Supporting the Millennium Development Goals

IT Power is a supporter of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and has been active in health, water supply, education, povery alleviation and sustainable development projects in more than 100 countries. The company has developed expertise in the creation and execution of integrated sustainable development strategies. In this area IT Power provides advice and co-ordinates activities for establishing and managing sustainable development.

IT Power has extensive experience in linking renewable energy to rural development through technical, financial and socio-economic assessments. IT Power specialises in linking energy plans and strategies to service the majority of people living in rural areas across the world. The group also integrates the energy needs of health, education and water sectors to inform Poverty Reduction Strategies in developing countries.

Recent projects have included:

Building capacity in renewables in the health, education and water sectors to help meet poverty reduction targets in sub-Saharan Africa

The project developed awareness of the opportunities to use renewable energy to meet poverty reduction targets in Africa. The project targeted the energy, health, education and water Ministries in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, with a replication strategy for Senegal. The project built capacity to enable key staff to identify appropriate and cost effective ways in which renewable energy technologies can contribute towards national sectoral goals and the Millennium Development Goals. This was achieved by supporting policy development and provision of tools and training to aid decision-making.
The main activities included a review of existing strategy papers in all sectors, identifying national and sectoral priorities and the linkages of these targets to energy policy. Energy Guidelines and Standard Energy Packages for each of the health, education and water Ministries were produced, and an Electrification Planning Tool for identification of appropriate renewable energy projects was developed. Key staff at each of the Ministries were trained to use these tools and three workshops were held for awareness raising, training and information dissemination.

Provision of consultancy service for implementation support to develop technical information and specification for energy packages for lower level health facilities.

The project involves the assessment of the lower level health centres in 6 districts in Uganda. Results from the assessment were used to develop standard energy packages for the relevant level health centres. Energy packages were in a modular format design to allow greater versatility in the provision of energy and ensure the precise needs of each health centres are met. Technical specification and tender documents were drawn up from for these energy packages. The specification took into consideration the long term maintenance and servicing of the systems. An assessment of institution arrangements for the installation and consequent operation was carried out. A capacity building plan was developed to ensure the quality of installation and long term operation of the systems.

IEA PV Services for Developing Countries

IT Power is founder and leader of the PVSDC working group of the IEA PVPS (International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme). This group is aiming at the deployment of PV systems in developing countries as a key contribution towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The objective is to promote and facilitate the exchange and dissemination of information on the technical, economic, environmental and social aspects of PV power systems. A variety of activities, including workshops, capacity building seminars, preparation of Best Practice Guides and information dissemination are developed in this group.

Yunnan Environment Development Project (YEDP)

IT Power provided specialist rural energy advice to the YEDP Project and identified how energy interventions can reduce poverty and improve environmental care in rural communities through a participatory pro-poor process. 3 pilot projects were identified and implemented in 2004 and a monitoring process was put into place. An initial evaluation has taken place which showed that there had been improvements to rural livelihoods due to the energy interventions. These included improving energy access (from improved cookstoves and biogas) and reducing deforestation. Energy efficient stove in Yunnan, China