edm – community engagement roadmap

USAID Sector Reform and Utility Commercialization

May 2019

This publication was produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). It was prepared by Deloitte Consulting LLP (“Deloitte”) under a contract between Deloitte and USAID. This document does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government. Information provided by USAID and third parties may have been used in the preparation of this document, but was not independently verified by Deloitte in Mozambique. The document may be provided to third parties for informational purposes only and shall not be relied upon by third parties as a specific professional advice or recommendation. Neither Deloitte nor its affiliates or related entities shall be responsible for any loss whatsoever sustained by any party who relies on any information included in this document.

EDM – COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ROADMAP

USAID SRUC | ROADMAP FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT | Report 2

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 5

1.1 THE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY .......................................................................... 6

1.2 THE CES ROADMAP .............................................................................................................................. 7

2 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ROADMAP ..................................................... 8

2.1 THE ROADMAP ...................................................................................................................................... 8

2.1.1 MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS TO ROLL OUT COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ............ 8

2.1.2 REGIONAL ROLLOUT PILOTS ................................................................................................. 8

2.2 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE AND STAKEHOLDERS ... 9

2.3 START-UP PROCESS OVERVIEW ................................................................................................... 13

2.4 EDM STAKEHOLDER START-UP ACTIVITIES ............................................................................ 13

2.4.1 CENTRAL CORDINATION UNIT START-UP ACTIVITIES ............................................ 14

2.4.2 REGIONAL DELEGATION START-UP ACTIVITIES .......................................................... 20

2.5 SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT .......................................... 25

2.6 IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE ......................................................................................................... 30

TIMELINE FOR .............................................................................................................................. 31

2.6.1 CENTRAL COORDINATION UNIT ...................................................................................... 31

2.6.2 TIMELINE FOR REGIONAL DELEGATION TEAMS .......................................................... 33

3 COMMUNICATION PLAN ......................................................................................................................... 35

3.1 COMMUNICATION WITH COMMUNITIES .............................................................................. 35

3.2 COMMUNICATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS ............................................................................ 35

3.3 MEDIA COMMUNICATION AND MANAGEMENT ................................................................. 36

3.4 INTERNAL COMMUNICATION ..................................................................................................... 36

4 TRAINING PLANS ......................................................................................................................................... 38

4.1 TRAINING PLAN FOR EDM EMPLOYEES .................................................................................... 38

4.2 OVERVIEW OF TRAINING COURSES FOR EDM EMPLOYEES ............................................ 38

4.3 TRAINING PLAN FOR COMMUNITY LEADERS ....................................................................... 40

4.4 OVERVIEW OF TRAINING COURSES FOR COMMUNITY LEADERS................................ 40

5 PERFORMANCE MONITORING ............................................................................................................... 44

6 CASE STUDY – NATIONAL ELETRIFICATION PROGRAM ............................................................ 46


Figures Figure 1: Community Engagement Organizational and Reporting Structure ............................................. 10

Figure 2: Steering Committee Roles and Responsibilities ............................................................................... 10

Figure 3: Central Coordination Unit Roles and Responsibilities .................................................................. 11

Figure 4: Local Project Coordination Team Roles and Responsibilities ...................................................... 11

Figure 5: Regional Delegation Teams ................................................................................................................... 12

Figure 6: Key Community Engagement Stakeholders ...................................................................................... 18

Figure 7: Community Engagement Implementation Gantt Chart ................................................................. 30

Figure 8: Implementation Timeline for the Central Coordination Unit, by Month .................................. 31

Figure 9: Implementation Timeline for the Regional Delegation Teams, by Month ................................. 33

Figure 10: Means of Communication for Community Engagement .............................................................. 36

Figure 11: Training Plan Summary......................................................................................................................... 38

Figure 12: Initial KPIs for Community Engagement .......................................................................................... 45


ACRONYMS

The following table defines the acronyms used in this report.

Acronym Term

CES Community Engagement Strategy

EDM Electricidade de Moçambique

EMU Electrification Management Unit

KPI Key Performance Indicator

NGO Nongovernmental Organization

SRUC Sector Reform and Utility Commercialization

TO Task Order

USAID US Agency for International Development

USD US Dollars


1 INTRODUCTION Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) is Mozambique’s vertically integrated state-owned power utility company. EDM provides power to more than 1.7 million customers in a territory that spans 800,000 square kilometers. The company’s mission is “to produce, transport, distribute, and sell high-quality electricity in a sustainable manner to illuminate and enhance the country’s industrialization.” It faces several significant hurdles in pursuit of this mission, however, including historically high levels of electricity losses1 that inhibit EDM’s ability to improve service quality to existing customers, extend its distribution network to unserved communities, and expand its power generation capacity to serve its growing industrial base.

As such, EDM has undertaken a large-scale transformation to make the company more financially viable, operationally sustainable, and commercially oriented. In support of EDM’s transformation effort, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Sector Reform and Utility Commercialization (SRUC) Task Order (TO) and its implementing partner, Deloitte Consulting LLP (the “SRUC Team”), have sponsored a series of projects to help the company improve operational processes, mitigate electricity losses, and improve customer service.

The company’s vision is to “transform EDM into an intelligent and sustainable utility that provides every Mozambican with access to quality electricity and exercises leadership in the regional market.” This vision has three strategic objectives for 2030, namely:

• To achieve universal electricity access for all Mozambicans • To transform Mozambique into an attractive regional power generation market and hub • To achieve gender equality in the workplace

To fulfil these objectives, EDM developed a national electrification program; an electrification master plan; and parallel initiatives to reduce losses, vandalism, energy theft, and accidents involving the public. Also, as part of these efforts, EDM has developed a community engagement strategy (CES) to help the company work with the communities that it serves to prevent energy theft, vandalism, and accidents and improve collections and electricity delivery. The CES is designed to improve EDM’s operational and commercial performance through strategic partnerships with community leaders and other stakeholders.

As part of the transformation assistance provided to EDM, the SRUC Team helped EDM define the CES and a Roadmap for its implementation, which is the subject of this report. To define and structure this Roadmap, the SRUC Team undertook working sessions, consultations, and discussions with the following entities with EDM:

• The focal points within EDM’s central office responsible for community engagement (primarily, the Directorate for Health, Environment, and Safety)

• The operational units and managers that will deploy the new practices and structures (i.e., the Projects Directorate, Commercial General Directorate, the Systems Planning and Engineering Directorate, the Directorate General of Distribution, among others)

• Regional delegation leadership from four areas in Mozambique chosen for the pilot implementation along with listening sessions within those communities to collect feedback from the community members themselves.

1 In electricity supply to final consumers, “losses” refers to the amount of electricity injected into the transmission and distribution grids not paid for by users. Total losses have two components: technical and nontechnical. Technical losses occur naturally and consist mainly of power dissipation in electricity system components such as transmission and distribution lines, transformers, and measurement systems. Nontechnical losses or commercial losses are caused by actions external to the power system and consist primarily of electricity theft, nonpayment by customers, and errors in accounting and recordkeeping. Source: Pedro Antmann, “Reducing Technical and Non-Technical Losses in the Power Sector,” World Bank, July 2009.


The community engagement process will empower community leaders to help EDM become more responsive to community needs and improve its day-to-day operations. EDM is prioritizing community engagement because, to date, the company has not been very successful in reducing accidents, losses, and vandalism of its infrastructure. The company recognizes that a community engagement program is a proven and cost-effective way to help it achieve these objectives. Additionally, due to the expected increase in EDM customers as a result of the national electrification program, the company is experiencing significant operational pressures that can be addressed more effectively if EDM engages with the communities to develop joint solutions.

EDM has not yet defined the initiatives that will be included in its national community engagement rollout because it needs to first establish the basic structure of the program, including:

• Structuring its own Central Coordination Unit • Preparing and communicating the necessary supporting materials • Setting up regional delegations to implement community engagement activities • Increasing the capacity of EDM’s regional delegations to use community engagement activities

in their day-to-day operations

This Roadmap addresses these structural elements of the program. It is aligned to the organizational capacity that EDM can achieve in the near term. The Roadmap is structured as follows. First, it presents an overview of the CES and the initial requirements for implementation. Second, it introduces the operational stakeholders overseeing and implementing community engagement, which were initially introduced in the CES. Third, it discusses the start-up structure for community engagement activities, based on regional rollout pilots and ancillary supporting activities. Fourth, it provides detailed start-up activities for each operational stakeholder (specifically, the Central Coordination Unit and the regional delegations), which will be implemented through the regional rollout pilots, as well as a brief discussion of the ancillary supporting activities. Fifth, it introduces an implementation timeline, communications plan, training plan, and performance monitoring plan to facilitate the start up of community engagement activities. Lastly, it ends with a case study on how the CES can be aligned with EDM’s high-profile National Electrification Program.

1.1 THE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY

EDM’s CES outlines the company’s vision and commitment to incorporating community engagement projects and activities into the way it does business. The CES is based on the following four pillars that will serve as a basis for the development of the Roadmap’s associated operational actions and implementation plans:

• Capacity Building: Capacity building will provide EDM staff and community leaders with the know-how to create a favorable environment for culture change within EDM in order to develop an effective community engagement process. To help make EDM a trusted community partner, the company recently established a code of ethics that includes its corporate values: integrity, transparency, equality, competitiveness, and team spirit. Capacity building training will not only cover knowledge related to the community engagement process, but also reinforce these corporate values.

