Project between OLADE-Government of Canada: beginning of a new phase of cooperation

On May 15 and 16 it was held in Quito the first working meeting of the delegations of OLADE and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) that make up the Steering Committee of the project on  “Sustainable Energy for Latin America and the Caribbean”, which began on April 2, to be implemented for six years, with with financial assistance estimated in 9.2 million Canadian Dollars.

It is worth mentioning that the Canadian cooperation has played an important role in the implementation of OLADE's projects since 1996, under an agreement signed between OLADE and the University of Calgary, for the implementation of the “Master Programme on Energy and Environment, Workshop on Environmental Training and Compilation of Environmental Laws in Latin America and the Caribbean”, which concluded in December 2002.

Then, they implemented a new project for the period 2003 - 2011, which resulted in several achievements in areas such as education, training, energy systems in indigenous communities, regional technical capacity, energy planning, energy and climate change and sub-regionalization of OLADE.

The objective of the new project “Access to Sustainable Energy for Latin America and the Caribbean” is to increase access of the Latin America and the Caribbean population of to  achievable sustainable energy to stimulate economic growth and reduce poverty levels.

The project will be developed in two main subject areas (clusters):

1. Energy Planning, Integration and Governance:

• Capacity Building in Energy Planning
• Strengthening of Sub-regional energy integration and enhancement of Access to Energy Markets
• Energy Governance: Mechanisms of Small Country Assistance for Regulation and Policy Development
• Improved Access to Electricity by the Network
• Programmatic CDM and other mechanisms to mitigate climate change
• Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change in the Energy Sector
• Training Program (CAPEV) and Technical Network
• Executive Development Program in Energy Planning

2. Social and Environmental Aspects

• Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
• Implementation of CSR in Rural Energy Systems in Isolated Areas
• Development of Gender Equity in Decision Making in the Energy sector and the Energy Access
• Certificate course on Energy and Social Issues

During the meetings held recently in Quito, the main guidelines of the Implementation Plan of the Project and Work Plan for 2012 and 2013 (until March) were discussed and agreed.