A national two-day workshop to strengthen the capacities of local elected officials for better consideration of territorial issues in the implementation of the Partnership for a Just Energy Transition (JETP) in Senegal is being organized on May 28 and 29, 2025, in Dakar by CRADESC, in partnership with The African Climate Foundation (ACF) and the National Network of Local Elected Officials for Climate Change.
Committed to a fair energy transition, the CRADESC continues to hold capacity-building sessions for non-state actors targeting local elected officials, convinced that a fair energy transition must promote local ownership by local actors in order to reduce territorial inequalities.
The challenges are enormous and encompass governance, competence, financing, and vision, according to CRADESC, which also believes that the energy transition cannot be imagined in Senegal without effectively considering local realities, economic vulnerabilities, and the expectations of the population.
This is why this workshop presents itself, for the Executive Director, Dr. Fatima DIALLO, as “a call for the recognition of local authorities as key players in the JETP; to equip local elected officials with tools for understanding, planning, and action in matters of energy, environment, and local development; for the firm and sincere inclusion of territorial issues in national energy transition policies.
“Local authorities, as strategic intermediaries between the state and citizens, position themselves as indispensable strategic actors, hence the need to address all the challenges, which also include “the inclusion of energy transition in territorial planning as well as participatory governance,” emphasized the country representative of the African Climate Foundation (ACF), Lamine CISSE.
Indeed, this capacity-building workshop, as well as an experience-sharing platform, provides the tools, knowledge, and vision necessary for elected officials to fully integrate territorial issues into the implementation of the JETP.
The Representative of the President of the Association of Mayors of Senegal and Mayor of Sansamba (Sédhiou department) confirms this need to equip local elected officials. Mr. Ousmane BADJI states that “the energy transition cannot succeed without the active involvement of local elected officials” and that their “mobilization today is an obligation” as a “natural link between the central government and citizens.”
Also present are representatives from the Ministry of Energy, Oil and Mines, the Ministry of Environment and Ecological Transition, the Ministry of Agriculture, local authorities, the Network of Local Elected Officials for Climate Justice, civil society organizations, SMEs, economic operators, academic and research institutions, technical and financial partners, and the media.
This session is the second after the community forum on the social appropriation of the JETP held on May 22, 2025, in the Saint-Louis region. Read here : Energy transition : Challenges and perspectives for the Saint-Louis region at the heart of a community forum – CRADESC
