Experimental impact study on a micro-grid project in Rural Madagascar : the Café Lumière project

This paper evaluates the impact of the Café Lumière project launched by the NGO Électriciens sans frontières to address the lack of reliable electricity access in rural Madagascar. The project integrates solar-powered micro-grids and energy platforms to provide affordable electricity and basic electricity services for households, businesses, and public services. The study employs a randomized control design, with data collected through two waves of household surveys in 2017-2018 and 2023, complemented by locality data. The experimental dimension of the paper is based on a treatment implemented at the locality level. A dozen of comparable localities had been initially selected as suitable after a pre-feasibility study across the Vakinankaratra and Itasy highland regions, and the project has been randomly implemented in only half of them. Findings reveal notable improvements in household access to electricity, particularly in the use of modern energy services like lighting and phone charging. The project has also facilitated economic activities, especially secondary income- generating occupations, though the overall impact on household wealth and income remains limited. Social outcomes, including health, education, and public safety, have seen mixed results, with only minor improvements in health. The limited extension of all these impacts is compounded by their spatial narrowness. It is possible that a longer observation period would be necessary for the impacts of the project to fully materialize. However, more ambitious complementary initiatives foreshadowed in the project's theory of change but not fully implemented may be needed to achieve the broader economic and social transformation initially anticipated.