• Strategic Partnerships: Given the complexity of working with communities, EDM must identify important and desirable partnerships that can be mutually beneficial to EDM and the communities it serves. As part of this process, EDM will define the roles that partners will play in community engagement initiatives. Initially, EDM will focus on building partnerships with existing community leaders, including neighborhood leaders, block leaders, municipal representatives, and representatives from formal and informal resident organizations. Strategic partners will influence EDM’s community engagement decision making, as well as help execute community engagement projects agreed upon with EDM.


• Social Responsibility and Gender Promotion: EDM will focus on social responsibility and gender promotion to help build credible, trusting, and win-win relationships with communities. Aligning community engagement activities with these core values will reinforce community partnerships and enhance EDM’s image within the communities. Women and elders play key roles in the community. Women are often the primary breadwinners for families and typically hold local leadership positions.

• Corporate Values and Governance: EDM’s community relationships have been eroded by, among other factors, the poor attitudes of its employees, lack of engagement with community leaders on initiatives, and inadequate communication with communities in general. To address these shortcomings, EDM’s corporate values will serve as a reference for all community engagement initiatives and drive increased employee discipline and behavior change in the communities. EDM will also define a community engagement governance model that includes monitoring and reporting on targeted results.

According to the CES, communication will serve as the main facilitator of community engagement initiatives and promote initiative achievements, both internally and externally. Tailoring communications to the specific actions planned by the company and the target groups that will be affected by those actions are the foundation of any successful community engagement program.

1.2 THE CES ROADMAP

The objective of the Roadmap is to define, at a high-level, the key operational activities that must be performed in order to set up the broader EDM community engagement program and implement the CES. The Roadmap separates start-up activities required to operationalize the CES from ancillary supporting community engagement activities that individual delegations may choose to implement to strengthen community relationships.

Start-Up Activities: These are foundational activities that will be used to set up the operational structure for EDM to implement the community engagement process across the EDM organization. These activities will focus on:

• Structuring the internal management function required for community engagement • Testing team structures and decision-making processes for regional delegations • Identifying partners and promoting the development of community relationships in pilot

delegations

EDM will use its own resources to develop these start-up activities. EDM will identify available resources to staff and structure the community engagement function, develop the procedures for the identification, approval, and implementation of regional CE projects, and establish a budget to initiate the implementation in selected pilot areas.

Operational Activities: These are activities that will be undertaken after the Central Coordination Unit has been set up and EDM has piloted community engagement across several delegations. These will be the standard activities that the Central Coordination Unit and regional delegations will adhere to in order to get funds to support community engagement. These activities will also guide interactions between the Central Coordination Unit and other parts of the EDM organization.

Ancillary Supporting Activities: These activities will strengthen the process of community engagement. They are similar to start-up activities, but they are associated with specific projects and thus have specific focus areas and limited durations. These activities will require additional resources beyond what EDM can afford. As such, these activities may be limited to the available budget, unless external financial resources are available.


2 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION ROADMAP

2.1 THE ROADMAP

Prior to implementing the CES in full at the national level, EDM will pilot the rollout of community engagement initiatives in several key delegations to evaluate their effectiveness, understand the level of resources needed, prepare an initial set of staff, and better understand the achievable results. This will allow EDM to tailor and improve the rollout of the CES and set the path to scale the rollout nationally.

2.1.1 MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS TO ROLL OUT COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

EDM needs to establish the following minimum operational and structural requirements at the corporate level to roll out the new CES across its service territory and through its procedures:

• A Central Coordination Unit to manage the community engagement process

• Supporting marketing and instructional materials (e.g., pamphlets, posters, institutional videos)

• A communication package that establishes communication channels between the Community Engagement Central Coordination Unit and the delegations involved

• Community engagement training and monitoring representatives to train operational teams at the regional delegations on the community engagement process

2.1.2 REGIONAL ROLLOUT PILOTS

Given the limited resources available to institute a community engagement process at the national level, EDM will set up pilots in eight regional delegations to reduce the cost and effort required during the start-up phase and ensure lessons are learned prior to implementing the CES nationally. Given EDM’s current maturity level to implement community engagement, it is critical to ensure the CES is well understood throughout the organization prior to the national rollout. The following eight delegations (two delegations in four regions), which are also priority regions for the National Electrification Program, were selected for the pilots:

• Two communities in Maputo City, which is Mozambique’s capital and largest urban area

• Two communities in Maputo Province, which is the region with the highest growth rate for new connections

• Two communities in Nacala, a secondary city located in the northern region of the country with a large number of commercial tourism and industrial clients

• Two communities in Tete, a city located in the central region of the country with an indigenous language and the region’s largest generation asset (i.e., Cahora Bassa dam)

These eight delegations were chosen for the pilot because:

• EDM undertook initial consultation workshops with community leaders in these delegations to develop the CES.

• These delegations represent Mozambique’s different social realities and testing the pilot across such a varied set of customers and geographies will uncover a broad set of lessons to use in the national rollout.


• These delegations have already worked with their local communities and have an initial understanding of the benefits of community engagement.

• These delegations already have the necessary resources to implement the start-up activities defined in the Roadmap, thus mitigating the need for additional resources.

Additionally, given that the National Electrification Program is in process, EDM would like to incorporate community engagement activities into its implementation, primarily around engaging citizens as first-time customers and users of electricity.

2.2 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE AND

STAKEHOLDERS

The main stakeholders responsible for the start-up of the community engagement rollout will be the Community Engagement Central Coordination Unit (hereafter referred to as the “Central Coordination Unit”), which will sit within the Directorate for Health, Environment, and Safety and will report to the Community Engagement Strategic Steering Committee (hereafter referred to as the “Steering Committee”). The Central Coordination Unit will be the central management unit for community engagement across the company, with oversight over its own budget, operational accountability for activities, responsibility to train and deploy resources, oversight over communications and materials, and ownership of the performance monitoring process. The Steering Committee will own community engagement at the executive level of the company and provide strategic guidance and oversight.

Throughout the start-up process and regional rollout pilots, each regional delegation will have a community engagement focal point who will coordinate with a community engagement monitoring and training representative deployed from the Central Coordination Unit. These focal points will be charged with carrying out the community engagement activities in their communities, monitoring impact, and reporting back to the Central Coordination Unit for assistance and guidance.

The local project coordination team will be involved in community engagement activities as they facilitate a specific project that the company will implement (i.e. expanding electrification, building a transmission line, upgrading a set of substations). These projects will occur in more than one regional delegation and across different operational areas of the company. Typically, operational staff within each delegation are tasked with carrying out projects at the local level. When a project begins, EDM should allocate a representative from the Central Coordination Unit to be dedicated to the project to ensure alignment to and inclusion of community engagement approaches. This will typically occur at the regional delegation level.

The organizational and reporting structure for relevant EDM stakeholders involved in the community engagement start-up process are outlined in Figure 1.


Figure 1: Community Engagement Organizational and Reporting Structure

The roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder during the start-up process are outlined below.

Figure 2: Steering Committee Roles and Responsibilities

Community Engagement Strategic Steering Committee

Responsibilities The Steering Committee will be responsible for: • Guiding overall implementation of the CES • Deciding on support for major community engagement

initiatives • Assessing and approving budget requirements • Approving EDM partnerships • Setting community engagement priorities • Monitoring potential risks to EDM • Defining and monitoring schedules • Changing and updating the community engagement

operational model and the CES as needed

Members The Steering Committee will include the following: • Members of EDM’s board of directors • Directors of the following:

- Health, Environment, and Safety Directorate - Ethics and Ombudsman’s Office - Project Management - Directorate General of Distribution - Commercial General Directorate - Image and Communication Office - Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Directorate

Coordinator Business Performance Executive Director


Figure 3: Central Coordination Unit Roles and Responsibilities

Community Engagement Central Coordination Unit

Responsibilities The Central Coordination Unit will be responsible for: • Reporting EDM’s activities to the Steering Committee • Communicating the CES to internal EDM employees • Defining the programs that will be offered to communities,

including the criteria for those programs • Leading the internal approval process • Creating rules for community engagement • Following up on daily community engagement activities at

EDM • Working with delegations to implement community

engagement projects that have a social or environmental impact

• Coordinating the mapping of stakeholders’ interests • Building strategic partnerships with key stakeholders • Defining the approach and types of communication to use

with all stakeholders • Creating implementation plans for prioritized activities • Arbitrating conflicts between stakeholders not solved by

other areas of the business • Communicating issues to community leaders to reduce

resistance and discontent • Disseminating information about community engagement

work • Defining process control indicators • Evaluating the gains generated by the CES • Producing EDM-required reports to publicize work • Answering media requests about community engagement

work

Members The Central Coordination Unit shall include the following eight members who will report to the Steering Committee:

• One coordinator appointed by the Community Engagement Coordinating Directorate

• Two supporting staff to manage and oversee community engagement activities

• Five community engagement monitoring and training representatives to work with regional delegations

Lead Director of Health, Environment, and Safety

Figure 4: Local Project Coordination Team Roles and Responsibilities

Local Project Coordination Team

Responsibilities The Local Project Coordination Teams will be responsible for: • Identifying project action plans that require community

engagement and informing the Central Coordination Unit • Analyzing the social impact of projects implemented by

EDM or with the participation of EDM


Local Project Coordination Team

• Establishing project-specific communication mechanisms with communities

• Ensuring the inclusion of community engagement activities in the project implementation budget

• Collaborating with regional delegations and directorates on project implementations

Members The areas responsible for each project

Leads Project Director and Manager

Figure 5: Regional Delegation Teams

Regional Delegation Teams

Responsibilities The regional delegation teams will be responsible for: • Engaging with neighborhood energy committees, community

organizations, and community influencers • Identifying the main needs coming from communities • Operationalizing community engagement activities designed

by the Central Coordination Team • Identifying neighborhood needs and communicating those

needs to EDM • Receiving complaints from the communities regarding help

to oversee EDM’s infrastructure • Receiving complaints about inappropriate behavior by EDM

staff and reporting those complaints to the Central Coordination Team

• Serving as intermediaries in talks between EDM and community leaders

Members The regional delegation teams shall typically include the following staff members:

• Regional delegation focal points • Operational team leaders from each neighborhood

Lead Regional Delegation Focal Point


2.3 START-UP PROCESS OVERVIEW

The focal points and operational teams in selected regional delegations will be trained on how to develop the start-up activities to set up the community engagement process. The expected cost to start up community engagement activities, including expenses for supporting materials and vehicles, should be initially absorbed by each delegation’s respective budget.

