Social performance is the connective tissue of renewable energy development. It’s what holds together the social license to operate, the relationship between communities and project companies, and the long-term impact of projects beyond construction and operations. Yet, across Africa, social performance (SP) practitioners often work in silos—isolated by geography, language, institutional roles, and limited access to peer support or shared learning spaces.
INSPIRE has long recognised the need to build a stronger network of SP practitioners across the continent; one that is grounded in practice, connected across regions, and able to inform a more just and community-focused energy transition. But building that kind of network means starting with a simple premise: listening to the people already doing the work.
We are excited to share a new initiative in service of that goal – the INSPIRE @Africa Continental Practitioner Study on Advancing Social Performance in Renewable Energy. This project, running from June to August 2025, is led by Lesedi Komi, a Botswana-based Social Impact consultant with extensive experience navigating the space between renewable energy companies, communities, and public institutions.
The study centres on one core question:
what does social performance look like on the ground across Africa?
To answer this, Lesedi is conducting a series of in-depth interviews with practitioners across the continent—those working in RE companies, consultancies, NGOs, or independently. These conversations explore how practitioners define their roles, manage community relationships, interpret policy, and contribute to the broader goals of equity, inclusion, and benefit-sharing in the energy transition.
Alongside the interviews, Lesedi is leading a mapping process to develop a contact database of SP practitioners. This will lay the groundwork for future convenings, collaborations, and targeted support. The project will also produce a concise Practice Insights brief, sharing key themes, challenges, and strategies that emerge from the interviews. The study will also support reflection within INSPIRE and inform the design of future initiatives.
We believe this work is timely and urgent. As renewable energy investment scales up across the continent, the risk of overlooking the social dimensions of development is real. Practitioners are already holding the weight of this gap, and often alone. By surfacing their experiences, insights, and contributions, we hope to strengthen the sector as a whole and ensure that social performance is not just an afterthought, but a recognised and resourced pillar of energy development.
This project affirms that knowledge lives in practice, and that the best way to learn is to listen—with care, curiosity, and a commitment to acting on what we hear.
