Choosing the Right Path

Abstract

Some SHS programmes that had been or were being delivered in rural and remote areas in developing countries were more successful than others. A large number of SHS programs and other types of renewable energy programmes and projects implemented in developing countries over the past two decades had been relatively unsuccessful from even the perspectives of those implementing the projects. This raised two burning questions: why these programmes had been less successful than their implementers had hoped and how could they have been designed and implemented in ways that would have made them more successful. A better understanding of the causes behind the failures of limited success of many of these programmes and, conversely, the relative success of others is needed. Based on a comprehensive review of the literature we then went on to undertake our own SHS programme case study reviews and surveys, and thirdly interviewed SHS programme designers and implementers. These strategies were used to gather and to pull together sufficient data and information to be able to understand the full suite of relevant factors that can have an influence on the outcome of a SHS programme, and to understand what works and what does not work, and why. The result of this work is the comprehensive set of issues that need to be considered in each of the steps that are essential to the design and implementation of a successful SHS programme, which are described in detail in the previous chapter. This chapter explains that a road map is not a complete solution but a guideline to develop such projects. There are some complex issues that programme planners, designers and implementers are going to have to grapple with that a road map cannot be used to make those decisions or judgments, but can be used to help inform those decisions.