Southern African Renewable Investment and Growth (SOARING) Programme

State of implementation/results

• Through SOARING’s capacity building and stakeholder engagements, the program was successful in fostering partnerships between microfinance institutions and clean energy technology suppliers / distributors in Tanzania. Such partnerships have not existed before. Even without accessing SOARING Funds, MFIs and distribution partners have started piloting the provision of loans for clean energy technologies (ie. Solar irrigation, Fishing Lanterns, E-Bikes).
• The program team would aim to further strengthen these partnerships also through the utilization of the SOARING Fund as a credit enhancement instrument, thereby ensuring sustainable financial terms for end-user financing. In combination with the World Bank´s credit line this support will unlock the microfinancing sector for end-user financing of renewable energy technologies. Together this will solve the liquidity issues faced by MFIs championing financial solutions.
• The SOARING team has drafted a term-sheet that the Program team has drafted with a MFI based in Tanzania to support its plans. This would serve as a draft to also partner with and support additional (Micro-) Finance Institutions in the country. This arrangement would have the potential to benefit much more than 10 SMEs in Tanzania alone.
• The draft term sheet with the MFI in Tanzania has resulted in a signed Guarantee Agreement. The MFI has applied for a loan to be covered by the Guarantee Fund, which has been approved by IKI.
• In addition, a further Loan Coverage Application (LCA) has recently been received from the MFI in Tanzania and is currently under review by the REEEP team. At the same time, the REEEP team is actively engaging with financial institutions in Zambia to explore similar partnerships under the SOARING framework and expects to receive the first LCA from Zambia in Q2 2026.
• The SOARING program website is currently being set up with one of the contractors listed in the donor agreement (Surgery & Redcow). The website is up and running since June 2023 as a subprogram page under the REEEP website. Due to REEEP as an organization currently establishing a new internet presence as well, the SOARING website is being continuously updated according to progress made in the program.
• The website is in the process of being finalized by the external contractor and should be launched by the end of Q3 2025.
• The website was launched in September 2025 at www.soaring.africa, highlighting SOARING's key features and photography from projects in Tanzania and Zambia. It includes sub-pages on the credit guarantee facility, capacity building and the latest news and events.
• Since the start of the project, a total of 12 capacity-building trainings have taken place in total in both countries. In total, 206 participants were certified for attending the full training.
• The trainings for financial institutions were developed to increase participants’ knowledge on the technical and financial due diligence process of RE and EE applications in agribusiness and off-grid electrification. In total, 26 participants received a certification for completing the training in 2021 (virtual) and 45 in 2022 (in person).
• The trainings for SMEs focus on providing participants with an introduction to Decentralized Renewable Energy (DRE) applications, its viability for commercial and industrial energy consumers as well as productive use, and the renewable energy project implementation process. In total, 26 participants received a certification for completing the training in 2021 (virtual) and 37 in 2022 (in person).
• Finally, the training for multipliers/ policymakers centred on topics similar to that of the SME training but delved deeper into quality standards and regulations to promote DRE in both Tanzania and Zambia. The trainings were held in Dar es Salaam and Lusaka and were attended by 41 participants.
• Finally, the second round of trainings for multipliers/ policy makers has taken place in both countries in March 2023. The training was attended by 18 participants in Zambia and 16 participants in Tanzania, out of which 16 participants in Tanzania received a certificate and 14 in Zambia.
• SOARING has set up market platforms in Tanzania and Zambia centred around making local financing available to clean energy companies and projects. The market platforms were launched with events in March of 2023. The market platforms meet on a biannual basis, with the second market platform having taken place in October 2023.
• In Zambia the market platform is anchored with the Offgrid Energy Taskforce (OGTF) under the Ministry of Energy. In partnership with OGTF a new finance and customer affordability cluster will be formed that will act as: (1) a matchmaking platform between financial institutions and project developers/SMEs and (2) as a forum to discuss and address market barriers for (local) renewable energy financing.
• In Tanzania the market platform event will be anchored with the Tanzania Renewable Energy Association (TAREA), which will conduct such platform events in partnership with the Rural Energy Agency (REA) and the European Commission Delegation.
• The latest Market Platform Stakeholder events took place in Lusaka, Zambia on the 3rd and 4th of September, and in Dar es Salaam on the 8th and 9th of September, bringing together local FIs and SMEs through a pitching and matchmaking exercise.

Latest Update:
05/2026