Minutes : Mining-Energy Nexus Workshop 2024

The workshop on electrifying Decentralized Territorial Entities (ETDs) benefiting from mining royalties highlighted the significant potential of these revenues to finance access to electricity for local communities, as well as the many obstacles limiting their effective use.

Despite legal progress and available funding, discussions pointed to persistent challenges, including weak coordination between institutions, lack of transparency in fund management, and limited technical capacity at the local level. Participants also stressed the low level of private sector engagement, due to an unattractive investment environment and burdensome administrative procedures.

The workshop’s conclusions converge around several key priorities: strengthening transparency and financial autonomy of ETDs, clarifying responsibilities across levels of governance, and simplifying procedures to accelerate project implementation. Participants also recommended prioritizing energy solutions adapted to local realities—particularly solar mini-grids—and fostering partnerships between public actors, the private sector, and communities. Finally, they emphasized the importance of planning, local capacity building, and integrating electrification into territorial development strategies as essential conditions for achieving lasting impact.

The minutes of the workshop are only available in French.