LEAP is taking off

At the end of September, the Leapfrogging to Zero Emission Transport in Africa (LEAP) project was launched at Africa E-Mobility Week in Cape Town, South Africa. The project launch featured a keynote by Dr. Juma Mukhwana, Principal Secretary, State Department for Industry, from the Kenyan Ministry of Investments, Trade and Industry (MITI).

The transition to electric mobility offers African countries significant opportunities: to make better use of abundant renewable energy, reduce dependence on oil imports, build regional EV value chains and create skilled jobs, while avoiding a carbon-intensive motorisation pathway.

This is where LEAP comes in. The project aims to accelerate the electrification of vehicle fleets in Africa by supporting climate-aligned, gender-responsive and regionally harmonised policy frameworks for e-mobility, with a particular focus on Kenya, Senegal and South Africa, including support to the regional economic communities (RECs) and the African Union (AU).

For Agora Verkehrswende, an important part of this work is strengthening the capacities of policy think tanks and policy-focused organisations that help shape electric mobility policies in the focus countries and regions of Africa.

During the Africa E-Mobility Week, we held the first workshop for the LEAP Think Tank Accelerator, bringing together African policy think tanks and public policy organisations working on electric mobility.

Together, we explored:

• what institutional capacities and EV policy expertise think tanks need to advance the e-mobility transformation;
• how organisations can learn from each other and strengthen their institutional impact; and
• how closer collaboration can support better policymaking for electric mobility across Africa.

The insights from the workshop will feed directly into the design of the Think Tank Accelerator programme. It supports African organisations in developing policy expertise, capacities and networks for the transformation to zero-emission transport and climate friendly mobility.

LEAP is funded by the German Federal Government’s International Climate Initiative (IKI) and implemented by GIZ, in partnership with Agora Verkehrswende and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), together with national partners: Africa E-Mobility Alliance (AfEMA), CETUD – Executive Council for Sustainable Urban Transport, and Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS).

We look forward to continuing this exchange, and to working together towards an African e-mobility transformation that creates opportunities for economies, societies, and the climate.