COMESA and the World Bank have launched a USD 5 billion programme to expand access to clean and sustainable energy across Eastern and Southern Africa, with provisions to scale the initiative to USD 15 billion should demand and project pipelines support it.
The programme — the Access to Sustainable and Clean Energy Transformation, known as ASCENT — targets up to 100 million new energy connections over five years to 2031. It focuses on off-grid and small-scale renewable solutions alongside clean cooking technologies, directing resources toward communities and businesses that formal energy infrastructure has consistently bypassed.
A Facility Built to Turn Ideas Into Fundable Projects
At the centre of ASCENT sits the Project Preparation Facility, launched alongside the broader programme. The facility addresses a problem that has long frustrated energy investment across the region: projects fail to attract financing not because the underlying energy solutions are unviable, but because the projects themselves are not prepared to meet lender requirements.
COMESA Assistant Secretary General for Programmes Mohamed Kadah put the challenge plainly at the launch: weak project preparation has functioned as one of the most persistent barriers to private and institutional investment in the energy sector. The facility directly targets that gap.
Support covers technical design, financial structuring, environmental compliance, and risk mitigation. In practical terms, this means governments and businesses receive the scaffolding needed to take an energy idea from concept to a form that banks and development finance institutions will actually fund.
Small Businesses Gain Access to Expert Support
ASCENT Technical Manager Ahid Maeresera identified small and medium-sized enterprises as the primary beneficiaries of the facility. Many viable clean energy businesses in Eastern and Southern Africa cannot secure financing because they lack the technical, financial, and environmental capacity that lenders require at the project preparation stage.
“Many small companies are unable to secure funding because they lack the technical, financial and environmental capacity required during project preparation,” Maeresera said.
The programme responds with a combination of grants, technical assistance, and direct deployment of specialists. In some cases, experts will embed within companies to build financial and operational capacity from the inside — a form of support that goes beyond advisory work and into hands-on institutional strengthening.
Agriculture features as a priority sector. Small-scale renewable energy providers serving farming communities face financing obstacles despite offering solutions that already work in the field. The facility will work specifically to bring those providers into fundable project structures.
Scope, Countries, and Funding Structure
ASCENT will operate across approximately 20 countries. More than 60 percent have already joined the programme, including Kenya. The five-year timeline runs to 2031.
Funding channels resources primarily through International Development Association countries, with a significant portion structured as grants rather than loans. This matters for the poorest participating nations, where debt-based financing would limit uptake and leave the communities most in need of energy access unable to participate.
What 100 Million Connections Means in Practice
Energy access in Eastern and Southern Africa remains one of the most persistent constraints on economic growth, household welfare, and climate resilience. A significant share of the region’s population cooks over open fires or charcoal, breathes indoor air pollution daily, and operates businesses without reliable power. These are not abstract development metrics — they translate directly into health outcomes, education, productivity, and the ability to participate in a digital economy.
ASCENT does not promise to solve all of that. But a programme that prepares viable projects, channels grant financing to the smallest enterprises, and targets 100 million new connections across 20 countries represents one of the most ambitious regional energy access initiatives launched in years. The real test will come in execution — whether the Project Preparation Facility can move projects from pipeline to financial close at the pace the region’s energy deficit demands.
