Picture: Team Malawi, Lilongwe, 22nd July
18th July 2017, Johannesburg
Mandela Day. South Africans are celebrating the life of the father of their unified nation, four years after his death. Foreigners too. In Capetown, Richard Branson leads a parade with The Elders, a group of former world leaders and other senior luminaries that Nelson Mandela created to promote peace and human rights.
The theme of Mandela Day this year is action against poverty. South Africa’s National Development Plan aims to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030, consistent with UN Sustainable Development Goal number one. They have a long way to go. More than 63% of South African children live in poverty as things stand. Sustainable electrification will be vital if African nations are to hit their poverty alleviation targets, and that is why UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 has the goal of clean energy for all by 2030. I am at the Power Gen Africa conference and trade show, a gathering of 3,000 electricity-industry professionals from all over Sub-Saharan Africa, checking out progress.
You can read the rest of Chapter 2, hot from the front lines, here.