On 2 December 2021, Chemonics, in partnership with The Policy Practice, organised a webinar entitled “Power shift: politics and the energy transition in emerging markets.” 

This webinar brought together leading thinkers on the political economy of the energy transition to discuss the factors that slow down, but also those that might speed up the energy transition.  Experts from South Africa, Sri Lanka and Lebanon shared their knowledge about how the political economy context affected the nature and speed of transition and the implications for the implementation of programs. 

TPP Director Neil McCulloch worked with the Lebanon Centre for Policy Studies to write a brief which outlines the Yemeni experience following the collapse of its electricity sector and to derive lessons to be learnt for Lebanon. The brief discusses the approaches taken by the authorities controlling different parts of the country to address a near breakdown in service, notably the Houthi administration in the North, who fully liberalized the market, and the Internationally Recognized Government in the South, who maintained a state monopoly on energy production and a highly subsidized tariff.

This blog explore how the UK supported public financial management (PFM) reforms in Nigeria for 20 years, as part of an effort to translate oil revenues and debt relief into better infrastructure and public services. It identifies what made the reform happen, and draws lessons for other PFM programmes.