PPIAF

June 5, 2008

The slogan for this year's World Environment Day is "Kick the Habit! Towards a Low Carbon Economy." Events will highlight resources and initiatives that promote low carbon economies and life-styles, such as improved energy efficiency, alternative energy sources, forest conservation, and eco-friendly consumption.

May 5-8, 2008

Lighting Africa is holding its first global business conference on off-grid lighting in Africa, in Accra, Ghana, May 5-8 2008. The program includes announcement of the Development Marketplace winners, opportunities to establish business partnerships, and more.

More than 400 proposals have been received for implementation in 38 African countries. Proposals are now being reviewed to identify the finalists who will be invited to participate in the final Development Marketplace competition. For more information visit the Lighting Africa Web site here.

April 24-25, 2008; Accra Ghana

A two day course on “Introduction to Public Transport Reform and Planning" developed with support from the Public Private Infrastructure Assistance Facility (PPIAF), will be offered in Accra April 2008. The course provides a basic overview of the key policy, technical and institutional aspects of public transport, with emphasis on public transport “industry” reform and service and operations planning. To date, the course has been given in Washington (last year as a pilot), Indore, India, Urumqi, China, Bogota, Colombia, Rabat, Morocco and Manila, with other sessions planned in Jordan, China and Pakistan next fiscal year.

The Presentation from the workshop that was held in Morocco is available here.

April 16-18, 2008

The conference is jointly organised the Government of Senegal, the African Union, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to mobilise leadership and commitment by high-level decision makers to market based approaches to scaling up the use renewable energy in Africa so as to increase access to modern energy services and support sustainable industrial growth.

More details are available here.

April 14-19, 2008

The Commonwealth Secretariat, Asian Development Bank and the Bond University will hold a Pacific PPP Training on April 14-19, 2008 in Gold Coast, Australia. The training aims to enhance the capacity of Pacific island nations in harnessing the potential of private sector participation in infrastructure. It will provide participants an introduction to PPP planning, prioritization, project development and finance, and risk management in the context of the unique challenges (e.g., diseconomies of scale, remoteness and other geographic characteristics) that these small island nations face in infrastructure service delivery.

March 31 - April 4, 2008

This PPIAF-supported conference, to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, will equip policy makers will the tools to effectivley address the concerns of stakeholders while implementing reforms and facilitating private sector participation in infrastructure sectors.

March 27-28, 2008

PPIAF will be represented at a conference on Electricity in Africa in Brussels, Belgium sponsored by the Union of African Power Utilities, UPEDA. The conference will review the results of a study on institutional reforms performed in the African power sector over more than 18 years.

March 24-25, 2008

This PPIAF-supported conference in Lahore, Pakistan aims to support solid waste management and water and sanitation services, educating government officials through presentations of experts, interactive dialogue, and personal consultations

March 20, 2008

World Water Day celebrations for 2008, lead by the United Nations, will highlight issues on sanitation in accordance with the International Year of Sanitation 2008. People around the world are encouraged to celebrate the day to draw attention to the world’s sanitation challenge.

February 18-20, 2008, Durban, South Africa
The AfricaSan + 5 Conference is the second African Conference on Sanitation and Hygiene, instrumental in accelerating sanitation and hygiene work in Africa towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and the aims of The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). The conference will focus on the scale of Africa’s sanitation challenge, building knowledge partnerships, safeguarding public health and the environment, sector leadership and institutional accountability, financing and scaling up sustainable sanitation.

February 15-17, 2008

The meeting will be held in Durban, South Africa, organized by the Water Resource Commission ( South Africa) and GTZ. The meeting is planned to monitor progress of the working groups and other activities of the SuSanA, and update and coordinate the commitments of the partners. The Meeting is open for all who want to actively contribute to the aims of the SuSanA. For more information on the conference here.