The Praia City Council involves various national and international partners in its commitment to combating climate change

The Praia City Council, CMP, is committed to transforming the municipality and contributing to local and global sustainability. CMP has taken an important step by joining CoM SSA and is currently developing its Sustainable Energy Access and Climate Action Plan (SEACAP) in partnership with the Ribeira Grande City Council.

Through the European programme of the Covenant of Mayors in Sub-Saharan Africa (CoM SSA), the Praia City Council has started the formulation of a group of projects focused on mitigation, climate adaptation and access to sustainable energy. These projects should be the starting point to discuss the reality and specificities of each community and neighbourhood of the city, as well as their priorities for action in the areas of climate and energy, according to the principles and guidelines of the SEACAP elaboration process, and their strategic objectives.

In this spirit, 13 locations in the city of Praia have already been selected, to carry out an inventory of priorities and the formulation of projects, including the preparation of technical, economic, social and environmental feasibility studies.

In addition, a Technical Support Group (TSG), led by the two city councils and AECID partners that are based in Cabo Verde, has been created. This TSG involves different organisations, national and international partners of CoM SSA in Cabo Verde such as the University of Cabo Verde, the National Directorate of Industry, Commerce and Energy, the National Directorate of Environment, the Centre for Renewable Energy and the Industrial Maintenance or the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.

The TSG was created with the objective of providing the City Councils of Praia and Ribeira Grande de Santiago with support services to advise them and maintain the quality of the activities implemented in the project. The TSG is further tasked with facilitating the necessary monitoring in the elaboration and delivery of quality products in accordance with the technical and financial requirements, established in the ToRs and in the planned contracting of the entities and services subject to the contract. In addition, the TSG will assist with the planning, identifying, supporting and will provide technical support to help the municipalities properly assess the mitigation of risks identified in the implementation of the CoM SSA activities in Cabo Verde.

In the implementation phase of the pilot projects in the city of Praia, it is expected that integrating target communities from the population in the TSG, will allow for open and voluntary participation to solve problems, debate and respond to the identified needs. In addition, this will add to a value chain, which would assist in identifying an important space for the development and access to sustainable energy, in the adaptation against climate change.