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The Trade-offs in African Energy Access are Real: Why Electrification Efforts Must Prioritise Industrial Use over Household Connections
In the face of stagnating progress, a debate has emerged about whether energy access efforts in Africa should prioritize household or industrial and commercial electrification. Taiwo Odugbemi, a power sector regulation specialist and economist, pushes back on the argument that household access should take precedence over industrial uses — and the assertion that Africa can pursue both goals simultaneously. He explains why maintaining a dual focus may not be realistic, given the continent’s grid limitations and constrained public resources, and argues that African electricity policies must evolve to prioritize productive use, particularly in industrial and agro-processing hubs.
- Categories
- Energy
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The Hidden Role of ‘E-Boiling’ in Clean Cooking: How Nairobi’s Informal Settlements are Quietly Powering an Electric Transition
As policymakers and funders look for ways to bring clean cooking to Africa’s urban poor, one key reality often goes unnoticed: Electric cooking is already happening in the continent’s informal settlements, just not in the way most people think. June Lukuyu, Nathan Williams, Vongaishe Mutatu, Austine Owuor Otieno, Paul Kyoma Asiimwe and Vijay Modi share findings from their research in Nairobi, which reveal a growing use of electricity for boiling water to cook, make tea, bathe, and sterilize food and drinking water. They argue that this adoption of “e-boiling” offers an entry point for expanding electricity usage in these communities, and explore the implications for clean cooking programs.
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- Energy, Environment
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What Drives Corporate Philanthropy in Asia: Exploring the Region’s Unique Approach to Giving
As Asian wealth has surged in recent decades, so has the region’s corporate philanthropy. According to Gwendolyn Lim and Denise Chew at the Bridgespan Group, the 20 top Asian corporate funders alone commit an average of $3.7 billion annually to social and environmental causes. They explore the factors that are driving this trend — from Asian business culture to government CSR policies — and discuss three widely used approaches to corporate giving in Asia, as highlighted in a recent Bridgespan report.
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- Investing
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Addressing the Communications Breakdown in Global Development: How AI-Enabled Assessment Tools Can Reach Excluded Communities
Development work can only be effective if it’s based on the actual needs and lived experiences of the communities it aims to serve. But as Talía Jiménez Romero at Fortell Impact explains, in many of the remote, under-resourced areas where this work is most needed, the voices of local people are often the hardest to hear, due to barriers related to language, education, and lack of access to the internet and other technologies. She explores how AI can be leveraged to facilitate data collection and needs assessments in these multilingual and low-connectivity contexts, while complementing the work of local teams on the ground.
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- Technology
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The Impact Sector is Confusing Satisfaction with Impact: Rethinking the Growing Reliance on Perception Surveys
Measurement standards in the impact sector have shifted toward perception surveys — i.e., forms that ask individuals to rate their personal experience with a program or organization — to quantify success. But as Juan Taborda Burgos, Jorge Bouchot and Miranda Hansen at Root Capital argue, perception-based metrics can mask a program’s ineffectiveness, potentially leading organizations to scale interventions that do not work. They share insights from a recent Root Capital report that reveal the downsides of relying solely on perception data, and offer four actionable principles that can help leaders navigate the pressure to demonstrate impact — while avoiding costly mistakes.
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- Agriculture, Investing, Social Enterprise
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Impact Leadership Under Pressure: Four Lessons from Resilient Organizations
Impact leadership is hard even in the best of times. But as Erin Worsham and Kimberly Bardy Langsam at the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE) explain, recent crises have put added stress on leaders and organizations across the sector. Drawing on insights gathered during COVID-19 and other crises, they share four key lessons that can help impact leaders navigate the pressure of the present while preparing their organizations for the future.
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- Social Enterprise
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Creating a Local Means of Exchange for African Entrepreneurs: How a Blockchain-Based Community Currency Gained Traction in Tanzania
In African communities, the lack of disposable income often hinders economic growth, and many local entrepreneurs are excluded from centralized, formal finance. Malik El Bay at the Encointer Association and Alinagwe Mwaselela at Jukumu NGO explore how their organizations are addressing this issue by leveraging blockchain technology to enable community members in Dar es Salaam to independently create and manage their own local cryptocurrency. They explain how this community currency model can be leveraged to support economic growth and entrepreneurship across Africa and other emerging markets.
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- Finance, Technology
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The False Choice in African Energy Access: Why the Sector Must Balance the Needs of Households and Businesses — And How it Can Electrify Both
Energy access is essential to Africa’s development. But as Alba Topulli at CLASP and Todd Moss at the Energy for Growth Hub argue, progress has stalled over a false choice: Should the continent prioritize solar home systems that bring basic access to households — or should it invest in making electricity cheaper and more reliable for businesses, to power job creation and economic growth? They explain why the energy access sector must resist this perceived trade-off, and propose four key principles that can allow Africa to accomplish both of these goals.
- Categories
- Energy
