairers of productive equipment who are based in the intervention zones in
Senegal, for capacity building and dissemination of their equipment and (iii) identify major funders and financing
methods for productive production equipment.

Benchmark of Technologies for Productive Use of Solar Energy

• Senegal
• Sept 2019 – Feb 2020 Funded by GIZ / PED
Practical Action was contracted through the "Sustainable Energy Program" (PED) whose objective is to improve
the conditions for the implementation of sustainable energy services aimed at protecting the climate. The mission
revolves around (i) research and benchmarking of technologies allowing a productive use of photovoltaic solar
energy, (ii) identification/selection of 10 technologies able to be integrated, through PED pilot projects, in high
impact value chains such as agriculture, agro-food, crafts,… and (iii) mapping of areas suitable for the
implementation and targeting of local beneficiaries and relevant partners to host pilot projects; the objective is
to demonstrate the technical feasibility and economic profitability of the selected technologies.

Comprehensive green lending support to one GCPF Partner Financial

Institution in Senegal
• Senegal
• Apr- Nov 2019 Funded by Green Climate Partnership Fund (GCPF)
In consortium with Open Capital Advisor, Practical Action supported the Global Climate Partnership Fund
(GCPF) and Locafrique, a Senegalese financial institution, to develop its leasing portfolio of renewable and
energy-efficient assets to Provide comprehensive support to the Partner FI to develop GCPF eligible green lease
products targeting the Senegalese Agriculture market. Practical Action carried out (i) Assessment of potential
client demand for lease of identified Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy technologies, (ii) Mapping of
suppliers of identified technologies, (iii) Awareness on the benefits of green leasing products (with most farmers
not knowing this concept yet) (iv) and design financial models for drip irrigation, solar platform & solar pumps
technologies.

Renewable Energy for Agricultural Livelihoods in West Africa

• West Africa
• 2018 – 2021 Funded by Practical Action / Zayed Future Energy Prize
The «Renewable Energy for Agricultural Livelihoods in West Africa – REAL » project aims to improve the
livelihood of smallholder farmers in West Africa by demonstrating new models integrating sustainable energy in
agriculture value chains, which are financially viable and replicable at larger scale. We used a participatory market
systems development that combines assessment of the demand for renewable energy along agriculture value
chains with an assessment of the available energy solutions, finding the connection points between the value
chain needs and the energy offers.

TICMbay
• Senegal
• 2015 - 2019 Funded by New Alliance ICT Extension Challenge Fund
In 2015, Practical Action co-founded the social enterprise Jokalante, ("dialogue" in Wolof), to provide a range of
innovative ICT-based services to support the adoption of new agricultural technologies. Four years later, by
combining local radio broadcasts with mobile phones, Jokalante has reached 600,000 producers across Senegal.
Jokalante offers interactive and viable ICT enabled services to private sector and government clients as a powerful
set of tools to engage with men and women living in rural communities, collect feedback and measure levels of
satisfaction as well as to promote new agricultural technologies and improved seed varieties.

Moving Energy Initiative « MEI »

• Burkina Faso, Jordan et Kenya
• 2015-2019 Funded by UK Aid
PA West Africa worked with Chatham House, Energy4Impact, UNHCR and the Norwegian Refugee Council on
the Moving Energy Initiative (MEI), an innovative project that seeks to meet the energy needs of displaced people
in a safe, sustainable manner, developing solutions for heating/cooling, cooking, lighting, electrification and
water and sanitation. The project is considered the initiative which ignited a paradigmatic shift in the energyfor
humanitarian sector. Visit movingenergy.earth