Abstract for: Towards improving sustainable access to electricity in rural areas of Tanzania: learning from the past preparing for the future

Africa has been at the centre of global development debates and its performance on development indices will significantly influence the global development dynamics. Hence, the increased commitment to socio-economic development on the continent through the provision of electricity access. Previous studies related to electrification projects suggest that the socioeconomic impact in the long run might be significant when households are able to buy complementary appliances for productive activities, thus highlighting the role of complementary actions. This may suggest that there are other factors apart from the time that are required to facilitate the optimum impact of electricity access on socioeconomic development. Hence, the study seeks to critically investigate, analyse and evaluate various scenarios to identify the strategies and the most effective approach, in terms of complementary activities for rural electrification projects, that will result in a maximum overall socioeconomic benefit in target communities. The study takes the case of Matembwe village, a rural community in the Njombe region of Tanzania. A System Dynamics model is adopted to evaluate how and how much the endogenous dynamics that underly the electricity development nexus are triggered by exogenous complementary actions.