Small-scale off-grid energy systems: Improve productivity by increasing women’s access to electricity in rural Nigeria

Less than a quarter of people living in rural areas of Nigeria have access to electricity, stifling the country’s productivity and development. The situation is especially dire for rural women who provide the greatest share of household and farm labour yet are the poorest. A team of local PEP researchers found that small-scale, off-grid technologies—particularly standalone solar home systems and solar lamps—should be deployed alongside mini-grids under the government’s Rural Electrification Fund policy to increase rural electricity access that supports women’s domestic and farm work.
Find out more about the research methods, findings and policy recommendations in the following PEP publications: