A learning-based approach to understanding success in rural electrification: Insights from Micro Hydro projects in Bolivia

Abstract

The paper analyzes the performance of a set of rural Micro Hydro Power (MHP) projects and MHP-implementing organizations in Bolivia, using a learning-based analytical perspective. Rather than identifying a generic set of critical success factors such as access to finance, adequate technological support and management capabilities, project success is viewed as something that results from people's motivation to keep tackling barriers that impede the functioning of their system. Furthermore, the research points up the key importance of encouragement and support of such local de-bottlenecking activities by the MHP-implementing organizations. Interaction with user communities on a long-term basis and inculcation of local project ‘ownership’ through system co-construction and co-improvement are found to be crucial elements in effective institutional support. In order to perform well, the organizations themselves also have to practice continuous performance improvement through learning, and they need to foster the wider exchange of lessons in the MHP sector in the country as a whole. These findings appear to have wider relevance than the Bolivian MHP case as such, and hold important lessons for project implementers and policy makers involved in rural electrification.