Ed Markey, the junior senator from Massachusetts, is running late. So Michael Elliott, president and CEO of the ONE Campaign, takes another question. Two hundred volunteers are crowded into a subterranean meeting room in the Capitol Visitors Center in Washington, D.C. Sens. Bob Corker and Chris Coons, have already delivered their remarks.
A ONE Campaign volunteer from Wenatchee, Washington, wants to know what happens now that the Electrify Africa Act is a law but 600 million people still live without access to electricity. ONE is widely credited with pushing the bill, which promotes U.S.-African energy investments, through Congress. As Coons told them earlier, “Electrify Africa would never have happened without you.”
“Innovation,” Elliott replies. The Electrify Africa Act affirmed that affordable energy is key to Africa’s development, he says. Now it is time to find breakthrough technologies that can help deliver on that promise.
About the author
Michael Igoe@AlterIgoe
Michael Igoe is a Senior Reporter with Devex, based in Washington, D.C. He covers U.S. foreign aid, global health, climate change, and development finance. Prior to joining Devex, Michael researched water management and climate change adaptation in post-Soviet Central Asia, where he also wrote for EurasiaNet. Michael earned his bachelor's degree from Bowdoin College, where he majored in Russian, and his master’s degree from the University of Montana, where he studied international conservation and development.
