Lighting Africa recently launched an updated framework for quality assurance to best support the market over the long term as the industry matures. Some things will stay the same going forward, like the multi-level, independent testing regime and the technical briefing notes series. The updated elements include revisions to the framework for interpreting quality and performance test results and a valuable new tool for publicly releasing and verifying test results - the Standardized Specifications Sheet. These improvements were strongly influenced by stakeholder input, and we feel that they strengthen the program considerably.

Lighting Africa's unique, global position in the off-grid lighting market means we support programs and stakeholders with a variety of product performance needs and differences in willingness to pay among consumers. To help make the quality assurance framework more widely applicable, we separated the Lighting Africa benchmarks into the Minimum Quality Standards and Recommended Performance Targets.

The Minimum Quality Standards focus on truth-in-advertising and adherence to basic quality criteria, such as lumen maintenance, IP-class, and durability tests, but do not include minimum performance requirements for run time or light output.To meet the Performance Targets, a product must pass the Minimum Quality Standards and also achieve the run time and light output performance requirements that Lighting Africa has been using for the past year. The separation between quality standards and performance targets allows the program to identify good quality products across a variety of performance levels, and it also creates a flexible Performance Target framework that can be adapted to meet the needs of a variety of bulk purchase buyers and markets.

Standardized Specifications Sheets (SSS) are the new tool for publicizing Lighting Africa test results, and are available on the Lighting Africa website (www.lightingafrica.org/specs). They are only made available for products that pass the Minimum Quality Standards to ensure a baseline level of quality for the products Lighting Africa supports. There are resources to help interpret and understand the specs sheets at the bottom of the SSS main page on the Lighting Africa website. 

What does this mean for me?

• For Manufacturers, the separation of Quality Standards and Performance Targets means that there will be new types of support available for a wider variety of good quality products. The specs sheets can be used to publicize your product's quality and performance in a verifiable, authoritative format.
• For Policymakers, the quality assurance framework can be more easily adapted to meet your needs. The Minimum Quality Standards are Lighting Africa's recommendation for a baseline level of consumer protection and the Performance Targets can be tailored, if necessary, to meet local needs.
• For Distributors, Bulk Purchasers, MFI's, and Others, the Standardized Specifications Sheets offer a quick and transparent way to evaluate the quality and performance of products that you may want to buy or incorporate into programs.