The timeframe required to prepare a regional delegation team is estimated to be approximately three months, which includes time to select and train the community engagement monitoring and training representatives, identify people who must be trained within the delegation (including the focal point), execute the training program, and reinforce the new concepts through on-the-job support.

After start-up, the delegations will have the autonomy to adapt activities to their specific realities, cultures, and budgets. The delegations can also include complementary activities that align with the CES start-up, but they should inform the Central Coordination Unit of any additions or modifications to the start-up activities for learning purposes.

After the initial three months, the Central Coordination Unit will hold a validation workshop with focal points from each of the pilot delegations to gather feedback on elements that work, elements that do not work, and elements that may need to be adjusted. The objective of this workshop is to provide input that will be used to improve the designed rollout plan, including modifications, exclusions, and additions to the originally selected start-up activities.

Once the start-up process is complete, which is expected to take six months, the eight delegations involved in the pilots, along with the Central Coordination Unit, will participate in a workshop to discuss their experiences, the results they achieved, the difficulties they faced, and recommendations for improvement. The participants will then present their findings to all the regional delegation leaders at EDM who are interested in expanding the pilot to their areas. The Central Coordination Unit will then review the results of the workshop, make any necessary changes to the CES and Roadmap, and prepare the remaining delegations for the national community engagement rollout, which should be initiated at most three months after the start-up pilots and both workshops are complete. This initial start-up process is not expected to require EDM to hire new staff; instead, EDM will ask existing staff members to take on community engagement roles.

2.4 EDM STAKEHOLDER START-UP ACTIVITIES

The start-up process will include a specific set of activities critical to aligning the CES with EDM’s regular operational activities and ensuring various projects are developed within a community engagement framework.

All of the following start-up activities can be done immediately and will not require significant EDM budgetary resources. However, these activities will require a cultural shift within the company and throughout its regional delegations. Before community engagement is initiated, EDM teams must be prepared to work with communities in a new way that involves effective participation by community stakeholders to develop EDM’s activities.

The adequate structuring and sequencing of EDM’s activities will facilitate the successful implementation of the community engagement process and lead to a culture change at EDM. The company must implement these activities as part of its normal operations and in accordance with identified business priorities. Regional delegations should adapt the activities to specific local and community circumstances.

To ensure clear roles and responsibilities for project and activity execution, the activities will be divided between the Central Coordination Unit and the regional delegations.


2.4.1 CENTRAL CORDINATION UNIT START-UP ACTIVITIES

As part of the start-up process, the Central Coordination Unit should consult with other EDM directorates that will be affected by community engagement activities to gather their input and support for the community engagement process. With this input, the Central Coordination Unit must take the following steps to set up the community engagement process at regional delegations:

1. Present the CES to EDM’s board of administrators and obtain its approval: The process of community engagement belongs to the whole organization and needs to be well understood, evaluated, and approved by EDM’s administrators to become an official company policy. Directly or indirectly, all EDM divisions will contribute to and be affected by the community engagement process.

Before the CES is submitted for board approval, it should be formally presented to the entire organization to gather input from EDM staff, make adjustments, and provide clarification. This can be done through workshops, visits by the Central Coordination Unit to various directorates, or small group discussions that enable greater participation.

2. Define the branding for EDM’s community engagement process: The brand will be the visual identity for all supporting materials used in the community engagement process. The community will associate this brand with EDM’s community engagement activities. Given that some of the company’s previous efforts in the community have not been well received, creating a new brand identify will allow a fresh start and improve relations. The dedicated visual identity will support the communication of important objectives and messages to the public and reinforce the image of the community engagement process. The following actions should be carried out to develop the desired brand:

• Define the name (e.g., EDM in the Community) and logo for the CES.

• Standardize the color scheme and designs used on the uniforms (e.g., shirts and caps) of EDM staff who engage with the community.

• Design and standardize mascots and images to be used in supporting materials.

• Design stickers with images and messages aimed at raising community awareness (e.g., “stay away from electrical networks, avoid accidents”) to be placed on EDM vehicles used to execute community-related work.

In the short term, the CES should be presented to and approved by EDM’s board of administrators as the first milestone to implementation. After it has been vetted, the Central Coordination Unit should present the CES and its anticipated benefits to the company, in light of the company’s transformation goals.

It is important to use a company that specializes in creating visual identities to ensure the design is striking, attractive, and galvanizes attention within the community. The connection between the visual identity and EDM’s community engagement process will ensure the visual identity works as an effective communication tool.


3. Develop community engagement procedures, guidelines, and communication materials for project implementation: It is essential to use standardized community engagement-related documents, controls, and reports across the company to ensure consistent branding and messages. These materials should be included as part of the local implementation on any project (e.g., electrification, transmission line construction, distribution infrastructure maintenance). The need to create materials using regional dialects should also be evaluated, including, if necessary, creating specific visual identities in regional dialects.

Once the supporting materials are developed, the Central Coordination Unit should provide them to the regional delegations and other EDM divisions. The supporting materials should include:

• Descriptions of start-up community engagement activities and implementation guidelines for each delegation

• Marketing material such as pamphlets, posters, and institutional videos

• Standardized messages about safety, energy theft, energy efficiency, and vandalism

• Established communication channels (e.g., SMS, email, cell phones, and letters) for EDM and community leaders to exchange information

• Standardized monitoring and evaluation reports and control mechanisms

The following supporting materials and processes should be developed and shared with regional delegations:

• Training materials to support community education around:

o Increasing the safe and efficient use of electricity o Reducing EDM network-related risks to the communities o Combating vandalism and electricity theft o Other topics that support EDM’s work or the work of community stakeholders

• Procedures and guidelines for community negotiation, engagement forums, and conflict resolution processes

• Procedures and guidelines for identifying formal community leadership, informal community leadership, and opinion leaders within the community

• Standardized documents for community engagement, such as:

o Templates to record meeting minutes o Recommended agendas and structures for executing community events o Collection sheets to register data from local communities

• A process for distributing meeting minutes to EDM’s internal stakeholders

• Basic information to encourage communities to use EDM’s operational customer engagement channels for requests, complaints, and denunciations as opposed to using community engagement channels


4. Execute a community engagement roadshow at EDM: Once approved by the board of administrators, it is critical to disseminate the CES across the entire organization to:

• Ensure credibility • Publicize community engagement activities under development • Seek employee engagement on the community engagement process

The Central Coordination Unit will manage the roadshow process, including selecting key venues for the roadshow and topics to gain buy-in from internal stakeholders. Companies that successfully implement community engagement initiatives typically appoint one or more spokespeople to lead the initial organizational buy-in process. This spokesperson must have absolute knowledge of the community engagement process, credibility within EDM, and extensive negotiation and communication skills. The spokesperson must be prepared and able to deal with issues raised by people inside and outside the organization. Organizational buy-in is required for the community engagement process to work; therefore, the spokesperson must support this process and train other advocates to manage this process until the community engagement process is completely rolled out, which can take up to five years.

The EDM director responsible for community engagement is the best person to fill the role of spokesperson. However, if he or she is not available, that director will appoint the most appropriate person from the Central Coordination Unit to serve as spokesperson in his or her place.

5. Develop a training curriculum and capacity development plan for community engagement: The Central Coordination Unit should develop a plan that ensures employees implementing community engagement initiatives have the appropriate training to do the work that will be assigned to them. The initial foundation of this training plan is laid out in Section 4. EDM’s capacity building efforts will require synchronization across the following areas to achieve results:

• Workforce Development: EDM must make sure that employees involved in community engagement have clear roles and responsibilities through detailed position descriptions. Personnel will need training on functional aspects of jobs such as operational procedures, budgeting, and rules for engaging with community members. Employees involved in community engagement will need the operational understanding, skills, and information needed to carry out their job responsibilities effectively. This requires not only adequate training of employees, but clear performance expectations for both employees and managers and monitoring and guidance from community engagement experts

• Organizational Development: The Central Coordination Unit will develop an engagement plan for communicating the benefits of community engagement to other operational groups within EDM. This will start at the roadshows mentioned earlier and evolve over time as more community engagement initiatives are implemented. It will be important for the community engagement team to have regular touch points with other operational teams within EDM so

All supporting materials distributed to communities should contain easy-to-understand messages and use visual illustrations to reinforce the messages. However, this does not mean that information should be restricted or be of poor quality.

