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In the 21st century, access to energy is considered a basic human right, but one we tend to take for granted – until it is no longer there. January 2008 will go down in South Africa’s history as an example of what happens when energy needs are ignored and planning for the future is not taken seriously enough.

For the first time, the issue of accessible, reliable energy was brought home in a very real and personal way for 40 million South Africans, whose daily lives continue to be severely disrupted, as does South Africa’s business sector. The economic impact of this power crisis has yet to be fully measured – both now and into the future.

The question on many peoples’ minds is why? Why now? Why was there no warning? Why were we – the public, so in the dark about the looming energy crisis?

Almost a decade ago the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) alerted governments across southern Africa about the need to increase the region’s energy infrastructure to avert a looming crisis across the region and to sustain the economic growth and development of the region’s national economies. Since then, little has been done to practically address this pressing need.

Even more disturbing is the knowledge that the looming energy crisis affects not just South Africa but the whole region. The current power shortages do not bode well for the economic, social, and political development of southern Africa as a whole - particularly plans to attract international investment, improve the regional trade environment, reduce unemployment and achieve the Millennium Development Goal of halving the number of people living in poverty by 2015.ks

The Energy Crisis

Reliable and equitable access to energy is an issue that the Southern Africa Trust has been looking at, as it has a direct impact on overcoming poverty.

In the last quarter of 2007 – as South Africa plunged into its energy crisis - the Southern Africa Trust ’s Regional Poverty Observatory* produced a policy brief “Building Bridges Out of Poverty”, that investigated the Southern Africa Development Community’s (SADC) plans to increase the region’s energy capacity, improve transportation links and conserve regional water resources.

Some of the critical issues identified by the policy brief were:

* The need for better regional energy, water, and transport infrastructure planning;

* The already congested energy framework;

* The need for countries to think regionally rather than nationally, in addressing the energy crisis;

* The impact on meeting poverty reduction goals;

* The policy obstacles to delivering a sufficient and equitable supply of energy, water, and transport; and

* The late reactions and responses by politicians, when experts warned them about looming problems.

All these issues are being highlighted in the current public debate on the energy crisis.

One of the major reasons for the current energy crisis is that SADC is struggling to attract and increase investment for both electrical generation and transmission infrastructure.

More creative and innovative approaches that encourage private and multi-lateral financ-ing partners are needed.

The policy brief recommends a variety of financing possibilities but does point out that one of the stumbling blocks to resource mobilization for regional cross-border infrastructure projects, is the absence of institutional and legal capacity in the SADC secretariat to harness the full potential of development finance institutions, the private sector and the international community, to invest in regional infrastructure projects that can benefit all people in the region, especially the poor.

This policy gap can and must be addressed, either by empowering creditworthy national development finance institutions, establishing a regional development finance institution, or by strengthening the balance sheet of the SADC secretariat. To read the full Policy Brief, go to www.southernafricatrust.org

Reality Byte:

We currently have five main themes addressing the poverty dimensions of regional integration that we believe are crucial to overcoming poverty in the region:

* Migration and social protection

* Finance, trade, investment, and growth

* Natural resource management, food security and livelihoods

* Models for inclusive policy development

* The state of civic organisation

We work to overcome poverty in two main ways:

Grant making through the Grants Facility:

The Trust’s grants facility finances civil society organisations in all SADC countries, who work to improve efforts to overcome poverty in one of the areas mentioned above.

Learning and linking for better results in overcoming poverty through the Regional Policy Observatory (RPO): The Southern Africa Trust’s Regional Poverty Observatory (RPO) analyses development issues that impact on citizens of the SADC region, to bridge the knowledge gap between governmental and non-governmental organizations on the one hand, and researchers, policy makers, and practitioners on the other, with a focus on overcoming poverty. It actively links up the key interest groups to generate better engagement and learning to improve poverty reduction results.11

For more information on what we do, please visit www.southernafricatrust.org

Reality Byte:

E Newsletter : Issue 2 ,March 2008

The lack of adequate electricity will have catastrophic consequences:

* Jobs are lost as businesses either close down or put expansion plans on hold

* Housing development and construction is curtailed, resulting particularly in poor people continuing to live in shacks and informal settlements

Bio Fuels – SADC’s answer to black-outs?

With the intermittent power issues faced by southern Africa, the idea of bio fuel production is one that has sparked much interest and debate in the region as a form of renewable energy that might put less pressure on conventional energy sources.

We are pleased to announce a new grant of CAD4,6 million over two years from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Thanks to our festive season campaign partners: Mail & Guardian, M&G online, GivenGain.com and TBWA / Hunt Lascaris

News from the Southern Africa Trust

Whilst there is a high level of official commitment to meet the Millennium Development Goals and overcome poverty by governments, regional or-ganisations such as SADC and the African Union’s (AU) New Partnership for Africa’s Devel-opment (NEPAD), there re-mains a critical lack of partici-pation by civil society organi-zations and business in the development and implementa-tion of strategies that will make a definite impact to overcome poverty in the region.

How we work

Giving online

Neville grew up in Durban and completed his education at the universities of Cape Town and Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal). He previously coordinated human rights and public policy advocacy work for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference before joining Oxfam as an advisor. He has been involved in building civil society campaigns such as Jubilee 2000 and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, and has served as a non-executive director of several civil society organisations.

