The potential for achieving transformation through partnerships is central to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, information on experiences that explore the processes that might generate systemic change is generally lacking. This article uses the Collaborative Value Creation (CVC) framework to analyze the transformational prospects of the Alianza Shire, the first multi-stakeholder partnership for humanitarian action in Spain. The partnership, which aims to develop innovative energy access solutions in refugee camps situated in the Shire region of northern Ethiopia is assessed from its creation in 2014 to the present with regard to four key partnership features: organizational engagement, resources and activities, partnership dynamics and impact. Our findings suggest that while the CVC framework is a useful tool for analyzing the evolution of a partnership to a transformative phase, additional information is required on the important role played by a partnership facilitator in assisting this process. This inquiry aims to build upon the CVC analysis by identifying and addressing some of the barriers faced by the Alianza Shire and other partnerships in attaining transformational outcomes and proposing two key enablers that can assist progression towards this: a facilitating organization that ensures the creation of collaborative shared value and an aspirational strategy for achieving significant systemic change.

Global policies such as the recent ‘Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework’ call for a profound transformation in refugee response. To this end, collaboration with non-traditional humanitarian actors, particularly the private sector has been advocated. The application of new multi-stakeholder partnerships that transcend traditional dyadic relationships have been commended by practitioners for their ability to create stable services and markets in refugee camps. However, the adaptation of multi-stakeholder partnership models to the novelties of refugee response and the dynamics among partners in these complex arrangements requires more attention. This paper explores how the creation and development of multi-stakeholder partnerships can maximize the transformational potential of collaboration for refugee response, ensure the stakeholder diversity needed to provide basic services on a stable basis, and provide a facilitation function that supports the partnership. Using an action-case methodology, the focus of the article is on the Alianza Shire, Spain’s first multi-stakeholder partnership for humanitarian action, which was established to provide energy to refugee camps and host communities in refugee camps in northern Ethiopia. Our findings suggest that (i) the active participation of aid agencies in the co-creation process of a multi-stakeholder partnership may increase the transformational potential of refugee response, (ii) feedback loops and the consolidation of internal learning are essential practices for the effective management of complex multi-stakeholder partnerships, and (iii) the facilitator plays a critical and underexplored role in refugee response collaborative arrangements. In addition, sustainability-oriented university centers may possess a particular capacity for nurturing the transformational potential of multi-stakeholder refugee response partnerships by generating ‘safe spaces’ that foster trust-building, providing a cross-sector ‘translation’ service, and affording the legitimacy and expert knowledge required to conduct learning processes. We believe that the theoretical and practical implications of our research may contribute to the effective fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals, specially, SDG7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG17 (Partnership for the Goals).

In 2019, there were 759 million people globally without access to electricity and 2.6 billion people lacked access to clean cooking. Cooking with electricity could contribute to achieving universal access to energy by 2030. This paper uses geospatially-based techniques—a computer model named REM, for Reference Electrification Model—to show the impact of integrating electric cooking into electrification planning. Three household scenarios were analyzed: one for providing basic electricity access with no electric cooking; another for cooking with electricity; and the third for cooking half of the meals with electricity and half with another fuel, with a clean stacking process. Results of the application of REM to the three scenarios were obtained for the Nyagatare District, Rwanda. The case study showed that electric cooking substantially changes the mix of technologies and the total cost of the least-cost electrification plan. It also showed that electric cooking can be cost competitive compared to LPG and charcoal in grid-connected households and can reduce greenhouse emissions. Stacking with energy-efficient electric appliances provides most of the benefits of full electric cooking at a lower cost and is a pathway worthy of further consideration.