The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) is inviting research teams to submit policy research proposals in identified energy fields for its research grant programme that is being launched.

The identified fields include but is not limited to energy technologies, energy finance, energy economics, energy policy, energy and the environment/climate change, energy and development, energy law.

Teams will receive a grant amount of not more than €1500 to contribute to the formulation of evidence-based energy policies or strategies in the region.

The Research Grant Program is part of the ECOWAS initiative on Youth Leadership Development in Energy, which works to prepare the region’s young men and women to become globally competitive energy leaders in the future.

Aligned with the initiative’s objective, the research grant program aims to build and strengthen the capacity of young West Africans to contribute and participate actively in the energy discourse at the national and regional levels and, thus, ensure that the youth has a say in the way energy development is shaped in West Africa.

With the recent launch of the West African Energy Leaders Groups (a regional branch of the African Energy Leaders Group – AELG) under the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL), the goal is that the program will represent a knowledge generating body that contributes to the AELG’s core objectives by producing well-researched, academic papers to guide and inform economic and political decision-makers towards the transformation of the region’s energy sector.

The Program will, thus, support research teams with research proposals that are ambitious and innovative, and aimed at generating new knowledge for decision making.

ECREEE is inviting potential partners to join this initiative. These may include universities, private companies, corporate foundations, civil society organizations and professional associations.

The Centre has also announced that research papers would be published electronically on the ECOWAS Energy Journal and made available on the ECREEE e-library while researchers will be given the opportunity to share their findings and recommendations at conferences and workshops organized by ECREEE.

The Research Grant Program is supported by the ECOWAS Commission, the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC), the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID), the U.S National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Additional information on the call for proposal for the research grant program including the concept note for the ECOWAS initiative on Youth Leadership Development can be obtained at www.ecowgen.ecreee.org