Launch of the Methodological Guide: Use of and Access to Renewable Energies in Rural Territories

General Objective

To broadly disseminate the Methodological Guide: Use of and Access to Renewable Energies in Rural Territories, together with the rest of the instruments for facilitating the management of renewable energies in rural territories in the Americas.

Beneficiaries

Facilitators of and people interested in the management of renewable energies, senior personnel from government institutions, private and enterprising companies, cooperation agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), universities, research centers, farmer organizations in rural territories in the Americas, and technical personnel from the IICA offices.

Mode of Participation

In-person for participants in Bogotá and online for all other attendees in America, via web transmission.

Tools and Available Resources

IICA has made the Methodological Guide: Use of and Access to Renewable Energies in Rural Territories available to the countries, together with an interactive compact disk that includes documents and multimedia products about the experiences in the Andean region and technical information on the topic:

• Technical report of the Andean Region, with the corresponding annexes:
  • Annex 1. Work Plan
  • Annex 2. Inventory of experiences and lessons learned (in xls format).
• Road map for the Andean region.
• Link to the Regional Andean Event on Renewable Energies (Bogotá, Colombia, May 27 and 28, 2014) and its corresponding content).
• Videos of the Energy and Environment Partnership with the Andean Region and Agroenlace audio clips on the same topic.

Organizing Committee

• Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA)
• IICA office in Colombia together with the offices in the Andean Region
• Regional Coordinator of Project 17 – 2012 – FonTC
• Agroenergy Network
• Cooperative Program for Agricultural Research, Development and Innovation in the South American Tropics (PROCITROPICOS)

Background

As a result of the execution of the project entitled Methodology for the Use of Renewable Energies in Rural Territories of the Andean Region, financed by the Technical Cooperation Fund of IICA, three instruments for facilitating the development of renewable energies were delivered in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.

The three instruments are:

1. A Guide to the Analysis of Experiences with the Use of and Access to renewable energies in the Andean Region, which includes a conceptual framework and analysis methodology with instruments for collecting information and eligibility and verification criteria.
2. A report with its corresponding inventory of lessons learned and experiences acquired in relation to the use of and access to renewable energies in rural territories of the Andean Region, within a context of sustainability, competitiveness and climate change mitigation.
3. A road map for improvement of the institutional and knowledge management frameworks, based on references that were collected and systematically organized on the use of and access to renewable energies in rural territories of the Andean region.

The innovation included in this IICA contribution consists in the design and formulation of a methodological tool for collecting and systematically organizing experiences acquired and lessons learned in relation to renewable energies, so that the information can be used as input for public policies or possible forums or working groups in each beneficiary country.

The creation of a solid and coherent conceptual framework based on sustainable development, as well as a survey form for systematic organization of the information, was necessary in order to verify conditions of competitiveness, contribution to climate change mitigation, and access to renewable energies in rural territories.

In turn, a road map was created for public policymakers, private entrepreneurs and cooperation agencies, to contribute to improving the institutional and knowledge management frameworks related to renewable energies, within a context that contributes to competitiveness and alternatives for mitigating climate change in rural territories.

A previous event held in May 2014 in Bogotá, entitled Regional Andean Event on Renewable Energies, provided a unique opportunity for interacting directly with environment, energy and agriculture stakeholders and sharing experiences in relation to the use of and access to renewable energies and energy efficiency. The general objective of this activity was to foster the sustainable development of rural areas and mitigate climate change in Andean countries.

The Guide created within the framework of this project was initially implemented in the Andean Region. However, many other rural territories in the Americas could benefit from the findings obtained through implementation of this guide.