an affordable and sustainable supply of energy is a critical pre-requisite to rural development. while enabling rural economies to diversity and encourage the development of alternativo carriers has contributed to a number of environmental problems including; deforestation, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity. The first of a series of planned two-day seminars, under the auspices of AFREPREN and its donors - Sida/SAREC, was conducted in Eritrea from 2-3 November 2000 on Renewables and Energy for Rural Development. The most important outcome of the seminar was the awareness-raising and the enhanced commitments by all stakeholders to the common goals of providing energy to rural households and enterprises. The consensus reached at the seminar was that the existing government policy focuses mainly on the power, the oil and renewable energy sub-sectors. However, appropriate policy instruments that specifically address rural energy provisions are still lacking. It came to the fore that there is a dearth of appropriate institutional structures at regional administration levels. The participants of the seminar further identified the existence of resources and experiences in micro-financing, which could be easily extended to the expansion of modern energy services in rural areas. To reverse this situation, it was recommended that the Department of Energy should establish a Project Management Unit to co-ordinate rural energy projects, and the filling of the energy offices under the existing structure of the Economic Departments in the Regional Administrations.

an affordable and sustainable supply of energy is a critical pre-requisite to rural development. while enabling rural economies to diversity and encourage the development of alternativo carriers has contributed to a number of environmental problems including; deforestation, soil erosion, loss of biodiversity. The first of a series of planned two-day seminars, under the auspices of AFREPREN and its donors - Sida/SAREC, was conducted in Eritrea from 2-3 November 2000 on Renewables and Energy for Rural Development. The most important outcome of the seminar was the awareness-raising and the enhanced commitments by all stakeholders to the common goals of providing energy to rural households and enterprises. The consensus reached at the seminar was that the existing government policy focuses mainly on the power, the oil and renewable energy sub-sectors. However, appropriate policy instruments that specifically address rural energy provisions are still lacking. It came to the fore that there is a dearth of appropriate institutional structures at regional administration levels. The participants of the seminar further identified the existence of resources and experiences in micro-financing, which could be easily extended to the expansion of modern energy services in rural areas. To reverse this situation, it was recommended that the Department of Energy should establish a Project Management Unit to co-ordinate rural energy projects, and the filling of the energy offices under the existing structure of the Economic Departments in the Regional Administrations.