SARPN Home

POVERTY, ENERGY & GENDER > Seminar papers

POVERTY, ENERGY & GENDER

[Back to papers]

Seminar paper by Mihe Gaomab II

[previous]

[table of contents] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

[next]

Basic Requirements for Alleviating Poverty, Access to Energy, and Gender Inequalities in Namibia

4. The Poverty – Energy Framework and their interrelated Strategies

4.1 Goals of the Poverty – Energy Framework The purpose of this section is to briefly provide a general assessment as to how energy can play a viable part in poverty reduction in Namibia. In order to arrive at such an analysis, it would be important to look at the energy poverty framework as theorised by the World Bank11 and then to apply its relevance and importance to the Namibian situation. The energy poverty framework provides a requirement checklist for poverty alleviation by using the energy sector as a sector. The first requirement revolves around establishing energy development goals that will guide the selection of policies and programs to achieve specific targets for poverty alleviation. Five energy development goals are therefore identified by the World Bank to focus the poverty diagnosis and strategy development effort thereof. These five development goals are necessary to identify appropriate policy and programme interventions to achieve these goals. Such interventions are meant to give a direct approach to poverty reduction in three priority areas: (1) opportunity (income and capabilities), (2) empowerment and (3) security, The first goal relates to how all low-income households would have access to modern energy services (like a kerosene or electricity). The modern energy services refers to energy sources/fuels which are not traditional (e.g. wood, crop residuals and dung) and are exchanged for money. It is also assumed that the increased availability of this services (liquid, gas, or solid smokeless fuels) would entail less pollution, cleaner and healthier environment. These fuels are also convenient to use and efficiently converted to use such as biogas, ethanol, and charcoal. It is expected that as households move up the “energy ladder” from traditional to modern energy usage, their consumption of such energy increases, leading to the enhancement of welfare and income earning potential. In the case of Namibia, the poorest of the households which make up over 70 percent of total population have little or no access to modern energy services and therefore this goal would be most appropriate to be achieved. The second goal relates to improving energy supply reliability. Reliability of energy supply is the stable supply of energy services at a quality and quantity that do not impose excessive additional costs on consumers. Reliable energy supply is essential for making sustained improvements in household welfare and as input into small business development. For poor households with access to modern energy for example, but who are not yet users, chronic supply of energy source may act as a disincentive to make investments required from a transition of a traditional energy source. For example it could discourage poor households from purchasing a kerosene stove or paying for an electricity connection. This is particulary applicable to urban poor households. In the Namibian situation, sustainable and reliable modern energy supply use is realised within the urban section of the community although the urban poor household (most of them who lives in the settlement areas of the city of Windhoek and urban towns) does till encounter chronic supply of energy services. This goal is however far reaching as far as the rural sector is concerned. A mechanical water pumping diesel engines have been set up in rural areas but it is still scarce and its constant supply use is unreliable as it sometimes breaks down. Hence strategies need to be employed to ensure improved energy supply reliability in the rural areas. A best recommended approach would be the setting up of a typical multifunctional platform, which has been set up in Mali in 1996 by UNDP and UNIDO where in collaboration with the Government of Mali, has covered 450 villages. This platform has been beneficial in reducing rural poverty in general as well as empowering poor rural woman in particular thus providing income generating opportunities through the provision of affordable energy services. The platform has a simple diesel engine that can power different tools, such as a cereal mill, husker and/or battery charger. The engine can also generate electricity for lighting and refrigeration and also pumps water. The advantage of this machine is its simplicity and multiple use. Its installation and maintenance can all be handled by local artisans and its spare parts can be provided on a readily basis by small business entrepreneur where the Ministry of Agriculture facilitates a targeted subsidy scheme to ensure that parts are low priced and readily available. Note that this platform is not aimed to replace the existing engines that pumps water or products that provide rural electricity. This can be complemented whereever appropriate because of its multiple use. The platform can be managed on a decentralised basis and can be demand driven and its ownership and management as well as its capacity can be localised, especially to poor rural women. The third goal relates to the ensured fiscal sustainability associated with energy supply and use. It’s a well known economic fact that fiscal instability and growing deficits contribute to increased inflation that often hits the purchasing power of the poor and increasing their vulnerability. Hence, a stable and sustainable fiscal policy is required for an adequate energy supply and use as the energy sector is unique in its scope of its influence on the public budget through its contribution to tax revenue, subsidy financing, and debt service due to guarantees on energy parastatal loans. The Namibian government does place a high priority on the sustainable energy supply and use through commercialised entities of NAMPOWER and NAMWATER. At present they are commercially viable entities and do declare income to the government through its dividend declaration. The fiscal dimension of poverty alleviation rests