ecol. evaluating development

Evidence-based Design of Effective Financial Cooperation Interventions in the Energy Sector

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Project description

German development cooperation endeavours to consider existing evidence more rigorously in the preparation and application of logical frameworks underlying development measures. ecol consults KfW in reviewing the evidence base of its logframes in the energy sector, notably with respect to energy generation, transmission and distribution, energy access, and energy efficiency.

Research on impacts of rural electrification, with a focus on households as beneficiaries

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Expert and scientific advice on rural energy access and electrification

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Project description

The German Institute for Development Evaluation (DEval) conducts an evaluation on the effects of German and international contributions to clean, affordable and effective electrification in rural areas. The evaluation makes recommendations to German development cooperation actors both at the level of the Federal Ministries as well as their implementing organizations.

ecol provides expert and scientific advice to the DEval evaluation team throughout the evaluation in the form of peer reviews, support on evaluation design and methods, as well as brief summaries of the scientific literature on selected challenges for development cooperation in rural energy supply and access.

Research on impacts of electrification, with a focus on productive use

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Evaluation of the Results-Based Financing for Low Carbon Energy Access Facility within Energising Development

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Project description
ecol was involved in an evaluation led by particip to study the portfolio of results-based financing (RBF) activities within the multi-donor partnership agreement for the Energising Development Program (EnDev). These activities comprise 13 projects in nine countries in Africa, Asia and Latin Africa. The aim of the RBF activities was to attract private investment in more efficient energy production and distribution systems.
ecol covered a Mid-Term and Final Evaluation of four RBF projects on cookstoves, small solar systems, mini-grids, and off-grid appliances (i) to assess the performance of the RBF Facility over the period 2012-18 against key OECD/DAC evaluation criteria, (ii) to understand and disseminate what has worked in which circumstances and why, and (iii) to derive recommendations for future programmes in RBF, energy access support, climate finance and development assistance more broadly based on a Portfolio Review and a Cluster Review. In addition, ecol conducted an Internal Process Review on the programme activities and prepared Factsheets on overarching lessons learned and recommendations derived from the facility.

Research on energy access infrastructure and development in more general terms

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Evaluation of the GIZ project Policy Advice on Environment and Climate Change (PAKLIM III)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Project description
Every year, the GIZ Evaluation Unit chooses a random sample of projects commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to undergo a central project evaluation. German international cooperation has supported climate policy in Indonesia through PAKLIM projects since 2009. This evaluation focuses on the last of three successive projects, PAKLIM III (2017–2020).

The project objective was to support Indonesian ministries and subnational authorities in coordinating key policy instruments to achieve climate goals. The project therefore aimed to support a more coherent and efficient low-carbon climate policy. The intervention areas encompassed: implementing climate-change mitigation action plans at national and subnational levels by, among other things, strengthening the institutional capacities of the Secretariat of the National Action Plan for Reducing Greenhouse-Gas Emissions (the RAN-GRK Secretariat); facilitating the harmonisation and embedding of NDC goals in planning and decision-making processes, particularly in the national medium-term development plan (RPJMN 2020–2024); supporting the development of climate finance instruments; and gender mainstreaming activities. The aim was for all of this to be integrated into the country’s low-carbon development (LCD) planning. Specific activities were designed in cooperation with partnering policy stakeholders and involved the waste, energy efficiency, public procurement and education sectors.

Research on energy for cooking

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ex-post evaluations of KfW infrastructure projects in Cambodia and Mali

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Project description
KfW annually evaluates a representative sample of its completed financial cooperation projects. In 2019 and 2020, ecol conducted three ex-post evaluations on KfW’s infrastructure projects. One of the projects was involved in the development and rehabilitation of rural roads and markets in Cambodia, the other two projects promoted irrigation infrastructure in Mali. The evaluations were carried out systematically according to OECD-DAC criteria.

Further climate-related research

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Evaluation of the ORIO Project Electrifying Rural Tanzania

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Project description
The Facility for Infrastructure Development ORIO financed by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs aims at encouraging public infrastructure development in developing countries. One of ORIO’s projects, Electrifying Rural Tanzania, intends to install local decentralized networks in west and north-western Tanzania and upgrade and repower already installed decentralized networks. In total, 24,000 clients are expected to benefit from these activities. In cooperation with Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) and the Georg-August Universität Göttingen, ecol was assigned to evaluate the intervention over a period of four years.

Further research

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Evaluation of the Sustainable Water Fund Colombia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Project description
As part of a consortium with Erasmus University Rotterdam and Georg-August University Göttingen, ecol was assigned to evaluate the Sustainable Water Fund (FDW), a Public-Private Partnership facility which aims to finance projects in the area of water safety and water security. In Colombia, the project under evaluation is an intervention implemented by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation to enhance efficient water management in the coffee sector. It is implemented in a Public Private Partnership with Nestlé, Nestlé Nespresso, the Colombian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, University Wageningen and Cenicafé – the National Centre for Coffee Research in Colombia. The evaluation assessess effectiveness of the project regarding adoption of water saving equipment and changes in attitudes towards water saving and the environment.

Project reports

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Indonesia Green Prosperity – Renewable Energy Grant Portfolio Impact Evaluation

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Project description
This evaluation was a cooperation with Social Impact Inc. based in Arlington/Virginia. The study aimed at assessing the sustainability and the impacts of a mini-grid facility that provides grants to project developers for isolated grids in remote areas of Indonesia. A mixed-methods approach was pursued with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions conducted in East Kalimantan and East Sumba, complementing a structured quantitative survey in the same regions. One focus of the qualitative evaluation was to assess the operations and management of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) that were established to run the mini-grids. The idea of those SPV is to form a consortium between the villagers and a private investor to ensure a sustainable operation.

Project monitoring of PERACOD Senegal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Project description
As part of GIZ’s regular project progress monitoring, ecol advised PERACOD, GIZ’s renewable energy programme in Senegal on the planning of its new phase starting in 2017. A key part of this assignment in early 2016 was the qualitative evaluation of PERACOD’s ongoing phase along the famous OECD/DAC-criteria. PERACOD’s main activities are in the fields of renewable energy promotion measures, rural electrification and energy efficiency. Instruments include high-level policy advice as well as establishing new approaches in field tests.

Evaluation of Energising Development (Phase II)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Project description
“Energising Development” (EnDev) promotes sustainable access to modern energy services. EnDev was started in 2005 by the German and Dutch government. EnDev provides energy access to households, social institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Currently, projects are being implemented in 24 countries utilizing a broad spectrum of technologies and a variety of different project concepts and instruments. By June 2013 EnDev has facilitated access to modern energy services for more than 10 million people. EnDev is financed by the Netherlands (DGIS) and Germany (BMZ), as well as Norway, Australia, UK, Switzerland, Ireland and the EU. In collaboration with rebel group, ecol was assigned to evaluate the second phase of EnDev having started in 2009. The evaluation assessed the programme along the OECD/DAC evaluation criteria, on its development effectiveness as defined by the Busan Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation, and answered 20 specific evaluation questions.

Projects executed at RWI

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Project description
As researchers at RWI – Leibniz Institute for Economic Research, the ecol team members were and are still involved in various, more research-oriented projects.

External Evaluation of the REPIC Platform

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Project description
REPIC (Renewable Energy, Energy and Resource Efficiency Promotion in International Cooperation) is an interdepartmental platform for the promotion of renewable energy and resource efficiency in international cooperation. It is a joint initiative of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE) and the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). The main goal of this external evaluation is to test the participating organization’s perception of the Platform against the views and experiences of REPIC’s target groups. The evaluation was implemented in collaboration with JaLogisch Consulting consisted of a web-based survey of the Swiss organizations and their local partners which requested project-financing during the current fourth phase of REPIC, as well as the (partly overlapping group) of participants in REPIC network events since 2013. The evaluation report served the programme steering committee to decide on a potential continuation of REPIC.

Two new podcasts with ecol on energy access

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 21:51:19 +0000

Tune into two podcasts with Gunther on energy access at the Knowledge Archives and in a discussion with Natalia Realpe Carrillo, Shonali Pachauri, and Sebastian Groh on five years of the Multi-Tier Framework to measure energy access.

Article on The Conversation about reaching the rural poor via grid or solar

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 09:47:52 +0000

What kind of electricity makes sense in rural Africa to make the most of available budgets? Maximiliane and Jörg address this question in a contribution on The Conversation.

