368,506,786 CFA francs to finance fifteen (15) projects initiated by thirteen NGOs and computer and audiovisual equipment worth a total of 62,348,764 CFA francs for seven state structures. These are the gifts offered by the institutional support and capacity building programme for actors in the energy sector in Benin (RECASEB) to two categories of beneficiaries on Friday 26 March 2021 at the Azalai Hotel in Cotonou.
Congratulating the beneficiaries, Armand Raoul Dakehoun, Director of Cabinet of the Minister of Energy, invited them «to make good use of the resources made available to them to contribute to effectively meeting the challenges of the energy sector». On behalf of the European Union (EU) delegation, a technical and financial partner in the implementation of the Recaseb programme, Ruben Alba Aguilera, the Head of Delegation in Benin, welcomed this new step in relations between Benin and the EU. «We are celebrating together a new milestone in our cooperation and our common commitment to strengthen the actors of the energy sector in Benin,» said the diplomat. For Serge Loupéda, representative of the coordinator of the Technical Support Unit of the European Development Fund (UT-FED), the programme has just reached the second category of its beneficiaries, which are civil society organisations and private sector actors.
According to Florent Gustave Whannou, Recaseb’s Project Manager, the projects financed contribute to the achievement of result 1 of the programme through the development of the private sector and renewable energies in rural area as well as through the retraining, sensitisation and professionalisation of actors in the field. On behalf of the beneficiaries, Nadège Koussihouédé thanked all those who helped make this ceremony possible, as it is the first of its kind. In addition to the donation of cheques and computer equipment, the ceremony was rich in colour thanks to the artistic commas.