A leading practice is to hold sector meetings across EDM, also known as roadshows, to allow in-depth discussions on community engagement, clarify doubts, and reassess the activities to be implemented based on employee criticisms and suggestions. The principal objective of these meetings is to motivate EDM employee engagement.


that those teams understand what the community engagement team does and why. EDM must develop or strengthen policies and processes that will support community engagement, such as strategies, operational plans with clearly defined goals, and resource allocation. It is also critical to define the leadership team for community engagement and how EDM’s top management will be involved in the process.

• Communities: EDM must evolve its organizational culture to encourage staff to seek innovative ways to develop relationships and partnerships with communities and other stakeholders to improve performance on community engagement and enable the execution of EDM’s strategic activities and projects.

Capacity building for community engagement should follow these steps:

• Develop training modules for the delegation field teams that will participate in the community engagement start-up process. Before training commences, all procedures, guides, report templates, controls, and meeting minutes must be prepared. The content of these training modules is detailed in Section 4.

• Develop training modules for community leaders who will be part of the community engagement start-up process. Before initiating training, all supporting materials must be prepared. The content of these training modules is detailed in Section 4.

• Structure training teams. The Central Coordination Unit should select and prepare the training and monitoring representatives who will participate in the community engagement start-up process. These representatives will act as mentors who will not only train delegation focal points and field operational teams, but also work with targeted EDM communities.

6. Map and engage identified stakeholders: Stakeholder mapping will also be important at multiple levels in the community engagement program. At the local level, regional delegation teams will implement the stakeholder mapping methodology defined by the Central Coordination Unit. The methodology will identify the profiles, interests, and preferred forms of communication to be used to ensure commitments from stakeholders. Local and national stakeholders who share mutual interests with EDM can become important champions for EDM initiatives.

Prior to mapping the stakeholders EDM should engage with, regional delegation teams must understand the role of community engagement at EDM and the aspects that will affect their communities, and then map which stakeholders are directly or indirectly affected by this work or whose interests and objectives could contribute to this work. To assist with stakeholder mapping and incorporate stakeholders’ ideas, the regional delegation teams should consider engaging stakeholders based on how they will affect EDM’s community engagement work:

• Dependence: Stakeholders EDM works with and who have a direct impact on EDM’s community engagement work because they are part of the community workflow. These stakeholders may include government officials, EDM employees, community leaders, and service suppliers.

• Participation: Stakeholders EDM is not dependent on; however, EDM can collaborate with these stakeholders on improvement and developments related to EDM’s community

Capacity building requires the development of a transformation map that considers EDM’s current state versus desired state of community engagement, as well as identifies actions plans to address gaps in the community engagement process.


engagement activities. These stakeholders may include consultants, service providers, donors, community-based organizations, and community sector networks.

• Influence: Stakeholders who can interfere positively or negatively with EDM’s image. These stakeholders may include the media and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

EDM will prioritize and seek partnerships with the following stakeholder groups:

Figure 6: Key Community Engagement Stakeholders

The process of stakeholder mapping and classification should be carried out by a specific working group whose members have strong external relations, understand the work of various stakeholders, and know the programs EDM has already developed in the communities.

The quality and intensity of communications between EDM and stakeholders will strongly affect the degree of stakeholder engagement.

The Central Coordination Unit should develop and maintain a database of communities to serve as the central repository of EDM’s current and ongoing engagement history.

7. Coordinate the action plan within EDM: Practically all operationalization of the start-up activities should be carried out by the regional delegations linked to EDM’s Directorate General of Distribution. The Central Coordination Unit will structure the action plan in coordination with these regional delegations and other EDM divisions to achieve the goals and targets established by EDM’s management.

8. Communicate EDM’s values and code of ethics to the communities: EDM is seeking to repair and grow its relationship with the communities that it serves. This is the reason why the

Stakeholders

1. Community-Based

Organizations

4. Social Media

3. Strategic Funders

2. EDM Staff

5. Civil Society Organizations /

NGOs

6. Local Government

The goals, objectives, execution schedules, responsibilities, and monitoring indicators for each activity must be provided to the entire organization. It is also advisable to break down activities into sub-activities for planning purposes.


Central Coordination Unit has aligned its activities to the company’s corporate values pillar. It is important that communities understand EDM is serious about working with them to improve overall electrical service across EDM’s service territory and that the company is committed to incentivizing ethical behavior by each of its employees. To achieve these objectives, the Central Coordination Unit will:

• Introduce EDM’s corporate values to the communities, including EDM’s code of ethics, as well as the complaints channel to combat corruption, in order to set a strong example of EDM’s commitment to integrity and transparency.

• Disseminate EDM’s social responsibility and sustainability policy, which seeks a balance between economic, social, and environmental interests in the development of initiatives and projects. This will help prevent inappropriate behavior by EDM employees and serve as an example to communities searching for solutions to problems.

• Disseminate safe behavior practices around electrical infrastructure, and alert people to unsafe behavior to help prevent individual accidents.

9. Communicate cost reduction and safety lessons with communities: The Central Coordination Unit will work with other EDM divisions to develop initiatives to inform community members on how to stay safe around electrical infrastructure, manage their monthly electricity bills, and improve their quality of life. To achieve these objectives, the Central Coordination Unit will:

• Engage specialized EDM employees to deliver training courses to the community on how to work with electrical installations in homes and small businesses, as well as guidance on energy efficiency.

• Share energy saving tips and guidance to help low-income households reduce their electricity bills.

• Develop an EDM volunteer work program in which a group of EDM employees work within the communities on non-energy-related projects. This will expose EDM staff to the realities faced by community members and contribute to problem resolution in these communities. Topics of these programs could include guidance on family budgeting, hygiene, and health; sexual education to avoid early pregnancy; environmental conservation, and combatting sexual harassment based on community requests and personnel knowledge.

10. Create a monitoring process for community engagement activities: Define a procedure for monitoring community engagement activities, including guidelines on what information to collect and the process for acquiring information. It will be critical for the Central Coordination Unit to set up a rigorous monitoring and evaluation system for its community engagement programming so that it can illustrate the value to the company of this type of work, how

Changing EDM’s culture by setting an example may be the most efficient way to introduce new values. In this instance, EDM intends to use its corporate value structure as a basis for community engagement work, and the company will try to influence the behavior of community members by promoting personal security and ethical conduct.

There is a very large knowledge base within EDM that can be shared with communities to help create job opportunities, start small businesses, and help customers achieve social gains.


community engagement activities should evolve, what is working well and what needs to be adjusted. The more this evaluation system should eventually be based on a cost-benefit analysis, the more compelling it will be across the company. This process is further elaborated in Section 5. To develop an effective evaluation system, the Central Coordination Unit should:

• Create a robust set of key performance indicators (KPIs) approved by EDM’s leadership, as well as guidance on how to collect the required information (see Section 5 for an initial list of KPIs)

• Create a manual to monitor and evaluate community engagement initiatives, including external community surveys and internal EDM surveys to gather opinions

• Define how frequently regional delegations should monitor and evaluate their community engagement activities

• Define procedures to assess the achievement of goals related to community engagement on a monthly, biannual, and annual basis

• Define a methodology to evaluate the intangible gains of community engagement activities, such as improving the company’s image in the communities

11. Build strategic partnerships to support community engagement activities: Strategic partnerships with key leaders, civil society organizations, and associations are at the center of community engagement work. It will be operationally challenging and expensive to communicate directly to every single customer within a community; therefore, it is important to build relationships with well-respected entities in the community. To build effective strategic partnerships, the Central Coordination Unit should:

• Gain new insights and experiences based on the involvement of partners who already work with communities

• Ensure additional employees are available for the execution of community engagement activities

• Coordinate assistance with development partners to execute the support suggested in this document and other activities of interest to EDM

• Prioritize activities that leverage current EDM resources to manage costs, such as community education and corporate social responsibility events

• Publicize EDM’s community engagement work to improve the company’s image

2.4.2 REGIONAL DELEGATION START-UP ACTIVITIES

This section describes the community engagement start-up activities that fall under the responsibility of regional delegations, ideally led by their focal point. By its very nature, community engagement work must be tailored to the audiences and communities it serves. As such, regional delegation teams must take the following steps to set up the community engagement process:

Monitoring results is essential not only to ensuring the achievement of goals, but also to building trust in the community engagement process. It is important to evaluate the results of activities before and after the process of community engagement.


1. Select and prioritize communities: Each delegation should consider its specific characteristics and difficulties when selecting communities for the community engagement pilot. The following selection criteria should be considered:

• Communities that need new connections, per the National Electrification Program, with most new connections focused in the northern regions of the country

• Locations targeted by EDM to reduce the number of accidents, particularly low-income communities where most accidents occur

• Communities with a high number of complaints (complaints should be mapped to ensure the most affected communities are selected)

• Locations with many irregular connections or electricity thefts (irregularities should be mapped to ensure the most affected communities are selected)

• Communities with a high incidence of vandalism of the electrical network

• Public policies or government requests that target activities, projects, or initiatives EDM intends to carry out in the communities

• Existing partnerships with community organizations or the possibility to re-establish these partnerships

• Possibility of partnerships with donors or other interested parties in communities where stakeholders already perform some type of community engagement work

• Social responsibility projects in communities that are most exposed to poverty

2. Produce detailed mapping of selected and prioritized communities: The regional delegation teams must carry out field surveys in selected communities or hold workshops with community leaders to gather the following information:

• Profiles of community leaders

• Data from organizations operating in the community

• General characteristics of the community defined by its geographical limits

• Key needs and aspirations of the community, per community leaders and organizations

• Community profile based and its possible value to EDM’s work, its legitimacy, and its degree of influence over EDM

This data should be collected and stored according to procedures developed by the Central Coordination Team.

