Funding opportunity for clean cooking solutions in informal settlements in Freetown, Sierra Leone

The ENACT (Enabling African Cities for Transformative Energy Access) project is calling for applications from energy-based small and medium enterprises and partnerships to deliver interventions that can improve clean cooking in informal settlements in Freetown, Sierra Leone. A total of up to £50,000 will be granted to one successful applicant to deliver high-quality, reliable, and affordable clean energy cooking products and services to households and/or micro-enterprises in Susan’s Bay in Freetown, Sierra Leone for up to 9 months from September 2021.

The lack of access to modern forms of energy not only inhibits the growth of economies in urban centres, especially in informal settlements where energy access is lowest, it also puts people at risk of fire disasters from open fires and illegal or faulty electrical connections. Recently, a blaze ripped through the overcrowded settlement of Susan’s Bay in Freetown, injuring hundreds and leaving thousands of people homeless. Decentralised, modern, and clean energy solutions can open new pathways for development and growth.

Funded by the UK Aid as part of its Transforming Energy Access (TEA) programme and implemented by ICLEI Africa, Energy 4 Impact, and the Carbon Trust, the ENACT project aims to create an enabling environment to improve energy security in Africa’s urban areas, with a focus on the urban poor living in informal settlements, by introducing market-led interventions for improved energy access. To find out more about the project, visit the website: ENACT | ICLEI Africa.

Objectives of the funding

ENACT’s funding is designed to create a market for companies or partnerships to implement locally viable, innovative, replicable, and scalable interventions that will improve access to clean cooking solutions (LPG, electric, biogas, and ethanol) for local communities, leading to improved health, social, and economic outcomes.

The funded intervention will contribute to the following core objectives of the ENACT project:

1. Increase access to high-quality and affordable clean cooking products and services for households and micro-enterprises in Freetown’s informal settlements and slums.
2. Improve reliability of supply of clean cooking products and services through innovative and relevant last-mile delivery and revenue models.
3. Raise awareness on the benefits of clean cooking for households and businesses.
4. Improve livelihoods and job opportunities, increase energy savings, and improve general wellbeing through the adoption of clean cooking products.
5. Strengthen partnerships between local governments, slum communities, and the private sector in the design, implementation, and monitoring of improved clean cooking access interventions in informal settlements and slums.
6. Empower women involved in productive use activities and in the clean cooking supply and delivery value chain.
7. Build evidence through data to demonstrate the effectiveness and the impact of the intervention.

Activities from the funded project will contribute to ENACT’s wider outcomes, which include improving access to clean cooking solutions to at least 1,500 households and micro-enterprises based in Susan’s Bay, Freetown, over the span of the project; and facilitating the creation of at least 300 jobs in the city, 30% of which will be within businesses owned and managed by women.

Application information

Please see below the documents related to this call for applications, which can be downloaded by clicking on the relevant document.  

• Terms of Reference
• Application form
• Application guidance
• The Transforming Energy Access (TEA) gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) vision and principles

Please submit your application and relevant supporting documents as an email attachment by 17:00 SAST 03 August 2021 to Ms. Carine Buma at enact.africa@iclei.org and copy Ms Mercy Rose at mercy.rose@energy4impact.org, using the email subject: “ENACT clean cooking call for proposals in Freetown”.