SPARKNET organisation profile

Intermediate Technology Development Group - East Africa

Member

The ITDG-EA aims to improve livelihoods of the poor people in the East Africa by implementing projects, which generate direct benefits for disadvantaged men and women. ITDG-EA aims to build technical skills of poor people and enabling them to improve the quality of their lives and those of future generations. The programme sectors include - Energy, Rural Agriculture and Pastoralism, Transport and Manufacturing, Fund-raising and Marketing, Building Materials and Shelter Programmes.

Currently ITDG-EA, which has been active since the early 1980s, covers 10 districts in Kenya in various projects while offering development and consultancy services in East and Central Africa region. ITDG-EA has its regional administrative offices in Nairobi with field offices in Kisumu, Migori, Kajiado, Lodwar, Marsabit, Kathekani and Maralal. Energy projects are in West Kenya, Nairobi, Tanzania, Uganda and in some cases Southern Sudan covering community micro hydro power, low cost hurricane lamps, pico hydro power, indoor air pollution reduction, wind energy for nomadic peoples and biomass technologies.

The programme is the secretariat of the East Africa Energy Technology Development Network (EATDN), a network of energy organisations operating in East Africa. The network addresses energy issues in the East African region. The Secretariat is involved among other things in coordinating all activities in the area of energy for the network and in building a database of contacts of partners that are involved in household energy activities, conducts workshops, facilitates training and provides technical support to strengthen institutional capacity of local agencies involved in energy activities.

One of numerous energy projects implemented by ITDG-EA is the Household Energy Regional Project supported by the UK DFID. The project aimed to build the capacities of development organisations in the region (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania) to carry out household energy activities effectively and also to increase access to appropriate energy technology saving options for poor households in East Africa. The project also developed and introduced the Participatory Exploration of Options for Local Energy (PEOPLE) approach which actively involves the community in household energy decision-making processes. The project was carried out in partnership with over 25 development organizations. The project has shown that continuous and co-ordinated supply of information and training through partners is an effective avenue for reaching poor communities. The project activities also showed that interaction between government and NGO on the regional basis is conducive for policy shift. With the support of EU co-financing the project has been extended to 2003 through networking activities.

Organisation contacts

	name	surname	city	country
Ms.	Lydia	Muchiri	Nairobi	Kenya	view
Mr.	Partrick	Balla	Nairobi	Kenya	view