An emerging consensus has formed among donors, humanitarian agencies, and NGOs that the effects of
the COVID-19 outbreak, locusts swarms, and flooding in parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Rwanda could double the number of food insecure people in East Africa in 2020.1 While providing emergency support will be critical in the short term, development organizations must also focus on supporting longer term solutions which strengthen local and regional food systems.
Productive use solar technologies have the potential to contribute by increasing access to energy for agricultural production and storage in areas without reliable grid access – this brief highlights some of the potential use cases in East Africa and provides recommendations for donors on how to help scale these technologies and integrate them into food security programming.