Communities should be identified and selected based on their interaction and historical relationships with EDM, including areas where EDM has direct and indirect influence, areas where intervention will significantly affect EDM’s activities and projects, areas with current and future interest groups, and areas affected by EDM’s programs.


3. Map affected groups: Conduct a survey and analysis, according to a methodology defined by the Central Coordination Unit, to identify the main groups that contribute to or are affected by community engagement. This survey should consider the influence, proximity, dependence, and strategic interests of these groups. Next, perform a cost-benefit analysis to prioritize these groups. Regional delegations should work with municipal counterparts that have information related to these groups and their needs. These affected groups should be segmented and mapped as follows:

• Community organizations, including local associations, religious organizations, and artistic or cultural groups

• Civil society organizations and NGOs

• Local government organizations

• Strategic partners on community development and anti-poverty goals, including institutional donors, international development banks, and service providers

• Media agencies and social networking groups

• Internal EDM stakeholders involved directly or indirectly with the community engagement process

It is important to map these groups in order to keep them informed on EDM’s planned community engagement activities, as well as assess potential collaboration opportunities.

4. Regional delegations should hold community engagement roadshows for community leaders in their regions: The regional delegations should organize workshops with community leaders to present EDM’s vision, as well as discuss the best ways to communicate with community leaders and involve them in EDM activities and projects. Community leaders will have the opportunity to share their insights and help EDM leadership make resource allocation decisions.

5. Identify the community’s motivations, interests, and level of satisfaction with EDM: After the initial mapping step, the regional delegation teams should meet with community leaders to:

• Seek perceptions, interests, doubts, criticisms, and suggestions from community leaders and other people who live in the communities

• Conduct sample surveys, individual interviews, and focus groups to understand community problems, requests, and satisfaction with EDM’s activities

Mapping is fundamental to defining the strategy for work with each community. EDM must never assume that all communities are the same.

Facilitating buy-in is how community relationships typically begin. Negotiating with communities and developing a common understanding of challenges must be done in a transparent way using accessible language and, above all, respect for the possible limitations and cultural characteristics of a community.


These meetings will help the regional delegation teams discover the most effective negotiation approach to use with community leaders. It is critical to understand how the regional delegation teams should communicate the company’s plans to the affected groups in the community, and this requires understanding the motivations and values of these groups.

6. Create negotiation, exchange of information, and engagement mechanisms for the communities: The success of the community engagement process depends on the quality of the relationships built with community leaders and community members. When building relationships, it is important to create basic conditions for the flow of information during negotiations. This will ensure the negotiations are reliable, high quality, and progress at the speed desired by both parties. To achieve these objectives, the regional delegation teams should:

• Define the location for periodic meetings, public consultations, and forums targeted at community leaders, as well as events open to the entire community

• Define the process for exchanging information, documents, and supporting materials

• Schedule time to listen and share information with community leaders (e.g., community councils, energy committees, neighborhood meetings)

• Determine the informational materials that should be available to community leaders and others at each type of community meeting or event

• Determine how to plan joint work with community leaders, assess how EDM’s work should be carried out, and define associated troubleshooting processes

The objective of negotiations is to clarify the community support EDM needs and what EDM can offer in exchange. This will help manage the expectations of all parties.

7. Build internal EDM capacity to address complaints from the communities: It is common at the beginning of community engagement work for community leaders to use meetings with EDM to voice complaints about the services provided by EDM and the quality of energy supplied. The regional delegation teams should also help redirect community leaders to EDM’s traditional and official channels for registering issues, requests, complaints, and suggestions.

When listening to community leaders, any type of questioning, confrontation, or value analysis should be avoided, and any criticism or denunciation received from community leaders or other community members should be properly addressed.

Whenever EDM uses community leadership to assist in the execution of an activity or project, it is essential to meet with the leaders to negotiate this support and ensure they understand the purpose of the requested help and what they need to do.


8. Document contributions and complaints received from communities: The regional delegation teams should train EDM employees involved in community engagement to properly record and document requests received from any location, as well as key outcomes from community meetings. To achieve these goals, the regional delegation teams should:

• Develop a tool to record all suggestions and complaints received from communities

• Use a standard format to prepare minutes of meetings with community leaders or any type of community event

• Forward the minutes of meetings and events to EDM staff and the communities

9. Create mechanisms to manage commitments made by EDM to the communities: There is no greater impediment to establishing an effective relationship with community leaders than not fulfilling commitments. While it is not possible to manage all EDM employee interactions with communities, the regional delegation teams should establish a process to monitor EDM employees and the appropriate measures they take to fulfill the company’s commitments. To achieve these goals, the regional delegation teams should:

• Follow an established internal approval procedure to deal with community demands for which EDM has made commitments

• Organize a management and control process for all community requests to guarantee feedback is provided, regardless of whether or not requests can be met

• Define a procedure to escalate community complaints on inappropriate conduct by EDM employees, even if it involves community members using EDM’s ethics channel

• Define a process to evaluate community satisfaction with EDM’s conduct and ability to satisfy community requests received through consultations

Before any meeting with community leaders, it is important to present a meeting agenda with the topics to be addressed in order to keep the discussions focused and help community leaders prepare properly for the meeting. Depending on the subject of the meeting, it is common for community leaders to bring another person from the community to the meeting who understands the issues to be discussed.

It is good practice to provide boxes at EDM office locations and across the communities for employees and community members to provide anonymous suggestions and complaints. Care must be taken to record these contributions and provide feedback.

It is important to have an agenda for regular meetings with community leaders to address the community demands that EDM has committed to addressing, but which have not yet been met, and if necessary, justify the difficulties faced in ensuring the prompt fulfilment of commitments.


10. Manage community expectations: Even with a proactive process of community engagement, there will be a need to work reactively to respond to unfulfilled community complaints or expectations. Delegations should act to prevent conflicts with communities and, in unavoidable cases of conflict, establish response mechanisms to manage and resolve conflicts with support from the Central Coordination Unit. The plan to manage community expectations and complaints should:

• Promote awareness on how to file complaints using local energy committees and community leaders

• Provide communities with access to a fair and transparent mechanism to submit complaints and obtain resolution on disputes at no cost and with no fear of reprisals

• Minimize the impact of complaints by negotiating agreements with complainants on appropriate and mutually acceptable corrective actions in a collaborative way

• Promptly implement agreed-upon corrective actions to prevent complaints from escalating out of control

• Ensure that complaints are recorded, tracked, and documented with confidentiality, and keep complainants informed on the progress of complaint resolution

• Monitor the trends and nature of complaints to assess the effectiveness of the community engagement process

11. Develop mechanisms to manage conflict situations with communities: The delegations and the Central Coordination Unit should train employees involved in managing community relationships on how to avoid or resolve conflicts. The training should:

• Provide measures for conflict prevention

• Provide measures for short-term conflict management, including a negotiation policy

• Provide measures to resolve the causes of conflicts and prevent new conflicts from occurring around the same issue

2.5 SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Supporting activities can strengthen community engagement, and although they are not central to its deployment, they are highly recommended to cement the community engagement process. These

When expectations are not met, it will generate community frustration and dissatisfaction with EDM, so aligning expectations is fundamental to maintaining constructive relationships with communities. Community engagement work should improve EDM’s operational performance and commercial conditions, as well as deliver social gains to the community. However, occasionally EDM cannot satisfy community expectations, and in such cases, EDM should not fuel expectations that are not viable.

There are many causes for conflict with communities, but the most common causes are bad communication and the exclusion of a community leader from participating in EDM’s work. There are many conflict resolution methodologies, but the most important rule is to understand the interests of those who are creating the conflict and negotiate a resolution.


supporting activities can help bolster EDM’s reputation in the communities and with the customers its serves.

It is the Central Coordination Unit’s responsibility to evaluate, propose, and prioritize supporting activities based on their expected returns to EDM, as well as seek financing for these identified supporting activities, either internally or through external resources (i.e., donor funding, alliances with private companies, partnerships with the government).

These supporting activities are not included in EDM’s annual operating budget because they are not directly related to its core business activities. As such, EDM would like to implement the following supporting activities, but these implementations will depend on the availability of resources from EDM and its partners. The costs for these activities were estimated through discussions with the Directorate for Health, Environment, and Safety based on previous efforts related to similar activities and budgets from similar projects undertaken by other government-owned utilities.

1. Replacement of inefficient equipment to reduce energy consumption

Description: EDM aims to develop a program to replace high-power incandescent or fluorescent lamps in low-income households with LED lamps. Other inefficient equipment can also be replaced to help communities reduce their energy consumption.

Objective: Evaluate how both community members and EDM benefit from the reduction of electricity theft and vandalism. Communities must understand that reduced energy bills must be complemented by reduced theft to align with EDM’s strategic objectives.

Scope: Replace high-energy incandescent or fluorescent lamps with LED lamps. These LED lamps should be installed in three communities for each of the four delegations that will participate in the community engagement start-up, reaching about 12 communities.

Expected Benefits: Reduce the level of household electricity consumption in order for families to afford electricity and ensure a sustainable electrification process.

