Letting Communities Lead

RMI is testing a "community-led" approach to rural minigrids in sub-Saharan Africa through its "Sharing the Power" project. Unlike top-down models, which RMI argues can lead to stranded assets and system failure, community-led projects are designed in partnership with local leadership and structures. RMI hypothesizes that this approach can increase electricity demand for productive use and reduce system costs and prices by 60% compared to 2018 levels. The program is currently evaluating implementation in Nigeria and Ethiopia.

• Top-down electrification projects can result in stranded assets and failure if they ignore local technical knowledge, maintenance incentives, and payment understandings. An example from east India in 2012 saw a solar minigrid system with assets of approximately $100,000 become unusable within a few months because the community lacked the training to repair it or the authority to pay for repairs.
• RMI defines community-led projects as those designed in partnership with the community that account for local dynamics to address development goals and challenges at the local level. RMI hypothesizes that this approach adds value by increasing electricity demand for productive uses and lowering overall costs compared to top-down models, potentially reducing system costs and electricity prices by 60 percent from 2018 figures.
• While community-led development can empower marginalized groups—including youth and women—and improve access to public services and finance, these projects are often more time-intensive to develop due to the requirements of greater community engagement. Past efforts have sometimes failed due to limited follow-through in system operation and challenges across the project development chain.
• Through the "Sharing the Power" project funded by the Dutch Postcode Lottery, RMI's Africa Energy Program is implementing community-led minigrid projects across sub-Saharan Africa over three years. The program is currently assessing the potential for testing these minigrids in Ethiopia and Nigeria.

APA

RMI (2019). Letting Communities Lead. https://rmi.org/resources/letting-communities-lead/

Chicago

RMI. Letting Communities Lead. 2019. https://rmi.org/resources/letting-communities-lead/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=RMI |title=Letting Communities Lead |date=12 November 2019 |url=https://rmi.org/resources/letting-communities-lead/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rmi2019letting, author = {{RMI}}, title = {{Letting Communities Lead}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2019}, month = nov, url = {https://rmi.org/resources/letting-communities-lead/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }