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The document analyzes Nigeria's economic contraction and subsequent recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the role of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and fiscal stimulus. It identifies critical gaps in social protection, gender-responsive policy, and fiscal buffers, while advocating for central bank independence and digital economy integration for long-term stability.

The document analyzes how COVID-19 and its containment measures slowed Uganda's GDP growth to 2.9% in FY2019/20, particularly impacting the services and industrial sectors. It details the government's expansionary responses, including reducing the central bank rate to 7%, providing tax relief to businesses, and implementing social safety nets like the Emyooga fund. While these measures stabilized the financial sector and protected some formal businesses, they contributed to a rise in public debt from $12.55 billion to $15.27 billion and increased external debt vulnerability. The paper concludes that approximately 3 million people fell into poverty due to the pandemic.

The document examines Tanzania's transition from socialist policies to a market-determined economy, noting a sustained GDP growth rate of 7% between 2010 and 2019. It analyzes how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted this growth, causing a decline in tourism and traditional exports, while highlighting that a 'business as usual' approach helped the country avoid a recession in 2020. The paper details fiscal and monetary interventions, such as increasing health spending and lowering discount rates, and recommends further macroprudential policies and social protection to support vulnerable populations and ensure a climate-resilient recovery.

Belgium prioritizes Central Africa, particularly the DRC, Rwanda, and Burundi, in its foreign policy, providing significant development aid and security support. The country maintains a strong economic partnership with South Africa, characterized by high trade volumes and foreign direct investment. While Belgium focuses on sustainable development and peace-making in the Great Lakes region, its broader Africa policy is selective, concentrating resources on a limited number of partner states.

The report details France's transition from a neo-colonial 'policeman' of francophone Africa to a more diversified continental strategy that prioritizes economic interests and partnerships with non-franc zone powers like South Africa. It examines the shift from direct military intervention to supporting African-owned peacekeeping, the contradictions in French development aid versus its Common Agricultural Policy, and the growth of bilateral trade and investment between France and South Africa.

The report examines macroeconomic resilience in 12 sub-Saharan African countries, focusing on the use of monetary and fiscal instruments to stabilise production and inflation cycles. It identifies commodity price downcycles as the most consistent trigger for economic crises and argues that currency regimes significantly influence a nation's ability to absorb shocks. The author develops the CoMPRA-MERI index to track resilience across seven dimensions: fiscal, monetary, external debt, trade, investment, governance, and human capital. Findings suggest that most countries exhibit procyclical outcomes due to structural constraints, though Uganda is noted as a successful exception in applying countercyclical tools. The report recommends trade diversification and a shift toward more flexible exchange rate regimes to enhance structural resilience.

The document analyzes the macroeconomic resilience of Uganda and Rwanda between 2000 and 2020, identifying five shared crisis periods triggered by exogenous shocks such as the global financial crisis, climate events, and the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines how these shocks transmitted through the economies—affecting export growth, inflation, and capital formation—and highlights the specific vulnerabilities of both nations, including reliance on foreign aid and agricultural productivity. The authors recommend increasing capital inflows, improving domestic revenue mobilization, enhancing agricultural productivity, and operationalizing climate change adaptation strategies to build future resilience.

The document examines the shift in India's Africa policy from Cold War-era support for anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggles to a modern approach centered on economic diplomacy and energy security. While India seeks to secure crude oil and LNG to fuel its projected economic growth, the author argues that its engagement remains 'development friendly' and 'Third Worldist,' evidenced by diversified trade, capacity-building initiatives, and multilateral cooperation through forums like IBSA.

The report examines the AfCFTA's potential to create a single market of 1.2 billion people and $2 trillion GDP, highlighting its goals to boost intra-African trade and harmonise trade governance. It details key investor considerations, including the continued relevance of Regional Economic Communities (RECs), tariff phase-down schedules, and the impact of non-tariff barriers and rules of origin. The document specifically analyses the Republic of Korea's trade and investment profile in Africa, noting a heavy reliance on natural resource imports and a relatively low FDI stock compared to other global powers. It suggests that Korean firms can find opportunities in manufacturing, digital transformation, and the use of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to enter the continent. Finally, it recommends that Korea enhance its 'aid for trade' initiatives, focusing on infrastructure project preparation and support for African SMEs to foster mutually beneficial relations.

The report details a research project in East and Southern Africa aimed at shifting the role of youth from passive recipients of policy to active architects of 'systemic justice'. Through a hybrid approach of participatory futures and action research, the project engaged youth innovators and changemakers to develop 'anticipatory praxis'—a method of combining strategic foresight with intentional action. The findings emphasize that systemic justice requires reimagining deep-rooted economic, ecological, and social structures, moving beyond simple job creation toward regenerative economies and inclusive governance. The report identifies key 'leverage points' for change, such as shifting cultural narratives and embracing iterative learning, and provides recommendations for funders, policymakers, and civil society to institutionalize youth co-governance and support futures literacy.

