Technological Context of Secondary Education Teachers in Peru Before E-teaching Due to COVID-19. Prepandemic Diagnosis

This study with a quantitative, descriptive and trend approach aims to determine situation of technological resources that secondary education teachers had in Peru just before the transition to e-teaching due to COVID-19. For this, three Surveys to Peruvian Teacher (ENDO) carried out by Ministerio de Educación del Perú before the pandemic, in 2014, 2016 and 2018 were analyzed. The total of secondary education teachers who participated in each year, respectively, were 3710 (78.5% = urban, 21.5% = rural);3986 (81.9% = urban, 18.1% = rural) and 6118 (85.3% = urban, 14.7% = rural). After analyzing three variables that make up technological context dimension (electricity access, technological devices access and Internet access), it can be concluded that trends do not reveal a clear improvement between 2014 and 2018, and the main difficulty was the Internet access, especially in the regions of Amazonas and Pasco. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Sustainable Development and SDG-7 in Sub-Saharan Africa: Balancing Energy Access, Economic Growth, and Carbon Emissions.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shocked the global energy system. It has resulted in tremendous uncertainty and diminished the recent advances to increase access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy-an objective preserved in the UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG-7). According to the IEA, attaining universal electricity access in Africa in line with SDG-7 entails annual investments of approximately $20 billion over the next decade. Given the sizeable magnitudes involved, it is inevitable that energy projects will need to rely on richer nations for energy aid. This paper explores the linkages between energy-related external aid, carbon emissions, per capita GDP, and electricity access for a sample of 30 low-income SSA countries over 1995 to 2016. Our econometric analysis reveals that while all types of energy aid facilitate economic growth in the long run, there is no direct impact of energy-related aid on electricity access. However, an increase in per capita GDP is positively associated with electricity access in both rural and urban areas. We also find that energy-related aid helps mitigate carbon emissions as well as contribute to GDP. Taken together, our results suggest that enhanced energy-related aid to low-income SSA countries can directly facilitate climate compatible growth and indirectly impel improvements in electricity access thereby helping with poverty reduction. We also advocate regional cooperation among SSA countries as a collective effort to confront shared energy challenges.

La pandémie de Covid-19 a bouleversé le système énergétique mondial. Cela a entraîné une très grande incertitude et a fait reculer les progrès réalisés récemment pour accroître l'accès à une énergie abordable, fiable, durable et moderne­un objectif qui fait partie de l'Objectif de développement durable 7 (ODD 7) des Nations Unies. Selon l'AIE, pour atteindre l'accès universel à l'électricité en Afrique, conformément à l'ODD 7, il faut des investissements annuels d'environ 20 milliards de dollars au cours de la prochaine décennie. Compte tenu de l'ampleur considérable de ce qui est en jeu, il est inévitable que les projets énergétiques aient besoin de s'appuyer sur les pays les plus riches pour obtenir une aide énergétique. Cet article explore les liens entre l'aide extérieure liée à l'énergie, les émissions de carbone, le PIB par habitant et l'accès à l'électricité, sur un échantillon de 30 pays à faible revenu d'Afrique subsaharienne de 1995 à 2016. Notre analyse économétrique révèle que même si tous les types d'aide énergétique contribuent à la croissance à long terme, il n'y a pas d'impact direct des aides liées à l'énergie sur l'accès à l'électricité. Cependant, il existe un lien entre l'augmentation du PIB par habitant et l'accès à l'électricité dans les zones rurales et urbaines. Nous constatons également que l'aide liée à l'énergie permet d'atténuer les émissions de carbone et contribue au PIB. Lorsqu'on les considère dans leur globalité, nos résultats suggèrent qu'une aide énergétique accrue auprès des pays à faible revenu d'Afrique subsaharienne peut directement faciliter une croissance respectueuse du climat et favoriser indirectement l'amélioration de l'accès à l'électricité, contribuant ainsi à la réduction de la pauvreté. Nous préconisons également la coopération régionale entre les pays d'Afrique sub-saharienne en tant qu'effort collectif pour relever des défis énergétiques communs.

Minister updates progress at Cameroon's Nachtigal project

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT : Civil engineering works at the 420MW Nachtigal project are over halfway complete, Cameroon's Minister of Water and Energy, Gaston Eloundou Essomba, updated during a recent site visit. The Minister told reporters that the 52% of the civil work has been completed, with 48.2% of first electromechanical lot and 99.8% of the transmission line also complete. The project was initially expected to be complete at the end of 2023, but due to delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Nachtigal Hydro Power Company (NHPC) has now been tasked with starting operations of the first machine in July 2023, with final commissioning in July 2024

Achieving universal electrification of rural healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa with decentralized renewable energy technologies.

A potential response to the COVID-19 pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with long-term benefits is to provide electricity for medical equipment in rural health centers and communities. This study identifies a large gap in the electrification of healthcare facilities in SSA, and it shows that decentralized photovoltaic systems can offer a clean, reliable, quick, and cost-effective solution. The cost of providing renewable electricity to each health facility by a stand-alone PV system is analyzed for a given location (incorporating operational costs). The upfront investment cost for providing electricity with PV to >50,000 facilities (mostly primary health posts) currently without electricity is estimated at EUR 484 million. Analysis of the accessibility and population distribution shows that 281 million people could reduce their travel time to healthcare facilities (by an average of 50 min) if all facilities were electrified.

Electricity Access, Sources, and Reliability at Primary Health Centers in India and Effect on Service Provision: Evidence from Two Nation-wide Surveys.

BACKGROUND: A large number of government primary health-care facilities (GPHCFs) in India do not have access to the regular electricity supply. OBJECTIVES: To assess the status and change in electricity access, sources, and reliability at primary health centers (PHCs) in India; and to understand the effect of regular electricity supply on health services provision and on workforce availability and retention. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Secondary analysis of data from the lastest two rounds of district-level household survey (DLHS) in India, conducted in 2007-2008 and 2012-2013. RESULTS: Data of 8619 PHCs from DLHS-3 and 8540 PHCs from DLHS-4 were analyzed. The proportion of PHCs with access to electricity increased from 87% to 91%. However, regular electricity supply was available at only 50% of PHCs in 2012-2013, which was an increase from 36% such PHCs in 2007-2008. PHCs with regular electricity supply provided services to 50% more beneficiaries (deliveries and vaccination) than PHCs without regular or no electricity (P ≤ 0.001). Increased access to regular electricity was associated with improved availability and retention of health staff (P = 0.001). CONCLUSION: Government policies should aim to ensure access to regular electricity-supply-beyond just connection from grid-at all GPHCFs, including health sub-centers, PHCs, and community health centers. Indicators on electricity access at GPHCFs could be standardized and integrated into regular health and facility-related surveys as well as in the existing dashboards for real-time data collection. Health policy interventions should be informed by regular data collection and analysis. Improving access to regular electricity supply at GPHCFs can contribute to achieve the goals of National Health Policy of India. This will also help to advance universal health coverage in the country. There are lessons from this study, for other low and middle income countries, on improving health service provision at government health care facilities.