Small but effective, Scottish aid seeks independence

In rural Malawi, barely a handful of every hundred people have access to electricity despite millions of dollars spent on short-lived projects funded by international donors to build generation capacity in the African country.

“The legacy in Malawi is parachute in, put in a project and leave, and not track what’s happening,” Peter Dauenhauer, who coordinates the Malawi Renewable Energy Acceleration Program at the U.K.’s Strathclyde University, told Devex. “Anecdotally, a lot of these projects are failing … There’s a need to demonstrate the fundamentals of getting projects up and sustainable.”

Since 2012, Strathclyde has been working with Community Energy Scotland and a number of NGOs as part of a 2.3 million pound ($3.6 million) grant from the Scottish government to fix this problem. In coordination with local civil society, MREAP has rolled out 43 projects, mainly in schools and health centers across Malawi, each designed to demonstrate how community ownership of microgeneration can lead to a long-term solution to rural energy poverty. As part of the initiative, the Scottish government has worked with its counterparts in Malawi to draft renewable energy policies.