Our Pillars

Powering Opportunity

To drive lasting change, we must ensure communities have what they need to use energy to prosper and thrive.

The challenge and opportunity

1.2 billion young people will reach working age this decade. But current trends suggest the world will create only 420 million jobs. In emerging economies, small businesses – farmers, young entrepreneurs, women-led enterprises – form the backbone of job creation and economic growth. But even as energy access expands, high costs, unreliable supply and lack of tools and resources prevent many from turning access into jobs and opportunity.

Energy delivers the greatest return when we look beyond connections to how and where electricity is used. When it is integrated into every sector – agriculture, manufacturing, water systems, healthcare, education and beyond – and deployed alongside the tools, training and finance that enables people to use power productively, energy can help address the global jobs crisis and improve millions of lives. By taking this systems approach, we can create millions of jobs and improve the quality of millions more.

This is how infrastructure becomes economically viable, markets become self-sustaining, energy becomes opportunity, and lasting change takes hold.

 
Powering Opportunity Overview

A powerful foundation

Explore a selection of our projects around the world.

The Haiti solar mesh grids program is bringing energy to 10,000 homes and businesses, with a pipeline to reach 25,000 more.

Haiti solar mesh grids
A female entrepreneur smiling at the camera while working in her kitchen.

The Powering Development and Economic Resilience program will expand focus of Brazil’s rural electrification program beyond access to opportunity, strengthening 875,000 livelihoods in the Amazon.

The Powering Development and Economic Resilience
Woman entrepreneur opens bag for woman client.

The $12.6 million Productive Use Financing Facility enables small businesses in six African countries to access tools like fridges, mills and electric pumps. The program builds off a two-year pilot that helped 58,000 households

Productive Use Financing Facility
a woman standing by her shop

In Nigeria, the Energizing Agriculture Programme delivers productive energy and tools to farmers and other food producers, putting us on track to create or improve 150,000 jobs.

Energizing Agriculture Programme

The $12.6 million Productive Use Financing Facility enables small businesses in six African countries to access tools like fridges, mills and electric pumps. The program builds off a two-year pilot that helped 58,000 households

Productive Use Financing Facility

The $12.6 million Productive Use Financing Facility enables small businesses in six African countries to access tools like fridges, mills and electric pumps. The program builds off a two-year pilot that helped 58,000 households

Productive Use Financing Facility

In Kenya, the Clean Energy Solutions for Women project pilots local bank financing to deliver productive tools to 3000+ women entrepreneurs.

Clean Energy Solutions for Women

The $12.6 million Productive Use Financing Facility enables small businesses in six African countries to access tools like fridges, mills and electric pumps. The program builds off a two-year pilot that helped 58,000 households.

Productive Use Financing Facility

In India, the Decentralized Renewable Energy for Women’s Economic Empowerment program empowers 10,000 rural businesses with energyenabled equipment. Plans to scale across five more states, enabling at least 500,000 jobs.

Decentralized Renewable Energy for Women’s Economic Empowerment program

The Alliance is enabling public–private-philanthropic partnerships for the scale up of renewable energy access in remote islands across Indonesia, driving e-mobility solutions, and showcasing productive uses of energy to communities.

Sun to Sea initiative

In Nigeria and Ethiopia, the Energizing Women and Youth in Agri-Food Systems program supports 17,000 women entrepreneurs with productive tools and training to grow incomes and create jobs.

Energizing Women and Youth in Agri-Food Systems

In Nigeria and Ethiopia, the Energizing Women and Youth in Agri-Food Systems program supports 17,000 women entrepreneurs with productive tools and training to grow incomes and create jobs.

Energizing Women and Youth in Agri-Food Systems

The $12.6 million Productive Use Financing Facility enables small businesses in six African countries to access tools like fridges, mills and electric pumps. The program builds off a two-year pilot that helped 58,000 households grow incomes by an average of 94%.

Productive Use Financing Facility

New case study series

  • Case study: Transforming Nigeria’s energy system
    Read More

    • The pathway to scale

    With programs delivering impact worldwide, we now need a platform that facilitates collaboration, coordinates large scale investments, reduces fragmentation and takes this progress to scale.

    The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet invites partners to help design and build a Powering Opportunity Coalition that unites governments, funders, developers, businesses and community-based organizations to mobilize resources and drive progress in countries and regions where conditions are ripe for systems-wide change. The Coalition will build country and regional alliances to co-create scalable solutions, supported by strong intelligence, innovation and financing.

    Together, these country-led programs will devise strategic, context-specific solutions built on shared learnings and best practices across geographies.

    Using this coalition-driven approach, we will transform isolated projects into coordinated, self-sustaining, systems-level action. Together we will harness the power of electricity to create and improve millions of jobs and unlock inclusive, sustainable economic growth at scale.

    Powering opportunity in action