on the premise that there is zero rate taxation for importation of kerosene and electrical energy. The fourth goal is improving energy sector governance and regulation. Market mechanisms, formal institutions and processes that lead to efficient investment, production, and energy service delivery are indicators of good sector governance and regulation. Good sector governance and regulation are key determinants of whether the poor in particular and the economy in general receive adequate service at an acceptable price. Poor governance undermines the energy sector performance and affects the poor through inadequate provision of services and high energy service prices. Namibia’s energy sector is governed by an appropriate legislative framework of 1996 and its functions are co-ordinated by the Ministry of Mines and Energy. It can be argued that Namibia does have in place appropriate energy sector governance and its market mechanisms are formalised and appropriate for efficient investment, production and energy service delivery. However, a lot needs to be desired however on whether the energy sector is pro-poor in its service delivery and acceptable pricing judging that there is still a visible lack of rural electrification and prices are charged at market related basis. The last goal relates to reducing the health and environmental costs associated with energy supply and use. As indicated above, the poor largely depends on biomass for their energy needs. Their health is damaged from burning biomass owing to high levels of exposure to the combustion by-products (such as carbon monoxide) These pollutants affect the health, life expectancy and quality of life of the rural and urban poor, causing acute respiratory infections12. Natural resource developments (hydropower, oil and gas) can have large environmental and social costs and hence such interventions may be needed to reduce air pollution thereby contributing to public health. In addition, safeguards may be established to monitor compliance of these resource developments on the local environment and accompanying social costs. At independence, Namibia inherited environmental legislation that is outdated, fragmented and incomplete. As a result, it became necessary to revise and review the existing environmental legislation and to date, the Ministry of Environment and Tourism has been reviewing and revising the existing legislation and to facilitate the establishment of an appropriate environmental legislation framework for Namibia. The draft legislation that is still continually being prepared includes Environmental Management Act, Pollution Control and Waste Management Act, et al. The emphasis in the development of new legislation is on consultation with stakeholders at all stages to ensure that the end product is appropriate to serve Namibia's long and short term needs. 4.2 Policies and Programs of the Poverty – Energy Framework The policies and programmes that can be introduced are as follows. Each policy intervention can have a moderate to high impact on poverty reduction. Policies and programmes should revolve around the Introduction of an effective subsidy targeting by assisting lower income households through price and consumption subsidy. The subsidy targeting should be focussed on the poor households and should be designed in such a way that it minimises price distortions and re-enforce commercial orientation of reducing overall costs and improved service in the energy sector. The type of subsidies can be general, lifeline and merit based price discounts or non-collection procedures. Ease first cost constraints on a energy service by having a appropriate design standard for poor households and by providing consumer credit and connection subsidies (utility credits, micro-finance etc). Encourage effective community participation by leaving the choice of energy service to choose by the poor communities. Empowering the communities to choose which energy services are most appropriate can allow them to assume more responsibility of making such choices and thus would reveal their willingness to pay as well as the quality of services they require. Community based management of energy services also means that they can support the delivery of energy services to the poor and can aid in ensuring that billing and collection can improve payment discipline. Using local capacity for maintenance services can also increase local employment encouraging local enterpreneurship and reduction of costs. Reform of the energy sector may be needed to ensure a well balance and diversified energy service provision. The public, private, and community based service providers mentioned above may be needed to effectively meet the needs of the poor thus leading to complementary services being delivered. This can also foster competition, which should ideally drive down supply costs, both of which benefit the poor. Private participation in the energy sector could be encourage where-ever feasible to ensure that it can have positive short and long term impacts on the poor. Its participation should however be based on efficiency, cost-effectiveness and increased service responsiveness of the entire energy sector. Electrification programs must be vigorously pursued. Electrification proudly affects village life, bringing a strong sense of “modernity” and connection to the world beyond the village and expectations for a better future. Within the context of Namibia, rural electrification should become a matter of priority to be addressed within the context of poverty alleviation. Encouraging natural gas use (methane, etc) can be beneficial – For countries such as Namibia, with potentially easy and low cost access to natural gas, its availability and premium qualities may make it a highly desirable alternative to traditional fuels as well as oil gases. Increasing their availability to the poor can bring direct benefits of lower costs and higher environmental quality associated with oil products. Exploitation of oil, gas and hydropower natural resource exploitation and appropriate management should be encouraged and maintained as it can bring in a significant revenue source for government (as well as regional and local governments) and can offer opportunities for poverty reduction. Concerted effort should be made to mitigate the health effects of biomass energy and interventions need to be made to ensure reduction in air pollution thus creating a healthy nation The above policies and programmes should be complemented with designing a comprehensive and detailed energy note that should serve as a useful input into the poverty reduction strategies. The energy note should encompass indicators of implementing the strategies as well as analysis and diagnosis of the existing situation and tracking and monitoring mechanisms of the actions to reach the five energy development goals identified above. Concerted effort should also be made to identify whether the policies and programmes impacts on poverty thus satisfying its outcomes of income generation, increased capability, security and empowerment. 