ESMAP Annual Report 1999

The year 1999 confirmed that the challenge of meeting the needs of the energy poor remains at the core of Energy Sector Management Assistance Programme's (ESMAP) mission. It also confirmed that, in many ways, the times have never been better for a global mobilization of expertise, financial, physical, and political resources to meet this challenge. At no other time in history have public and private partners and civil society realized the need and been so willing to work together. At the end of 1999 ESMAP partnerships included 13 public donors and three private ones. The year 1999 was also the opportunity to fully test the continued relevance of the ESMAP Strategy adopted in 1998. The ESMAP team prepared a three-year business plan which was endorsed by the Consultative Group during its 1999 annual meeting. The Business Plan confirmed that the overarching goal of the program is to increase the availability of energy services for poverty alleviation and social development. It puts the emphasis on integrating the work on market development with the work on energy access, and addressing environmental issues in order to ensure an increase in the availability of energy services and their sustainability. To achieve its goal, ESMAP will continue to capitalize on its comparative advantage of being a unique global partnership program.