The Community Power from Mobile (CPM) programme is a proud participant in the Global Lighting and Energy Access Partnership (Global LEAP) – an initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy, the World Bank, TERI, and the United Nations Foundation, in support of the UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Energy for All Initiative.

Global LEAP is a voluntary forum that brings together governments, the private sector, and development partners to share knowledge and best practices under a set of commonly-held principles to encourage self-sustaining commercial markets for energy access solutions. Global LEAP supports development of sustainable markets for safe, affordable, and modern off-grid lighting for underserved populations.

CPM will contribute with insight and case studies from our work with the mobile industry to enable better community energy access, utilising its physical and human infrastructure and technologies. The global convergence of increasing GSM network coverage, mobile handset ownership, mobile payments and smart technologies offer new pathways to achieve reliable energy access. Mobile operators are in a distinctive position to contribute to the reduction of the energy divide, by partnering with micro-utility service providers and create innovative business models to empower underserved communities.

Actions of the Partnership will include assessing off-grid lighting products, providing a quality-assurance framework and supporting mini-grid development. We will keep you updated on outputs and discussions through our blog.