A collaboration between UK and Colombian partners aiming to alleviate poverty and encourage social and economic development through sustainable energy access.

Access to modern energy services is increasingly recognised as a crucial factor in poverty alleviation, as evidenced by the launch in 2011 of the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative (UN SE4ALL 2015) and the Sustainable Development Goals (UN 2014). The promotion of renewable energy technologies is a key part of this drive, since it addresses all three facets of the global energy trilemma: energy access, climate change, and energy security.

The research project engaged with Colombia and UK energy access and innovation communities to improve livelihoods and enable sustainable energy access in the Pacific coast of Colombia. The project ran a range of collaborative activities such as:

• Holding workshops
• Building capacity
• Accompanying energy systems implementation
• Collecting and analysing data
• Discussing existing survey information
• Undertaking fieldwork in Chocó
  
• Assessing new policy, and expanding institutional links between the two countries.