2. Contracting and training community engagement agents

Description: Contract community-based associations to provide community agents for door-to-door visits to community members to educate them about the risks of electrical grid accidents, irregular connections, energy theft, and the efficient use of energy.

Objective: Strengthen EDM’s workforce by engaging local people from the communities to facilitate community access and communicate with the local population. This will contribute to the socioeconomic development of communities through job creation.

Scope: Hire associations in three communities for each of the four delegations that will participate in the community engagement start-up, reaching about 12 communities.

Expected Benefits: Locally hired agents will be more effective in communicating with local communities about educational matters that EDM intends to execute in the communities.

Activity: Supply energy efficient LED bulbs (i.e., 10 watt bulbs with 25,000-hour lifespans)

Total Cost: $350,000, including the cost to contract people from the communities to carry out the replacement of the lamps


3. Community empowerment

Description: EDM must plan social responsibility projects to empower communities and enhance leadership and grassroots associations. In this sense, gains from the community empowerment program should be evaluated to ensure they help leaders grow their capacity for organizational development and autonomy. The program should:

• Promote cultural and artistic initiatives of local group associations

• Support the entrepreneurship initiatives of young people, especially regarding business training opportunities

• Support initiatives aimed at the elderly people in communities, especially initiatives that create opportunities for cultural and leisure development

• Create educational programs to raise awareness about the safe use of electricity

• Create educational programs that contribute to gender inclusion and the empowerment of women

Objective: Strengthen the relationships with communities and seek alternative actions that meet their needs in order to build win-win relationships.

Scope: Develop one social responsibility project in three communities for each of the four delegations that will participate in the community engagement start-up, reaching about 12 communities.

Expected Benefits: Contribute to the socioeconomic development of the community through the creation of opportunities for specific social groups in the communities.

4. Develop a community garden project underneath the transmission line right of way

Description: Structure a pilot project to grant land use rights to community-based associations for agricultural development in these areas, preferably for the cultivation of produce consumed by the communities, as well as the sale of the remaining produce.

Objectives: Generate income and sources of employment for community members and prevent the invasion of this space for illegal uses, such as unsafe housing.

Scope: Develop one pilot project in each of the four delegations that will participate in the community engagement start-up, reaching a total of four communities.

Activity: Engage 12 community-based associations

Total Cost: $144,000 per year, including the cost to contract four or five agents per community

Activity: Plan, undertake, and manage 12 social responsibility projects

Total Cost: $120,000 over the lifetime of the project


Expected Benefits: Contribute to the socioeconomic development of communities through the creation of local jobs, revenue generation, and food provisions for local families. Furthermore, the community garden will help protect company assets and potentially mitigate vandalism.

5. Develop communication platforms and media kits

Description: Disseminate EDM’s community engagement activities to newspapers, radio stations, and television stations

Objectives: Disseminate EDM’s community engagement work to strengthen the internal culture at EDM and achieve support for EDM’s activities within the communities.

Expected Benefits: Provide credibility to the community engagement process and motivate EDM employees and stakeholders.

6. Create a customer relations manual

Description: Develop and normalize information to pass to current and future clients about the scope of the community engagement program.

Objectives: The messages developed must be compiled in a customer relations manual and must include appropriate language, voice, and graphic content.

Expected Benefits: Develop a customer relations manual that drives a new customer-centric culture across EDM.

7. Establish energy committees and community engagement forums

Description: Structure a communication and training plan for EDM representatives and agents in the selected pilot delegations where community engagement activities will start.

Objectives: Create infrastructure for the energy committees, and purchase tools for community leaders, such as cell phones, computers, and other materials.

Activity: Plan and build four community garden pilot projects

Total Cost: $50,000 per year

Activity: Platform development and supporting media materials

Total Cost: Approximately $800,000 to develop and launch across media channels

Activity: Develop the customer relations manual and train EDM staff on its usage

Total Cost: Approximately $100,000 for technical assistance to develop and disseminate the manual


Expected Benefits: In the short term, the energy committees will serve as a channel for EDM to discuss and negotiate issues with community leaders.

Costs: $40,000, including the estimated cost for technical assistance and communications items

Activity: Develop a communication and training plan and create supporting documentation

Total Cost: Approximately $40,000 for the technical assistance and supporting documentation

2.6 IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE

Once the CES is approved by EDM’s board of administrators, the start-up process will begin. The implementation of all start-up activities will take place over a period of one year through the rollout pilots. The following Gantt Chart shows the implementation of the start-up activities by the Central Coordination Unit and the regional delegations at a high level.

Figure 7: Community Engagement Implementation Gantt Chart

2.6.1 TIMELINE FOR CENTRAL COORDINATION UNIT

Figure 8: Implementation Timeline for the Central Coordination Unit, by Month

Strategic Pillar Activities Months

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Cor

pora

te V

alue

s &

Gov

erna

nce

Present and obtain approval of the CES from the board of administrators Perform internal coordination of the action plan (pilot) Create a monitoring process for community engagement actions

Com

mun

icat

ion

Define the brand for the EDM community engagement process

Prepare a customer relations manual

Develop communication platforms and media kits

Deploy communication platforms and media

Cap

acity

Bu

ildin

g

Execute community engagement roadshow at EDM Coordinate responsibilities and educational programs

Transfer knowledge to communities

USAID SRUC | ROADMAP FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT 32


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Develop resource documents and supporting materials Build internal capacity to implement community engagement

Stra

tegi

c Pa

rtne

rshi

ps

Map and engage identified stakeholders Build strategic partnerships to support community engagement activities Establish energy committees and community engagement forums

2.6.2 TIMELINE FOR REGIONAL DELEGATION TEAMS

Figure 9: Implementation Timeline for the Regional Delegation Teams, by Month


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Cor

pora

te V

alue

s &

Gov

erna

nce

Produce detailed mapping of selected and prioritized communities

Map impacted groups

Document contributions and complaints received from communities Create mechanisms to manage commitments EDM makes to the communities Create mechanisms to manage community expectations Develop mechanisms to manage conflict situations with communities Negotiate, exchange information, and engage with communities

Cap

acity

Bui

ldin

g

Identify community motivations, interests, and levels of satisfaction with EDM’s work Build internal capacity to implement community engagement Execute community engagement roadshow for community leaders Contract and train community engagement agents



1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Train community on empowerment

Select and prioritize communities

Soci

al

Res

pons

ibili

ty

and

Gen

der

Prom

otio

n

Start a community garden project underneath the transmission line tracks Replace inefficient equipment with modern appliances that will reduce energy consumption in the communities

3 COMMUNICATION PLAN Communication is the main facilitator for implementing all community engagement initiatives and building relationships with community stakeholders. Thus, communication planning should be aligned with the start-up of the community engagement process for the eight selected communities and should support EDM’s business objectives. A communication platform must also be enabled.

The success of the communication plan hinges on developing an understanding of the targeted communities, including their cultures, values, habits, interests, electricity needs, energy consumption habits, energy preferences, and other behavioral factors. This understanding will determine the ways in which EDM employees relate to the communities, as well as help EDM develop increasingly personalized communication content.

The following is an action plan for setting up EDM’s communication plan for the beginning of the community engagement process in its regional rollout pilots:

3.1 COMMUNICATION WITH COMMUNITIES

The action plan should be developed after discussions and negotiations with community leaders in order to seek the best available options and take into account the characteristics of the communities in each delegation. The plan should:

• Negotiate with community leaders on the preferred means of communication (e.g., cellular, email, WhatsApp) to contact community leaders for daily communication

• Define the media format to use to disseminate messages and educational content to communities (e.g., newsletters and posters)

• Include training for EDM employees who will contact community leaders on how to use adequate, objective, and easily understandable language.

3.2 COMMUNICATION WITH STAKEHOLDERS

Stakeholders will be involved with EDM’s work in the communities either voluntarily or involuntarily, and therefore, these relationships need to deliver benefits to both parties. Communication between the parties requires special care to maintain their engagement.

The stakeholder communication plan should take into account the profile and characteristics of each stakeholder, as well as EDM’s interest in involving each stakeholder in the community engagement process. To achieve these objectives, the plan should define the following:

• Frequency: How often EDM communicates with stakeholders (e.g., weekly, monthly)

• Format: Means by which communication is made (e.g., email, website, face to face)

• Responsibility: Person in charge of preparing communications (e.g., project manager)

Communication is the most important tool for adding value, building relationships, and pursuing community engagement. Communication should always be a two-way process, and all communication materials should be adapted to the reality of the target audience.


• Audience: Group of people who will receive the communication

• Motivator: Person who understands why it is necessary to make the communication

3.3 MEDIA COMMUNICATION AND MANAGEMENT

This is the most complex part of the action plan because it is directly linked to EDM’s strategy in terms on how to build its brand and marketing image. It should cover the following:

• Prepare the materials that EDM intends to disclose

• Choose the media outlets that will receive spontaneous or paid content on EDM’s community engagement activities

• Define a procedure to guide EDM’s relationship with the media (e.g., information that requires authorization to disclose)

• Develop a spokesperson training program on how to manage media relationships and interviews

3.4 INTERNAL COMMUNICATION

Internal communication is the key to keeping EDM employees informed and committed to the process of community engagement. The Central Coordination Unit shall define what reports, decisions, documents, and other materials to share internally within EDM, as well as with whom and with what frequency. The internal communication plan should consider the needs and expectations of EDM’s various divisions regarding community engagement and seek to deliver all content that is necessary and sufficient to meet those demands.