VoxDev article amongst most read in 2020

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 08:02:00 +0000

An article by Jörg and two colleagues on the use of improved cookstoves as an instrument of effective climate policy was among the ten most read articles of 2020 on VoxDev, a platform for economists, policymakers, practitioners, donors, the private sector and others interested in development to discuss key policy issues.

Further energy research from our team featured in a new article in The Economist

Sat, 23 Feb 2019 16:50:28 +0000

In this article in the Economist, study results by our team and University of Passau are discusssed in the context of debates about grid extension to rural areas in developing countries as compared to off-grid alternatives.

RWI Research Network Workshop on Deforestation and Energy

Sun, 23 Sep 2018 18:51:19 +0000

This week, we brought together an exciting group of environmental & development researchers to exchange at the RWI Research Network Workshop on Deforestation and Energy. Looking forward to continue the discussions on this nexus!

Our Senegal research features in an article in The Economist

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 20:57:01 +0000

Under the headline “How the other half cooks“, The Economist features in its print edition from early April a report on the efforts to coax people towards cleaner cooking fuels. The article describes the situation on the ground in rural Senegal, more specifically a study region of one of our ongoing research projects, and discusses findings from our studies on the uptake of improved cookstoves.

New practitioner-oriented article on findings from an improved cookstove study

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 08:05:15 +0000

In a short article in the peer-reviewed practitioner journal Boiling Point, Gunther and Jörg discuss insights derived from a recent study in Senegal into potential intervention design and communication approaches for entry-level improved stoves.

Guest contribution to the German online newspaper ZEIT online [in German]

Mon, 08 Jan 2018 07:55:12 +0000

Der Anschluss ans Stromnetz soll die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung Afrikas vorantreiben. Studien zeigen: Es klappt nicht wie erhofft. Fortschritt bringt der Strom trotzdem. Ein Gastbeitrag auf ZEIT online von Jörg Peters und der RWI-Kollegin Katja Fels.

Lighting up rural Africa: How much do the poor value electricity and can they afford paying for it?

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 20:52:18 +0000

This blog article discusses findings from a field experiment conducted in rural Rwanda where we evaluated the revealed willingness to pay for different off-grid solar technologies. The discussion feeds into our work as part of the Sustainable Energy Transitions Initiative (SETI) network.

World Bank Blog contribution: How much does Sub-Saharan Africa need the grid?

Wed, 12 Jul 2017 17:54:02 +0000

An intense debate continues on how best to provide electricity to the 1.1 billion people currently without access to it – Jörg discusses this topic in a World Bank blogpost together with Michael Toman from the Development Research Group and Energy and Environment Team at World Bank.

Book review “Infrastructure and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa”

Thu, 06 Oct 2016 18:36:51 +0000

Jörg reviewed the book “Infrastructure and Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa” by Antonio Estache and Quentin Wodon. The review is available here and is forthcoming in the Journal of Development Studies.

Improved Biomass Cooking to Fight Climate Change and Poverty

Sat, 16 Apr 2016 04:20:19 +0000

Another blog post on the potentials of improved cookstoves at the website of our partners from Environment for Development (EfD).

Q&A on Investments in Cookstoves with Jörg in WASHplus Weekly

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 21:58:35 +0000

This week, the WASHplus newsletter features a Q&A on Investments in Cookstoves with Jörg. Check it out.

The off-grid lighting transition and other recent discussion topics

Wed, 07 Oct 2015 19:52:53 +0000

We have now published a discussion paper on offgrid lighting in Africa, where we outline the largely unnoticed transition from kerosene to LED lamps powered by dry-cell battery lamps.

In further recent discussion papers, we discuss the evidence of impacts of electrification with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa (where we also rely on a recent study conducted in Rwanda) and assess the link between rural electrification and domestic violence.

Conference participation this summer

Wed, 21 May 2014 21:30:03 +0000

We will present some of our latest research at the IAEE International Energy Conference in New York City, June 15 – 18, and at the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists in Instanbul, June 28 – July 2, 2014.

About the ecol blog

Mon, 03 Feb 2014 08:37:41 +0000

This blog is meant to irregularly post news on our projects and research, on job opportunities and upcoming events as well as on contributions to discussions on development policy issues.

ecol starts operations

Sun, 02 Feb 2014 08:15:56 +0000

With its first standalone project, ecol started operations in January 2014!

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

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Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

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