Financing Energy Transformation in a Debt-Constrained Context
Session Overview
Day 2 opens with a featured plenary anchored by Dr. Aminata Camara, Dr. Hamady Ndiaye, and moderated by Dr. Beatrice Mwangi. The session is structured around the central fiscal reality of 2026: African sovereigns are entering the energy-transformation window with significantly reduced fiscal space and rising debt-service costs.
Speakers examine the financing instruments that work in this constraint — blended finance, viability-gap funding, partial risk guarantees, climate-window concessional capital — and the institutional reforms required to unlock them at scale. The role of the African Development Bank's New Deal on Energy and the more recent Mission 300 framing is discussed in depth.
Delegates leave with a cleaner mental map of the financing stack, an honest read on which instruments are working in 2025–2026, and a sharper sense of where the next round of multilateral and bilateral negotiations will need to land.
Key Topics
- Fiscal space and debt-service constraints
- Blended finance and viability-gap funding
- Partial risk guarantees and PPP de-risking
- Climate-window concessional capital
- AfDB New Deal and Mission 300 alignment
Speaker
Dr. Aminata Camara
Senior Fellow, ECOWAS Centre for Policy Studies
Dr. Aminata Camara is Senior Fellow at the ECOWAS Centre for Policy Studies, where she leads research on regional integration, trade policy, and economic development across the ECOWAS region. Her work focuses on advancing the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and strengthening regional value chains.
Dr. Hamady Ndiaye
Senior Researcher, Senegalese Institute of Development Studies
Dr. Hamady Ndiaye is Senior Researcher at the Senegalese Institute of Development Studies, where he leads work on labour markets, microeconomics, and inequality in francophone West Africa. His research informs Senegal's National Strategy for Employment and Inclusion.
Dr. Beatrice Mwangi
Editor-in-Chief, African Policy Review
Dr. Beatrice Mwangi is Editor-in-Chief of the African Policy Review and a Senior Fellow at the Nairobi-based Institute for Policy Analysis and Research. She leads editorial work that translates African policy research into accessible briefings for ministers, parliamentarians, and the public.
Session Materials
- PRESENTATION SLIDESAvailable after session
- VIDEO RECORDINGAvailable after session