EDM should use the following means of communication to address the full range of needs presented in the communication plan:

Figure 10: Means of Communication for Community Engagement Group Description Communication Plan Frequency

Community-Based Organizations

Formal leaders (e.g., district and quarter chiefs, regulators) and informal leaders mapped out in the communities, as well as energy

a) Meet and listen to the community Quarterly b) Consultation meeting Casual c) Workshop Annual d) Newsletter: “EDM in the Community” Semester

Periodically, EDM should test whether stakeholders are getting the information they want or feel informed. This will help stakeholders feel valued and keep them engaged.

The dissemination of community engagement materials to the media not only promotes EDM’s image, but also attracts the interest of donors and partners, has a positive effect on the organization, and makes EDM employees proud of the company's work.

Too much communication can lose people’s attention, while too little can discourage and disengage people. A good practice is to conduct consultations with EDM divisions on communications that are important to them, as well as communications they do not need.


Group Description Communication Plan Frequency committees and resident associations

e) Visits to EDM (e.g., delegation office) Annually f) Meetings with energy committees Monthly g) Publications on social media Casual

Local Government

Representatives of municipalities and provincial secretaries

a) Idea workshops Semester b) Other workshops Casual c) Informative emails Casual d) Newsletter: “EDM in the Community” Semester

EDM Staff Board of administrators, employees, key people for the implementation of the CES

a) Idea workshops Semester b) Alignment workshops Casual c) Informative emails Semester d) Newsletter: “EDM in the Community” Semester

Strategic Partners

Donors and others mapped with interest in community engagement

a) Engagement meetings Casual b) Workshops annual c) Informative emails Casual d) Newsletter: “EDM in the Community” Semester

Social Media Radio, television, newspaper, and other

a) Informative emails Casual b) Idea workshops Casual

It is important to analyze and evaluate the possibility of incorporating modern and social media communication formats for communities and stakeholders, as these are what they use most frequently.

It will also be critical to constantly monitor the performance of the communication plan to make necessary adjustments.


4 TRAINING PLANS

4.1 TRAINING PLAN FOR EDM EMPLOYEES

Training EDM employees who will be directly involved in community engagement work is essential to the success of the community engagement process. Based on their defined roles and responsibilities, EDM employees should be trained on the following:

• Community engagement supporting materials and tools • Community engagement procedures • Ways of communicating with the community

The training courses should primarily focus on building capacity on key community engagement processes, both on the EDM side and the community side.

Internal EDM training will ensure all employees, from the Central Coordination Unit to the local project coordination teams to the regional delegation operational staff and focal points, are all aligned on what community engagement means at EDM and how to implement it in their activities.

The following table presents sample courses that should be included in the training plan for EDM employees:

Figure 11: Training Plan Summary

Training Course Central

Coordination Unit

Local Project Coordination

Team

Regional Delegations

Community

FOR EDM EMPLOYEES

Community Engagement Process

X X X

Community Communication

X X

FOR THE COMMUNITY

Energy Efficiency X X

Electrical Network Security X X X

EDM Business Processes X

Community Leadership and Management

X X

4.2 OVERVIEW OF TRAINING COURSES FOR EDM EMPLOYEES

a. Community Engagement Process

Description


Introduce EDM employees to the community engagement process and help them develop skills and strategies to effectively work with community groups and other stakeholders. Duration

• One week Responsible

• The CE Central Coordination Unit it will be responsible for training EDM employees who will participate in community engagement activities in order to ensure consistency and messaging

Objectives • Identify the benefits of community engagement • Identify ways to involve the community in EDM’s professional activities • Work with community groups to define their needs and goals for effective engagement • Describe the value of community engagement work • Describe how to explain technical concepts to communities • Identify opportunities to improve community engagement for a specific project or initiative

Audience • Team that coordinates the environmental impact • EDM directors • Delegation teams • Engagement team focal points • Local association and agent focal points

Content Part 1. Practical Skills for Community Engagement

• How to communicate the benefits and needs of community involvement • How to address community engagement needs and opportunities directly in your project • How engagement with communities can deliver better results for your project • Skills to improve how you engage with community groups

Part 2. Strategies for Developing Community Engagement Initiatives • Principles, theories, and core activities of community engagement • Management of projects, protocols, and evaluation methods • Community engagement and recruitment • How to navigate EDM (i.e., internal stakeholders, funding, communication)

b. Community Communication

Description Help EDM employees learn to convey information to communities, as well as explain how to keep permanent channels of communication open with community stakeholders. Duration

• One week Responsible

• Central Coordination Unit Objectives

• How communication strategies and community engagement support EDM activities • How to assess information, community engagement, and supporting partnership needs • Understand the different communication channels • Understand the challenges related to disseminating information in humanitarian contexts • Practical skills on active engagement with affected communities


Audience • Team that coordinates the environmental impact • EDM directors • Delegation teams • Local association and agent focal points

Content • Objectives of community engagement • Information to share with communities • Communication procedures with communities • Event management • Increased community participation • Improving your response to feedback and complaints • Communication channels • Message development • Rumor and expectations management • Engaging and working with partners

4.3 TRAINING PLAN FOR COMMUNITY LEADERS

A training plan should be provided to community leaders on how to relate to EDM, as well as an overview of the means of communication EDM will use to partner with community leaders on the execution of community engagement activities.

Community training will be initiated across the pilot delegations. Community training is a key way to improve community relations and a central part of the community engagement process itself. The content of community training courses should focus on ways for community members to engage with EDM on issues that affect their lives (i.e., electricity bills, efficient use of appliances and lighting).

4.4 OVERVIEW OF TRAINING COURSES FOR COMMUNITY LEADERS

a. Energy Efficiency

Description Present strategies to implement effective energy efficiency actions, including actions with a high initial investment but rapid return, such as switching from LED lighting to zero or low-cost lighting. Duration

• Two days per community Responsible

• Directorate of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Objectives The potential for energy savings in residential buildings is enormous, especially in condominiums, but there are few training opportunities on renewable energy and energy efficiency for community leaders. In this way, the path to energy efficiency is often left unknown to the community, which ultimately leads to increases in energy costs. This course will train community leaders and homeowners on renewable energy and energy efficiency so they can find opportunities to reduce consumption in their communities. Audience

• Community Leaders o Block heads o Neighborhood secretaries o Regulators


• Leaders of partner companies • EDM employees

Content • Analysis of community lighting, water heating pumps, lifts, and air conditioning • Photovoltaic solar generation concepts, legislation, and economic viability • Energy management, including monitoring consumption and identifying anomalies and cost reduction

opportunities

b. Electrical Network Security

Description Educate communities on the potential risks posed by the electrical network and the security measures communities can adopt to minimize those risks. Duration


• Directorate for Health, Environment, and Safety Objectives

• Educate community leaders on existing electrical network hazards • Inform community leaders about security procedures they can follow to minimize risks • Train community leaders on security strategies that communities can take to reduce risks

Audience • Community leaders

o Block heads o Neighborhood secretaries o Regulators


Content • Dangers and safety on low, medium, and high voltage lines • Electrical safety in homes • Dangers of tampering with the EDM power grid • Cases of negligence that affect the safety of EDM workers and the general population


c. EDM Business Processes

Description Train community leaders to be EDM community spokespersons who can respond to client issues. Duration


• Commercial General Directorate Objectives

• Educate community leaders about EDM’s internal business processes, such as opening contracts, lines to contact, and the complaints process




Content • Procedure for opening a contract • Customer service lines • Application of tariffs • Alternatives for energy purchase • How to make complaints and suggestions to EDM


d. Community Leadership and Management

Description Provide community leaders with management skills so they can become more empowered. Duration

• Four weeks Responsible

• Central Coordination Unit Objectives

• Help community leaders make a behavioral transition • Help community leaders understand their role in managing the community • Reinforce the role of leader • Offer skills to help leaders stop acting as technicians and start acting as people managers




Content • Procedures for sharing information between EDM and the communities • Establishing a plan to address community needs • Stimulate critical thinking • Understand the importance of time management • Goal setting • Autonomy and decision making • How to manage conflicts in the community • Develop emotional intelligence • Manage people and communities


5 PERFORMANCE MONITORING Performance monitoring will be critical for the rigor of the community engagement process and allow the company to assess its impact quantitatively and qualitatively. As discussed in Section 2, performance monitoring will be a critical part of the Central Coordination Unit’s start-up activities. To do this, EDM must create key performance indicators (KPIs) for the community engagement process. These KPIs not only provide a view into the outcomes of the community engagement process, but also build credibility within EDM regarding the effectiveness and value this new process adds to the business.

To meet EDM’s need to measure the results of the community engagement process and the impact it has on various initiatives, the Central Coordination Unit should create KPIs that can be used in reports and surveys. Any EDM divisions that will use the KPIs should assist the Central Coordination Unit in establishing and measuring these KPIs.

Key questions to consider when establishing the KPIs include:

• Who needs the KPI and why? • What information needs to be collected? • What is the feasibility of collecting this information on a permanent basis? • What is the purpose of using the KPI? • Up to when does the KPI need to be available or updated? • How precise does the KPI need to be? • What level of effort is required to collect information and calculate the KPI? • Can the current resource structure manage the level of effort required?

The KPIs chosen for community engagement must align with EDM’s strategic objectives. A broad set of KPI should be selected initially, then reassessed and revised once they are implemented through the regional pilots, based on their value to EDM.

