The African Development Bank (AfDB) hosted and co-organized the Energy Week, a series of events, including high-level discussions and partnerships focusing on lighting up and powering Africa, and unlocking the continent's huge energy potential. The Energy Week ran from Monday, March 27 to Friday, March 31, 2017 in Abidjan. Events that took place during the Energy Week included a high-level workshop on energy access in West Africa, an Off-Grid Revolution expert consultation workshop and a SEforALL Africa workshop.

1. High-level workshop on energy access in West Africa:
   

   The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE) together with Smart Villages Initiative and the European Union Energy Initiative Partnership Dialogue Facility (EUEI PDF), hosted the "High-level workshop on energy access in West Africa" from March 27 to 28, 2017 in Abidjan. The workshop served as a kick-off event as part of a wider capacity-building engagement on clean energy mini-grids (CEMGs) in the ECOWAS region and provided relevant insights to the challenges facing countries in West Africa with regards to CEMGs. In addition, a core component of the workshop was an opportunity to reflect on, and consequently to refine, the conclusions and recommendations from the Smart Villages West Africa engagement programme. The objective was to communicate the experiences, views, and recommendations of front-line individuals and organisations to policymakers in West Africa on how off-grid energy access can be achieved so as to catalyse productive enterprises and the provision of essential services such as healthcare and education in rural villages.

2. Off-Grid Revolution Expert Consultation Workshop:
   

   The Bank Group's strategy for the New Deal on Energy for Africa, approved by the Board last year, took a holistic view of the sector's needs encompassing on-grid generation, transmission and distribution and distributed solutions, and set an aspirational target of universal access by 2025. To achieve the ambition of the New Deal, AfDB is developing a programmatic approach to accelerate investments in the off-grid sector where commercially-minded businesses are emerging, driven by innovations in digital finance and rapidly decreasing technology costs.
   The Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth Complex (PEVP) convened in a one-day workshop in Abidjan, to share expertise and support the development of a roadmap for enabling the Off-Grid Revolution. The workshop also aimed to agree on basic partnership arrangements across different stakeholder groups. Participants included leading and emerging businesses, country-representatives, civil society, Industry bodies, local financial institutions, key development partners, technology providers and impact investors.

3. 4th SEforALL Africa Workshop:
   

   The SEforALL Africa Hub hosted by the African Development Bank in partnership with the African Union Commission, the NEPAD Agency, UNDP, and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat (representing the Regional Economic Communities) and in collaboration with the SEforALL Global Facilitation Team organised the 4th Annual SEforALL Africa Workshop from March 29-30, 2017 in the CCIA building.
   The workshop reviewed the state of the advancement of SEforALL country action in Africa, and discussed how to accelerate the implementation and financing of the priorities identified in the SEforALL Action Agendas and Investment Prospectus under development in many African countries. The meeting also explored how to ensure a maximum degree of synergies with other key initiatives on the continent, including the Africa Renewable Energy initiative (AREI) and the New Deal on Energy for Africa. The event brought together African institutions, SEforALL focal points, development partners active in Africa, private sector and civil society representatives.