Evaluations in rural electrification programs

Jörg Peters, research associated at the RWI Essen in Germany, presented a paper in our conference aimed to be a practical guide for the evaluation of rural electrification programs. Peters commented that although the ideal scheme for conducting evaluations are experimental projects, evaluations can be reliable if an appropriate control group is found. In the rural electrification projects in Africa in which he participated, they were able to evaluate the impact trough the analysis of the before and after conditions of the treatment population and its comparison to a control area that was electrified previously. He mentioned that this evaluation at the same time that could provide reliable results in assessing the impact on poverty could be done with a very limited budget. The speaker also noted that it is very helpful that evaluators stay in close contact with both project staff and the field research team. Finally, the author concluded that because the survey collected quantitative and qualitative data it was possible to analyze multiple variables.