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On December 5-7, 2000, the World Bank, in conjunction with ESMAP, the US Agency for International Development, the US Department of Energy, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Winrock International and several private firms hosted the eighth Village Power Conference. This event brought together over 600 international participants from 60 countries to share lessons leaned, best practices and new approaches for meeting rural energy needs.
A key outcome of this event was a Village Power Communiqué that was endorsed by over 30 organizational participants. The Communiqué called for a decade of progress to provide modern energy access to those unserved --particularly among the poorer and marginalized members of society –-as a means of accelerating rural development and alleviating poverty. The Communiqué called for a partnership based on proven technologies and institutional approaches that are sustainable and engage the private sector. The Communiqué also set forth expected outcomes seeking to contribute to the Millennium Development Goals (then referred to as the International Development Targets), which have since been revised and expanded as noted under 'our services: desired outcomes':
* 30 countries with national scale village energy programs,
* 300 million people previously unserved with modern energy access,
* over 50,000 new community systems installed (schools, hospitals, clinics), and
* documented improvements in productivity, income, environment and quality of life.
After the Village Power 2000 Conference, numerous organizations including the World Bank, UNDP, ESMAP, bilateral donors, NREL, Winrock and private firms worked in collaboration to “operationalize” the Communiqué and put in place a 10 year implementation-based program to increase modern energy access. These groups have also since signed on as GVEP partners, along with several hundred other organizations. An E-Village Consultation involving over 100 organizations worldwide, as well as several meetings and stakeholder dialogues were conducted to gain input on the goals, objectives, work program and value added of the Partnership. These consultations helped fine tune the GVEP service lines that exist today.
Village Power was renamed the Global Village Energy Partnership in recognition that modern energy services are more than electricity, and include heating, cooling, and very importantly, cooking. ESMAP was established as the Interim Technical Secretariat to coordinate, broker and facilitate Partnership activities (the position was confirmed in September 2002, and ESMAP has been serving as the full-fledged Secretariat since then). And, partner organizations agreed that the Global Village Energy Partnership should be launched as a Type 2 Initiative at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa, along with over 30 other Partnerships dedicated to energy. The launch took place on August 31, 2002. Further details on the launch are discussed in the first GVEP Technical Secretariat Update. Subsequent Updates from the Secretariat are featured below. For additional information on how the partnership operates see the Governance and Contact Us, which includes a Technical Secretariat staff list, and WSSD Partnerships, which describes how GVEP works with other energy Partnerships launched at WSSD.
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Sustainable
Resources 2004 > Sponsors