He is passionate about ending poverty in southern Africa. “If only we could all pull together towards that common objective, it is very possible,” he says.

When not heading up the Southern Africa Trust, Neville can be found trying to keep up with reading for the book club he belongs too . . . although those who work with him say it’s unlikely that he gets to do much else.

Meet the Team

Get Involved

An end to poverty needs the support of people like you who share our vision. It’s amazing how much can be achieved with just a small amount of money from people like you and a little help from the Southern Africa Trust.

Giving regularly really is the best way to support us. It means that we have income that we can count on and helps us to plan and budget better.

Giving online is one of the best methods for us, as it helps us to keep our costs to a mini-mum, so that even more of your donation goes to those who desperately need it. You’re only a few clicks away from providing the support that could change lives forever in south¬ern Africa. Go to www.change4ever.org and make a difference, now!

You can always do a direct internet banking transaction from your bank account into ours.

Please be sure to put your name in the Reference section and please send a copy of your donation receipt – with your contact details, to info@southernafricatrust.org so that we can accurately register your donation and thank you.

Contact George Murumba (Fundraising Coordinator) on +27 (0)11 318 1012 or email: gmurumba@southernafricatrust.org if you have any questions about donations

This e-newsletter was sent to you because we believe you are interested in the updates. If you would like to unsubscribe from our e-mailing list, please click here. (communications@southernafricatrust.org)

If this was sent to you by a friend or colleague and you would like to add your e-mail address to our mailing list, please send an email to communications@southernafricatrust.org

His key aim for 2008 is to build the Trust into a sustainable and independent resource agency that will remain an asset in southern Africa in perpetuity. Have a question for Neville? Email him on: ngabriel@southernafricatrust.org

The Southern Africa Trust is run by a young, energetic, and diverse team. In each edition of CHANGEMAKERS, we will introduce you to one of our dynamic team members.

Where your donation goes:

The Southern Africa Trust deeply appreciates the support it has received from:

Action Update

According to Themba Mhlongo, the Southern Africa Trust‘s advisor on regional integration, the SADC Secretariat has already informally responded to the policy brief, acknowledging some of the issues raised and providing information on what action is being taken to respond to the issues. The Southern Africa Trust actively engages with the SADC secretariat and other rele¬vant intergovernmental structures, and supports them to develop solutions to the problems. But first, the issues must be discussed openly so that our affected citizens are able to voice their concerns and give opinions, which the policy makers can take into account.

Who we are and what we do

Poverty in southern Africa is characterized by the chronic inability of millions of people to make a living for themselves and extremely unequal access to the resources that do exist in the region.

We believe that an end to poverty is possible in southern Africa, if there is improved institutional capacity, participatory and accountable systems of governance, appropriate public policies across the region to overcome chronic livelihood insecurity in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and better international financial and trading systems that work for the poor.

More than 100 million people currently live in extreme poverty in southern Africa.

in 1999, the Southern Africa Power Pool (SAPP) warned SADC member countries that the demand for power in southern Africa was outstrip-ping supply, increasing at the rate of about 3% a year, while investment into both power generation and transmission infrastructure remained stagnant.

It also warned that unless immediate action was taken, blackouts were imminent and that “the continued diminishing generation surplus capacity in the SADC region would have a negative impact on the economies of the region and potential investors would be frightened.”

SAPP Executive Committee Statement: Status of the SAPP Generation Surplus Capacity, July 2004.

By the end of 2007, the Southern Africa Trust gave over R35, 000, 000 in grants to 86 civil society organisations working throughout the Southern African region to overcome poverty.

Even with depleting fish stocks, fisherpeople still hope to catch a fish or two in the waters of Luangwa, Zambia. This is one of the projects supported by the Southern Africa Trust. The project (carried out by African Wildlife Foundation) aims to ensure the sustainable management of fisheries resources.

No Power to the People

Policy Alert

Upcoming Events

News from the Trust

Mr. Abie Ditlhake, General Secretary of SADC Council of Non-Governmental Organisations, speaking at the SADC Civil Society Regional Conference in Johannesburg, 7-9 February 2008. This Conference was held in preparation for the SADC International Consultative Conference on Poverty and Development scheduled for 18-20 April 2008 in Mauritius.

Changing Lives Forever

A big THANK YOU to all who responded to our festive season campaign to help us Change a Life forever. It was run in December 2007 in partnership with the Mail & Guardian newspaper.

As we work on transforming the underlying, often hidden, issues that cause poverty, changing peoples’ lives forever really can be a reality; it is no idle boast. Only by ensuring that decision makers consider how to improve the lives of the poor when they decide about development policies, that we lay the foundations for a society free of hunger, malnutrition, unemployment, humanitarian crises, HIV/AIDS, crime and violence. It’s the only sustainable solution to poverty. And it happens best when policy makers hear credible voices of the poor in policy development.

With your help, we are able to encourage civic groups, academics, businesses, activists, governments and other regional stakeholders to implement plans that take into account the needs of the poor. We are able to draw in the ideas, desires and commitment of both civil society and the private sector, to transform our region into a socially and economically vibrant society, for the benefit of all of us.