Rwanda has one of the lowest electrification rates in Sub‐Saharan Africa and ambitious targets of boosting energy access, with an encouraged private sector involvement. However, barriers such as end‐user awareness and participation in policy and business model design prohibit the pace of rural electrification. A case of Rwanda is analyzed, pointing to the potential of the imihigo (performance contracts) framework. Given the adoption of household‐level performance contracts, which can include energy access, it is proposed they could drive local participation among off‐grid communities. Results of a survey with 218 users of Solar Home Systems in North‐Western Rwanda and from five focus groups show that village‐level energy targets impact on the prioritization of energy target setting among households. Including off‐grid energy options in the imihigo booklets distributed to households could influence awareness raising and allow private sector providers to act in a more targeted way, prioritizing areas with most prevalent energy targets. Additionally, community meetings (umuganda) tied to imihigo offer participatory spaces for information and feedback sharing. These will assist in the design of energy planning and business models, which best fit local needs and respond to the challenges faced by the energy poor.

中文翻译：

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绩效指标的潜力（imihigo）将成为卢旺达农村地区能源规划和扩大使用离网能源的动力

卢旺达是撒哈拉以南非洲地区电气化率最低的国家之一，而且在鼓励私营部门参与的情况下，雄心勃勃的目标是增加能源供应。但是，最终用户的意识以及对政策和商业模式设计的参与等障碍阻碍了农村电气化的步伐。分析了卢旺达的一个案例，指出了imihigo的潜力（绩效合同）框架。考虑到通过了家庭层面的绩效合同（其中可能包括能源获取），建议他们可以推动离网社区的本地参与。对卢旺达西北部218个太阳能家庭系统用户以及五个焦点小组进行的一项调查结果表明，村级能源目标会影响家庭中能源目标设定的优先次序。在分发给家庭的imihigo小册子中包括离网能源选项可能会影响意识的提高，并使私营部门的提供者能够以更具针对性的方式采取行动，对能源目标最为普遍的地区进行优先排序。此外，社区会议（umuganda）绑imihigo提供信息和反馈共享的参与空间。这些将有助于设计最适合当地需求并应对能源贫困者所面临挑战的能源计划和商业模型。