Power Africa CLA: Sharing Lessons to Electrify Africa

Power Africa wears two hats: 1) a U.S. Government-led partnership of over 170 public and private sector partners and 2) a USAID technical office implementing a dozen programs in over 40 countries valued at over $200 million aiming to double access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. Because Power Africa's implementing mechanisms provide similar support across vast geographical areas through a combination of operating units, Power Africa, with the support of the DDI Energy Division, established a cross-portfolio CLA approach to help keep our technical work in sync. Power Africa established four virtual Learning Groups composed of implementing partner staff experts on utility reform, transmission, off-grid electrification, and gender in the energy sector. The Learning Groups proved to help implementing partner staff troubleshoot common challenges and share potential solutions, avoid redundancy, and advance Power Africa and USAID's energy sector knowledge. The learning surfacing from these groups have been actively feeding into the next stage of designs for Power Africa's implementing mechanisms, as well as DDI's global energy sector support.