Quarterly Progress Report FY2023 – QUARTER 2 Power Africa Data and Technical Support Services Activity

The project aims to increase access to electricity in Sub-Saharan Africa by providing technical support and data management services to the Power Africa program. The project is implemented by ECODIT LLC, a private company, under a contract with USAID. The contract, which was awarded in October 2019, covers seven implementation tasks, including power sector technical support and advice, Power Africa relationship management, and data management and reporting. The bulk of the work under this contract falls under data management, reporting, and database support. During the reporting period, which covers January 1 to March 31, 2023, the DTS Team worked across all technical service areas to advance Power Africa's strategic objectives. The team provided support for high-priority tasks related to Development Finance Corporation (DFC) deal transactions, including adding new deal flow fields to power generation and off-grid transactions, creating a summary slide deck of deal data, and generating a list of DFC deal transactions. The DTS Team also completed two Health Electrification and Telecommunication Alliance (HETA) due diligence reports and supported the Power Africa Partnerships Office (PAPO) to on-board new partners and keep records current. Additionally, the team provided support to implementing partners (IPs) for data management and reporting activities, including several trainings and management of transactions assigned to DTS. The team also made significant enhancements to the Power Africa Tracking Tool (PATT), including new fields in support of the Power Africa Clean Technology Energy Network (CTEN) and deal flow transactions, as well as revisions to the Development Partner Commitments Reports to track progress made. These updates have improved the user interface, data analysis, and reporting capabilities of PATT. Furthermore, the DTS Team corrected bugs in PATT, including two in the current reporting period, and proactively identified bugs via negative testing, which reveals bugs before users do, allowing the team to fix them first. This provides an overall better and more secure experience for users. The project's geographic focus is Sub-Saharan Africa, and the timeframes for the project are from October 2019 to September 2024. The project's recommendations are not explicitly stated in the report, but the DTS Team's efforts to enhance PATT and provide technical support to implementing partners suggest that the project is focused on improving data management and reporting capabilities to support Power Africa's strategic objectives. Overall, the Power Africa Data and Technical Support Services Activity is a critical component of the Power Africa initiative, and the DTS Team's efforts to provide technical support and data management services are essential to advancing Power Africa's strategic objectives.