Lighting Africa is supporting African governments integrate off-grid lighting into rural energy and electrification programs.
Lighting Africa is working with rural energy agencies (REAs) in Ethiopia, Mali, Senegal and Tanzania, supporting the development of off-grid lighting programs that these agencies can integrate into their rural energy/electrification activities. Additional countries are expected to come on board.
Lighting Africa is providing technical assistance to REAs to adapt to the specific circumstances of each country, and to replicate the successful experiences from Kenya and Ghana – Lighting Africa’s pilot countries.
The technical assistance provided includes:
- providing information on quality assurance principles for off-grid lighting;
- providing market research information;
- providing information on product quality;
- helping governments to identify local manufacturers and distributors through public advertising;
- helping to integrate consumer awareness strategies into national programs;
- identifying candidate organizations for bulk purchasing;
- supporting governments to identify policy barriers to off-grid lighting and develop solutions through stakeholder meetings/workshops.
These include LED lanterns and solar charging stations at schools benefiting from photovoltaic electrification (Sustainable Solar Market Packages), facilitation of volume purchases of solar home systems and lighting devices used by agricultural cooperatives in the country. In addition, a grant competition for innovative ways of providing lighting services in rural areas (Lighting Rural Tanzania Competition) was implemented, based on the model of the Lighting Africa Development Marketplace competition.
