Transforming Humanitarian Energy Access

Lack of access to clean energy in humanitarian settings

In refugee camps in East Africa, 89% of the population lack access to electricity and 77% do not have access to clean cooking solutions, often relying on inefficient, hazardous fuel such as biomass and kerosene. Limited access to clean energy sources hampers economic development and livelihood opportunities, food and water security, increases environmental degradation, and strains peaceful coexistence of refugees and host communities.

The challenge: Why is it so hard to provide clean energy?

Refugees and other displacement-affected communities are often unable to access high quality, reliable clean energy products and services for a variety of reasons.

Humanitarian agencies are bound to short funding cycles of one to two years which do not allow for larger and long-term investments in energy infrastructure like solar mini-grids that could provide more reliable and sustainable electricity.
Household level products like solar home systems or clean cooking solutions are often not available in refugee camps because companies do not work there due to the perceived low purchasing power of prospective customers, regulatory constraints, a lack of market information, and poor infrastructure.
Even when these kinds of products are sold, their higher upfront costs compared to traditional alternatives and a lack of users’ familiarity with them further discourages uptake and use.
Humanitarian organizations sometimes provide energy products for free, but they are often low quality and tend to break quickly since adequate repair and maintenance services are not always available.

The solution: Transforming energy delivery models

A shift in how energy is delivered in humanitarian settings is urgently needed, requiring resources from both the public and private sector to be brought together to fund, deliver and leverage inclusive, sustainable, affordable and long-term energy solutions for refugees, IDPs and their host communities. It will also require more dedicated investments in refugee-led actors to effect change through locally developed solutions.

The Transforming Humanitarian Energy Access (THEA) program aims to support this shift towards more sustainable energy delivery models in humanitarian settings and to increase access to clean energy solutions for displacement-affected communities. It does this through research and evidence-building, data-driven advocacy, and the implementation of market-based energy projects. By identifying promising, inclusive energy delivery models, THEA aims to facilitate their replication and scaling. The program will focus on three different country contexts – Uganda, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh – to identify inclusive, replicable and scalable solutions in contexts which have very different market systems and regulatory environments.

THEA is implemented by Mercy Corps in partnership with Ashden and the Global Platform for Action on Sustainable Energy in Displacement Settings (GPA) and is funded by the UK government via the Transforming Energy Access platform. The program duration is from September 2024 until December 2026.

THEA’s workstreams

THEA will be delivered through three workstreams:

1) Data-driven evidence and research at a local and global level: THEA will build the evidence base on what works when it comes to delivering energy in humanitarian settings and use this knowledge to inform advocacy efforts and guide the implementation of energy interventions.

What we’ve done so far:

We produced a collective progress report taking stock of projects, research, and key sector events aiming to improve access to energy in humanitarian settings in 2025.
We developed reports on how to make finance and policies more inclusive of displacement-affected communities and their energy needs.
We conducted impact assessments learning from existing Mercy Corps energy access programming in humanitarian settings in Ethiopia and Uganda.

2) Implementation and evaluation of market-based energy projects: THEA will test new energy delivery models and assess existing market-based energy interventions to identify best practices for other actors to inform future programming, as well scaling up and replicating existing work.

What we’ve done so far:

We disbursed 18 micro-grants to refugee-led organisations and businesses that are providing clean energy solutions across East Africa.
We established Humenergi Uganda Ltd., an independent, specialised financing facility which provides concessional working capital loans to off-grid energy companies aiming to work in refugee settlements in Uganda.
We are piloting electric cooking solutions in Cox’s Bazar refugee camp and its host community in Bangladesh.

3) High-level advocacy, dissemination and systemic disruption: THEA will advocate for a shift in the way humanitarian agencies deliver energy and identify potential entry points to co-design alternative delivery models that could be employed by large humanitarian agencies in alignment with their procurement processes and mandates.

What we’ve done so far:

We convened key sector events to co-design solutions, disseminate findings, and influence decision makers.
We held a workshop with last mile distributors in Uganda to discuss financing and technical assistance needs and feed into the design of the Humenergi facility.
We held a workshop on designing energy projects to better equip NGO, UN, government, and private partners to implement market-based solutions for energy access.

Resources

Webpages

Webinar recordings

Reports

Blog posts

This project was funded with U.K. aid from the U.K. government via the Transforming Energy Access platform.

This material has been funded by U.K. aid from the U.K. government; however the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the U.K. government’s official policies.