KPIs may be qualitative rather than quantitative. KPIs should assess whether a given action is achieving satisfactory results. It is important to define rules on how to classify a performance as poor, satisfactory, good, or excellent.

KPIs may also be external and internal. Some KPIs should be used to measure the community’s perception and satisfaction with EDM’s work or development plans for the community. Other KPIs should evaluate the internal work climate at EDM, that is, how satisfied EDM employees are with the work being done by the company related to community engagement. The data on these KPIs can be collected through surveys.

In line with the strategic objectives outlined by EDM in its transformation plan and the goals of the community engagement process defined in the CES, the company should begin with the following set of initial KPIs:

Community surveys should be done annually to assess the level of satisfaction community leaders have for the community engagement process. Additionally, an EDM employee survey should be done annually (anonymously) to measure employees’ satisfaction with the community engagement activities completed throughout the year.


Figure 12: Initial KPIs for Community Engagement

Objective KPI

Build the process of community engagement with community leaders

1. Percentage participation of community leaders at meetings 2. Number of suggestions received from community leaders 3. Number of community leaders, districts, and communities

involved in community engagement 4. Number of corruption cases reported by community leaders

after community engagement in introduced Reduce the number and severity of accidents within the community

5. Number of incidents avoided due to community leaders 6. Number of reports of unsafe conditions indicated by

community leaders

Improve performance and reduce process costs for domestic electricity

7. Number of new calls made with the help of community leaders 8. Additional revenue achieved after new calls made

Reduce EDM’s commercial losses

9. Additional revenue achieved after reduction of energy theft as a result of help from community leaders

10. Reduction in the number of fraud cases and direct links after educational work with community leaders

11. Number of complaints filed by community leaders regarding illegal counter substitutions

Deploy a communication platform for community leaders

12. Evaluation of the satisfaction of community leaders with the communication process

13. Evaluation of the satisfaction of communities with the communication process

14. Number of educational materials distributed to the communities with the help of community leaders

15. Number of EDM meetings held per month with communities in each region

16. Number of advertisements placed on community radio stations per month

Improve EDM’s image within the community

17. Results of customer satisfaction surveys regarding the quality of power supplied to the communities

18. Reduction in the number of complaints

Engage community stakeholders and build partnerships

19. Number of communities and strategic partners engaged 20. Number of initiatives developed with the support of

community stakeholders and partners 21. Partnerships and funding received for the community

engagement process

Valorization of the community leaders involved in community engagement

22. Number of complaints from community leaders regarding their involvement in EDM processes

23. Number of complaints from community leaders about the EDM communication form

24. Number of complaints from community leaders regarding unanswered requests

25. Number of community leaders who complete training courses 26. Number of community leader visits to EDM facilities 27. Number of community leader accomplishments publicized in

newspapers and on radio stations 28. Percentage of requests received from community leaders

Reduce theft and vandalism

29. Number of complaints received from community leaders about theft and vandalism

30. Number of inspections done with the help of community leaders


6 CASE STUDY – NATIONAL ELETRIFICATION PROGRAM Presented below is a high-level overview of community engagement activities initiatives that can support the National Electrification Program. More specific operational guidance requires information from EDM that is not yet available and should originate from leadership decisions regarding:

• Regional connection targets with established dates • Criteria for defining customers to be served in the short, medium and long term • Timelines for the procurement and deployment of Credelec meters

EDM is still in the process of making decisions on major structural elements of the National Electrification Program. Since these decisions have yet to be made, the community engagement start-up activities to support the National Electrification Program are high level and act as a guide for that local project coordination team.

START-UP COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVES FOR THE NATIONAL ELETRIFICATION PROGRAM

Start-up community engagement activities should be structured to support the execution of the National Electrification Program by involving community leaders to facilitate the identification of households with no access to electricity in each community and the planning and timeline for connections. The goal is for community engagement approaches to help accelerate the identification process, meet existing community demands, and create a sustainable customer relationship from the outset.

Depending on the region of Mozambique or the specific conditions of a community, it is possible that some of these activities will need to be adapted to the local conditions or new activities will need to be added to meet local needs or requests of community leaders. As implementation begins, these activities should be negotiated and tailored with community leaders and regional delegations.

Priority activities for the National Electrification Program should initially include the following:

1. Engage in operational coordination of the National Electrification Program. An operational team will be responsible for coordinating all operational activities for the National Electrification Program. This team should involve the Central Coordination Unit for community engagement to obtain the support of community leaders. A representative from the Central Coordination Unit must participate in the planning of the National Electrification Program and monitor program-related meetings. The main success factor for the community engagement process is proper alignment between the Central Coordination Unit and EDM’s operational teams.

2. Identify the communities to be covered by the National Electrification Program. EDM is setting up an electrification management unit (EMU) to coordinate all National Electrification Program activities. It will be the EMU’s responsibility to define annual new connection targets by region. Delegations will provide details to support this goal and identify which communities to serve. The Central Coordination Unit for community engagement must participate in these planning activities to ensure community leaders assist with connection mapping and help the delegations during the connection process.

3. Provide supporting materials on the community engagement process to EDM employees working on electrification projects. The Central Coordination Unit for community engagement must develop and prepare all supporting materials distributed to the communities as part of the National Electrification Program, including posters, folders, and booklets. The Central Coordination Unit will also provide uniforms to the delegation teams that will work with community leaders. The uniforms and printed materials will use defined standards and branding for community engagement work.


4. Build internal capacity for the National Electrification Program. Identify the employees within each delegation who will develop training programs for community members, as well as build relationships with community leaders through the leadership engagement process. These employees will also involve community leaders when planning new connection work and develop two-way communication between various stakeholders.

5. Map community stakeholders. The delegations will be responsible for mapping community stakeholders with the guidance, support, and supervision of the Central Coordination Unit for community engagement. In addition to mapping community leaders, it is important to map other opinion makers, people, and organizations working in the community. EDM must listen to all stakeholders, ask their opinions about EDM’s current and planned work in the communities, and negotiate leadership support. In many cases, civil society organizations such as neighborhood associations, women’s associations, and NGOs can provide support.

6. Implement community engagement and obtain buy-in from community leaders. EDM must build a solid and effective communication approach to negotiate engagement with communities. After mapping the community leaders in an area targeted for the National Electrification Program, the regional delegation should organize workshops to inform the leaders about EDM’s work and discuss how to involve them to ensure success. EDM must define everything that will be offered to the communities before these workshops take place and share the socioeconomic benefits of the National Electrification Program.

7. Establish negotiation, exchange of information, and relationship building processes with the communities. EDM already has a solutions package to offer communities, but a negotiation process is still required to ensure community leaders feel valued and that their suggestions are heard. As such, it is important for EDM to understand the motivations and interests of community leaders, their level of satisfaction with EDM’s work, and other factors that could help with the negotiation process. The Central Coordination Unit for community engagement must evaluate the readiness of EDM regional delegation representatives to engage with community leaders and realign their work, if necessary. It is important to hold meetings with community leaders to hear their critiques and suggestions, which the Central Coordination Unit can use to guide delegation training.

8. Manage community commitments, expectations, and complaints. It is very common for community leaders to want to negotiate the conditions of their support for EDM. They often present a series of complaints and demands. Delegations should be prepared to know what commitments can be made in the short, medium, and long term, as well as what is not feasible. If it is uncertain whether a particular commitment is possible, it is preferable to ask the community leader for more time to evaluate the problem before making a commitment. On the other hand, all complaints should be directed internally to the responsible party, and adequate time for a resolution should be provided. Once commitments have been made, it is important to keep community leaders informed about the actions and expected time to conclusion. EDM should develop or acquire a tool to monitor community complaints and commitments at the delegation level.

9. Manage conflicts. Delegations should work together with the Central Coordination Unit for community engagement to establish a conflict resolution strategy and train those involved in community relationship management on how to avoid or resolve conflicts. The actions to take to avoid conflict should be defined upfront, as well as possible cases of conflict and measures to adopt to manage conflict, including a negotiation policy. Conflicts must be resolved quickly to prevent the relationship from deteriorating, which would negatively affect the leadership engagement process.

10. Monitor the quality of actions taken in the community engagement process. It is a challenge to align the Central Coordination Unit for community engagement with EDM’s


operational areas. Many community engagement processes start properly but become exhausted over time. It is therefore essential for the Central Coordination Unit to monitor the electrification work carried out by the delegations, reinforce community engagement training, offer guidance when necessary, and support delegation activities with community leaders, especially if the delegations are not performing well or received poor evaluations from community leaders.

11. Structure projects. It is important to structure projects to strengthen community engagement. Although structuring projects is not mandatory, it is highly recommended to cement community engagement relationships. The operational team for the National Electrification Program and the Central Coordination Unit for community engagement must evaluate which projects to execute. Utilities usually select projects that help ensure sustainability during execution. In this case, recommended actions to ensure sustainability include executing an energy efficiency program, replacing inefficient equipment to help reduce energy consumption, guidelines on the benefits of paying electricity bills, and identifying theft in the neighborhood. The National Electrification Program will bring electricity to many consumers who cannot afford it; thus, helping consumers reduce their energy consumption is fundamental to the sustainability of the program. In addition, an educational campaign on the adequate and safe use of electricity should be carried out, if possible, as a door-to-door campaign, with the help of community leadership and possible structures of civil society from the communities.

edm – community engagement roadmap

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