The Global Energy Network for Urban Settlements (GENUS)

The Global Energy Network for Urban Settlements (GENUS) was established by UN-HABITAT to encourage and support the design and implementation of energy-access programmes and projects for the urban poor worldwide. GENUS is a dynamic partnership of institutions to promote collaboration among the public and private sectors, governmental and nongovernmental organizations, grassroots groups, national and international development agencies, working in the urban energy sector.

The main goal of GENUS is to encourage and support implementation and replication of affordable and environmentally sustainable energy progarammes and projects globally, particularly for the urban poor. More specifically, the network aims at:

1. Enhancing understanding of the linkages between sustainable energy and other development priorities.
2. Providing analytical input to governments’ formulation of policies and programmes, and attract private sector investments in the urban energy sector that favour energy sector growth for sustainable development, especially for the urban poor in developing countries.
3. Promoting a communication infrastructure to facilitate sharing of experiences, expertise, skills, complementary strengths and best practices between network members.
4. Strengthening South-South and North-South Exchange of knowledge and collaboration on urban energy issues of common interest.
5. Capacity-building to strengthen the ability of network members to acquire, assimilate and apply existing knowledge and experiences.

By facilitating sharing of information through a global base of knowledge on energy-related topics (e.g. energy from waste, slum electrification, improved urban mobility), with a special focus on the urban poor, GENUS seeks to foster commitment and interest in the application of new and improved energy-access policies, and increase the number of local authorities active in the area of improving access to clean modern energy services, including those for the urban poor.

GENUS operates globally yet has three regional focus areas and themes:

1. Slum Electrification in Africa
2. Pro-Poor Mobility in South Asia
3. Energy from Waste in Latin America and the Caribbean

The GENUS website is operating within the UN-HABITAT portal and can be accessed under - http://www.unhabitat.org/genus.  GENUS can also be found on Urban Gateway - http://www.urbangateway.org/genus

Contact Information

The GENUS Secretariat

Urban Energy Unit

UN-Habitat

P.O. Box 30030 Nairobi 00100

Kenya

Tel: (254-20) 7624343,

Fax: (254-20) 7623080

Email: genus@unhabitat.org

Websites

1. http://www.unhabitat.org/genus

2. http://www.urbangateway.org/genus

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