The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) with support from IGEN Access-II programme of GIZ India jointly organised the National Workshop on Integrating Renewable Energy for Promotion of Rural Livelihoods on 18 December in New Delhi. This workshop was organised in the context of emerging policy interventions at both the global and national level, to install renewable energy systems. The integration of renewable energy (RE) technologies for the promotion of rural livelihoods aims to increase productivity and enhance household incomes both directly and indirectly.
  
The event was attended by State Livelihood Mission senior representatives, technology service providers, field practitioners and donor agencies. 
 
The key takeaways from the workshop deliberations were:

• Importance of creating a roadmap to institutionalise energy as a catalyst for development and livelihood promotion, in partnership with the different ministries, NRLM and SRLMs.  
• Mapping of energy-efficient technologies available for livelihood applications (across geographies) is crucial in order to replicate learnings with the help of MNRE and SRLMs.   
• Awareness creation about energy-efficient livelihood products for community members (end users), financial institutions and operational staff of SRLMs is important.
• Demand assessment of energy-efficient technologies at ground level will enable SRLMs to promote and scaleup up the technology on their own or with the help of identified technical partners.

The promotion of RE technologies and long-term sustainability of the system will be aided by a focus on capacity building of local entrepreneurs to install, operate and maintain these energy-efficient systems.