Approaches to clean energy provision city (systems) level

local power brokers, and community-based organisations should be engaged in the design and implementation of interventions. This is particularly important in places where there is low trust towards the local government, private actors, or other “external” actors. • Use anchor clients, such as local business, organisations, and institutions, and explore solutions for selling excess electricity back to the city grid and expanding local provision to industries. • Use electricity access as leverage to address other

challenges such as precarious tenure or lack of

clean water. An example from Amman highlights the potential to use solar power to improve tenure security for displaced persons.14 In Lebanon, the Shelter Working Group has used housing upgrading schemes to secure rental agreements for refugees. This could potentially be expanded on to incorporate renewable energy systems. • Identify and seek to mitigate cultural barriers for clean energy solutions. Cultural practices important for the success or failure of interventions, both on a country and regional level and between rural and urban areas, must be accounted for. Displaced persons and migrants carry with them cultural practices to the place they go that may differ from the host population. This is important to understand in order to address needs and vulnerabilities. • Improve and streamline assessments to capture

and increase impact of interventions to understand

what works and what does not. Currently there is

“no real mechanism” for incorporating the human factor in impact assessments to justify why and how clean energy transition is a good investment and will improve people’s well-being.

Approaches to clean energy provision at city and systems level

Complex urban crises settings require attention to both sub-city levels and the broader city and systems levels. While the impact of shocks, such as flash floods, hurricanes, or the explosion in Beirut, is most noticeable in physically affected neighbourhoods, economic and political repercussions manifest on a city (and country) level. Broken and disrupted value chains and economic activities are not necessarily located within residential neighbourhoods targeted for assistance, using for example area-based or neighbourhood profiling to guide interventions. The halt in economic activities and loss of livelihoods has ramifications for people residing in the city at large, as well as connected rural areas. Either through the loss of activities in value-chains

14 NRC implemented water heating system with rental contracts for refugees. For more information see NRC, Green energy for Syrian refugees. Available at: https://www.nrc.no/news/2016/juni/ jordan-renewable-energy-project/ (e.g., food production), or as people living in rural areas commute to work in the city. To ensure that immediate response contributes towards recovery and resilience in the medium- and longer-term it is therefore necessary to think at a larger scale and with a longer horizon from the onset of the crisis.

The interconnectedness of functions and reliance on income generating activities in urban settings makes it vital to target systems in urban recovery efforts to address the needs of the most vulnerable. With limited resources to respond (both strained government budgets and limited donor funding) this requires new ways of thinking and market-based solutions. It further necessitates to balance and prioritise investments and interventions between immediate or short-term support at household and community levels and interventions with potential transformative effect on recovery and longer-term poverty reduction.

In the below, consideration to guide interventions in urban crises settings at the city level is presented. Here, interventions will generally target local governments.

Considerations and principles to guide interventions at city level

• Promote a shared understanding of needs

and opportunities for different actors using comprehensive city level analysis and response planning in line with adopted approaches for urban crises response. • Anchor interventions with local governments.

Bolster municipal information systems with a focus on cross-sectoral and spatial analysis to create awareness and understanding of energy systems and solutions at the municipality level. Identify the effectiveness of local authorities and why innovations are possible in some areas of the country, and others not. Explore options for municipalities to identify, lease, or borrowing land for clean energy solutions. • Analyse and segregate the market to reach different population groups through different channels. Often options are available for middle class, while the (free) market does not cater to poorer population segments. • Apply punctual, strategic interventions for

selected value chains with growth potential and

target composite needs. Promote ways of creating job opportunities for target populations when implementing solutions such as street lighting, water, heat and cooling deficiencies, and health services. • Strengthening of value chains and rural-urban market linkages. Improve transportation and storage of goods that require cooling. • Integrate energy solutions in redevelopment processes. In the case of Lebanon, and Beirut specifically, the reconstruction of central areas of the city can be an opportunity to integrate clean energy. In the case of Nairobi, there is high