4.3 Small business Development in the energy sector There is a urgent need within Namibia to develop small businesses that should become more energy efficient or adopt renewable energy technologies. Renewable energy technologies would provide Namibia with a more diversified energy source, a more secure electricity infrastructure and improved quality of the environment. The role of small business in the energy sector should be to develop and demonstrate new technologies in this sector that should increase energy efficiency and reduces emissions and manufacturing costs for Namibian industries, agriculture, and municipal water and wastewater systems. The small business should look into identifying products of a greater use in the agricultural sector (such as the multifunctional diesel engine identified above) to aid in rural poor production, income generation, employment, financial sustainability and promotion of women’s empowerment and gender equality13. The strategies that can be considered for a successful small business development includes the following: Improvement on understanding small businesses in the energy sector Improved access to information and resources on renewable energy technologies Providing incentives for a formal registration of small businesses in the energy sector. Creation of a centralised institution for small business in order to ensure streamlining of procedures for specific regulatory, legal and administrative functions in the energy sector Addressing attitudinal barriers through effective training programs on managing small businesses in the energy sector. Create and facilitate a “voice” platform and networking for small businesses in the energy sector Create Energy Development Zones (EDZ) targeted specifically for small business development in the rural and urban sectors where poverty is more prevalent. Women and energy – strategies thereof In order to implement effective strategy for women in the energy sector, it is worthwhile to note that the main source of energy in poor rural households is not biomass, but it is the poor rural women’s labour and its time. Therefore, a "feminisation of poverty" in the energy sector is crucially important and in order to ensure the effectiveness of this strategy, it is equally important to identify the activities women do engage in, and how they use the energy source at their disposal. Cooking remains a rural poor women’s main energy source, and therefore an energy strategy for poor rural women is to have a large component of traditional fuel use improvement, whether it is improved biomass stoves and fuels or better management of biomass supplies. This could improve the Namibian poor rural women’s family health, both by reduced smoke and indoor air pollution. It is worthwhile to note that cooking in Namibia is not only women’s most time and effort consuming energy need, but it is also a very large share of household energy consumption, and the largest single rural energy use. This means that by addressing the cooking needs as a priority of a energy poverty strategic framework, positive impacts of energy interventions of reduced carbon dioxide emissions, reduced increased incidence of deforestation, as well as decreased women’s and children’s workload and time in wood fuel collection would be fully realised. Poor rural women are also exposed at labouring for a major part of their time at crop tending, harvesting and processing. Such a situation is often compounded by lack of modern energy services and thus the labour time that poor rural woman expends every day is lost to other activities such as leisure, education and productive activities. Therefore, an energy strategy that reduces workload in water carrying, food processing and human transport by implementing improved water pumping and purification, grain mills and improved transport facilities can be ideal from a poverty reduction point of view as all this can ensure improved capability and security for the rural households. Improved home and street lighting and rural electrification and usage of electricity can improve education and health facilities and services thereby ensuring adequate social service delivery and increased empowerment for poor rural women. In terms of income generating prospects, any opportunities for rural women to become trained and educated in terms of building, sell, maintain or repair energy technologies such as a stove can make poor rural women not only to become empowered but to be self employed and increasing their cash income. An energy strategy that focuses on poor rural women’s needs should provide opportunities for poor woman’s organisations and views to be represented as stakeholders in policy decisions on macro energy planning and pricing. In order to counter any corruptive practices, participatory project design and implementation of energy projects by involvement of poor rural communities on a transparent basis would also be required.

Footnotes: Energy Poverty Framework, draft Document. April 2001 WHO Health Report 1999 estimated that acute lower respiratory infections ranked fourth in their share of the burden of disease in Sub-Saharan Africa, preceded by HIV/Aids, malaria and diarrheal diseases. Based upon a research and experience of the IDEAS Group particulary – in Southern Africa, New Zealand, and North America.

[previous]	[table of contents] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]	[next]