This forum comprises of the WAPP, GIZ and almost all the distribution companies in the ECOWAS region. It was held from 25-27 August 2020 on the ZOOM platform due to health and safety reasons and 48 participants took part to share their experiences in the field. The meeting focussed on non-technical and collection losses and provided an overview on project activities that have been completed successfully so far:

• Reviewing bankable project proposals from distribution companies and presentations on instructions for further development
• Collection of statistical data on corporate losses and writing of a regional publication on distribution losses
• Collection of qualitative questionnaires on actions taken to reduce distribution losses
• Capacity building activities.

This is part of the cooperation between the Secretariat of the West African Power Pool (WAPP) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in the framework of the regional programme ‘Promotion of a Climate-Friendly Electricity Market in the ECOWAS Region (ProCEM)’. Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) provides funding for this programme, which also supports WAPP as well as the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), and the ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) in various areas.