The ACCESS Project Closing Event

On December 4-5, 2024, the ACCESS Project held a series of national workshops and village electrification exhibition as a project closing event. The closing event was titled “Empowering Communities Through Sustainable Energy”.

The event was held for two days. The first day consisted of a series of panel discussions, talking about the ACCESS Project's achievements, the South-South Triangular Cooperation (SSTC), and community-based renewable energy infrastructure management. In addition, on this occasion the ACCESS Project also launched “Learning from the Journey of the Accelerating Clean Energy Access to Reduce Inequality (ACCESS) Project” book which is a series of 3 books about solar power, GESI, and economics and their relation to the implementation of the ACCESS Project. Besides, the ACCESS Project documentary video entitled “Sustainable Access to Electricity and Clean Water for All” was also shown for the first time at this event. Around 200 participants from different backgrounds ranging from ministries, representatives of the Timor Leste government, provincial and district governments of ACCESS target locations, representatives of ACCESS target villages, as well as the general public, academics, practitioners, who have interests and involvement related to renewable energy, sustainability, and community development attended the closing ceremony of the ACCESS Project on the first day,

On the second day, the event continued with a focus on project sustainability. The main agenda on the second day was a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) divided by province with the aim of identifying, discussing, and creating a strategy for sustainable access to electricity according to the real conditions of each location. There were also ACCESS awards, an appreciation sessions given to the best villages and other categories.

The whole series of events went hand in hand with an exhibition of village electrification efforts, showing BUM Desa's profile and BUM Desa related aspects