Resource information
The aim of the scoping study was to gain
an understanding of the productive activities slum dwellers
engage in that rely on energy services and the potentials
and challenges of slums in Ghana regarding access to modern
energy services and income generation from productive
activities. The objective of the ESMED-EAfUP (Energy Sector
Management Assistance Program - ESMAP/SME Development -
Energy Access for the Urban Poor) programme is 'to
create and sustain a network of energy practitioners to
support development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(MSME) as users and providers of modern energy services for
slum upgrading programs.'. Using ability to adopt safer
and modern energy forms as a criterion in assessing the
effective deployment of safer and modern energy forms, the
study concluded that the high propensity to save is an
opportunity for their deployment if they can be sensitized
about the benefits of using modern energy forms, which many
of the slum dwellers are not aware of. Most enterprise
owners could also capitalize on the credit policies of the
financial institutions they saved with to adopt the modern
energy forms. Lack of education and limited awareness about
the benefits of using clean, efficient and improved energy
forms were some of the reasons for the use of inefficient
and illegal energy forms among the slum dwellers. The study
recommends awareness creation among the slum dwellers about
the benefits of using legal, clean and efficient energy
forms in productive enterprises, which the Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGOs) can take up. A major benefit of this
study which is worth mentioning is the learning and sharing
that took place among the research team because apart from
the findings of this study that unraveled some relevant
information that many stakeholders working in the cities of
Ghana did not know about slums, there was also a lot of
sharing of experiences that took place.