The document details SEforALL's five-outcome Theory of Change aimed at achieving SDG7 through gender-sensitive action, global commitments, policy standards, financial mobilization, and direct energy installations. It reports cumulative results including the leveraging of 3.6 billion USD directly and 2.7 billion USD indirectly for energy access and clean energy transitions.

The document highlights that over 3.2 billion people in 52 high-impact countries face cooling access challenges, with 1.05 billion at high risk. It advocates for a shift from equipment-based projections to a needs-based approach covering thermal comfort, food security, and healthcare. The report recommends national action plans, public-private partnerships, and targeted financing for the most vulnerable populations to ensure equitable access to sustainable cooling.

The document lists ten financing programs providing grants, seed funding, and technical assistance for renewable energy technologies. These programs target various stages of business development, from R&D and pilots to scaling and commercial expansion, primarily within African nations and other low-income or developing regions. Funding amounts vary significantly, ranging from small grants of US $15,000 to large-scale transition grants of up to US $15 million.

The G20 Energy Access Action Plan focuses its first phase on improving electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa, where approximately 620 million people lack power. The plan proposes six key areas for collaboration: policy and regulatory environments, technology deployment, investment and finance, capacity building, regional integration, and coordination. It emphasizes a flexible, voluntary approach that respects national sovereignty over energy mixes. The document also compiles 'good practice' case studies from G20 members—including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Singapore, and Turkey—and details specific international development projects in Africa led by the UK, France, Germany, and Italy, as well as the African Union's Geothermal Risk Mitigation Facility.

The report argues that electrification and clean cooking have historically been treated as separate sectors, leading to inefficient energy planning. It advocates for 'integrated energy planning' that leverages the synergies between electricity access and eCooking to accelerate the transition away from biomass. The document reviews various modelling approaches—including energy system planning, sub-sector planning, and geospatial energy access planning—and highlights the Integrated Clean Cooking Plan Tool (ICCPT) in Rwanda as a significant methodological advance. It also details the policy, financial, and data requirements necessary to operationalize these plans, such as eCooking tariffs, results-based financing, and digital monitoring, reporting and verification (dMRV) for carbon finance.

The report examines the 'gender-energy nexus' in the era of AI, highlighting how the digital gender divide and energy poverty disproportionately affect women. It identifies critical challenges, including gender bias in AI development, a deficit of sex-disaggregated energy data, and the risk of AI data centres diverting resources from low-income communities. The authors argue that while AI can optimize energy systems, its current development lacks gender diversity and funding for SDG5 (Gender Equality). The report recommends increasing women's representation in STEM, implementing gender-lens investing, and ensuring women are decision-makers in AI and energy policy to achieve a just transition.

The document serves as a career manual for students and young professionals entering the sustainable energy sector. It outlines various professional pathways—including engineering, policy, finance, and data science—and provides a detailed breakdown of the internal and external teams at SEforALL. The guide emphasizes the need for both technical STEM qualifications and soft skills like adaptability and communication to support the achievement of SDG7 and the Paris Agreement. It also details SEforALL's inclusive, remote recruitment process and its commitment to increasing the participation of women and youth in the green economy.

The audit report by Mazars Austria GmbH concludes that the financial statements of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) for the 2022 fiscal year were prepared in accordance with Austrian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and the Austrian Association Act. The organization's total assets grew significantly to $87.1 million from $26.5 million in 2021, primarily driven by an increase in donor income to $80.9 million. The auditors found no material weaknesses in internal controls and no substantial doubt regarding the organization's ability to continue as a going concern. Key expenditures in 2022 included $8.7 million for personnel, $6.6 million for consultancy fees supporting projects in Sierra Leone and Malawi, and $2.3 million for events and communications, including the SEforALL Forum in Kigali.

The report highlights a critical 'data deficit' in the energy sector, where the lack of sex-disaggregated data reinforces male-oriented policymaking and hinders the achievement of SDG7. It identifies systemic barriers to women's participation in the energy workforce—where they represent only 32% of the renewable energy sector—and the disproportionate impact of energy poverty on women and girls. The document provides a framework for designing gender indicators, emphasizing the need for both supply-side (employment/leadership) and demand-side (consumer preferences/household decision-making) metrics. It concludes with best practices for national policymakers, statistical offices, and international organizations to strengthen data capacity, particularly in low-income countries.

The study found that EPCs significantly displaced charcoal use, particularly for breakfast, and reduced mean charcoal consumption per capita per event by 30%. While the overall daily cost of cooking remained stable at approximately RWF 388 (USD 0.34), users experienced a median meal preparation time saving of 14 minutes. Most participants preferred monthly payment plans and reported high satisfaction, though the limitation of having only one cooking pot was a primary challenge.