Shire Alliance projects Access to energy for refugees and
refugee population and host communities

Shire Alliance projects Access
to energy for refugees and refugee
population and host communities

New Community Services

Network Connections

Energy Solutions
for Refugee Camps

Transforming Lives in Adi-Harush

The first experience of the Alliance took place in the Shire refugee camps in northern Ethiopia, where feasibility studies were developed for different energy solutions (indoor lighting, outdoor lighting, biogas for cooking, etc.) for four camps, which materialised in a pilot project in the Adi-Harush refugee camp in Shire, northern Ethiopia, where more than 8,000 Eritrean refugees, many of them unaccompanied minors, were living.

The problems of access to energy in Adi-Harush were numerous. Grid-generated electricity supply was extremely irregular and dangerous due to the poor quality of the facilities.

Addressing Security and
Environmental Challenges

An Integrated Approach to Security and the Environment

In addition, the lack of security in the camps together with the lack of lighting at night added dangers to the camp dwellers, e.g. women and girls in charge of collecting firewood for cooking had to walk longer distances, exposing them to security risks and gender-based violence.

On the other hand, the burning of firewood for cooking and diesel for electricity generation (which is also expensive) led to environmental degradation due to deforestation of the surrounding area and the emission of greenhouse gases.

Extension of electricity network, communal services and street lighting

The project focused on the improvement and extension of the electricity network in this camp, the connection to communal services such as the primary school, two communal kitchens or the markets hosting 36 small businesses and the installation of protection devices and rehabilitation of equipment in the communal services.

In addition, 63 LED luminaires were installed as street lighting covering a distance of more than 4 km.

The results of this intervention have been very positive. It has considerably improved people’s lives and security conditions in the refugee camp, improving the natural living environment by reducing firewood collection and CO2 emissions.

Energy Solutions for Refugee Camps

Transforming Lives in Adi-Harush

The first experience of the Alliance took place in the Shire refugee camps in northern Ethiopia, where feasibility studies were developed for different energy solutions (indoor lighting, outdoor lighting, biogas for cooking, etc.) for four camps, which materialised in a pilot project in the Adi-Harush refugee camp in Shire, northern Ethiopia, where more than 8,000 Eritrean refugees, many of them unaccompanied minors, were living.

The problems of access to energy in Adi-Harush were numerous. Grid-generated electricity supply was extremely irregular and dangerous due to the poor quality of the facilities.

Addressing Security and Environmental Challenges

An Integrated Approach to Security and the Environment

In addition, the lack of security in the camps together with the lack of lighting at night added dangers to the camp dwellers, e.g. women and girls in charge of collecting firewood for cooking had to walk longer distances, exposing them to security risks and gender-based violence.

On the other hand, the burning of firewood for cooking and diesel for electricity generation (which is also expensive) led to environmental degradation due to deforestation of the surrounding area and the emission of greenhouse gases.

Extension of electricity network, communal services and street lighting

The project focused on the improvement and extension of the electricity network in this camp, the connection to communal services such as the primary school, two communal kitchens or the markets hosting 36 small businesses and the installation of protection devices and rehabilitation of equipment in the communal services.

In addition, 63 LED luminaires were installed as street lighting covering a distance of more than 4 km.

The results of this intervention have been very positive. It has considerably improved people’s lives and security conditions in the refugee camp, improving the natural living environment by reducing firewood collection and CO2 emissions.

Empowerment and Sustainability

An Economic and Social Approach in Refugee Camps

Empowerment and Sustainability

An Economic and Social
Approach in Refugee Camps

Designing New Solutions

The Alliance’s current project is in Dollo Ado, located in southeastern Ethiopia, which has the second largest concentration of refugees in Africa.

Around 200,000 people are registered in the Dollo Ado refugee camps (according to UNHCR data for 2018), spread across the six camps: Dollo Ado, Buramino, Bokolmanyo, Helaweyn, Kobe and Melkadida.

The names of the refugee camps also correspond to the host communities located nearby, with all these refugee and host communities belonging to two Woredas (local administrative government): Dollo Ado and Bokolmanyo.

Due to the limited access to energy in the refugee camps and host communities, the Shire Alliance will provide sustainable energy solutions to respond to two distinct needs:

  • On the one hand, health facilities, offices of humanitarian institutions and communal services such as street lighting lack secure energy from renewable sources, as many of them rely heavily on diesel generators. A sustainable solution based on solar technology adapted to the humanitarian context will therefore be designed to respond to this demand.
  • On the other hand, a market-based model will be implemented to provide electricity at the household level to both communities, taking into account the lack of access to this service when houses are widely dispersed and far from electricity connection points through solar home systems. The market-based model will foster the local market and entrepreneurship, enhancing the creation of livelihoods in the communities.

Both solutions will be co-designed and co-created with communities to become producers and consumers at the same time, fostering the creation of new enterprises or retail businesses while building management and technical capacities so that the solutions can be sustained over time and become self-sustaining.

Implementing partners:
Implementing partners:

 
 

Collaborating partner:

 

Collaborating partner: