Many sub-Saharean Africa countries, the off-grid energy sector is dominated by products imported from Asia and commercialized by European or US companies, which hardly creates local added value. The UK Department for International Development (UKaid)  funds the Transforming Energy Access program, whose component POP VA&EC (Powering Opportunities Partnership – Local value Addition and Employement Creation) aims at increasing access to energy services through a dynamised sector orientated toward positive impacts on the local economy and the creation of local jobs.

Lagazel, the first company to have industrialised the production of certified solar lamps and home solar systems in West Africa, was selected within the framework of this program to implement a project aiming at Strengthening and developing the local added-value of LAGAZEL manufacturing facilities, in Burkina Faso and Benin. The objective is to offer quality products and parts to the solar off-grid industry and to create local sustainable jobs.

The project includes 3 main components:

  1. Increase local added-value of Lagazel range of products (solar lamps, solar-home-systems)
  2. Initiate the production of solar products components and parts, as local manufacturing outsourcing service for other players in the off-grid sector
  3. Initiate local R&D activities in order to develop new products with low technological content, that will be manufactured locally.

As this project includes a high “Action-Research” component, LAGAZEL engaged in a partnership with the Institute for Social Research in Africa (IFSRA), an association founded by researchers of the Insuco group to promote applied research on local development issues and territorial governance in Africa. The objective of IFSRA mission is to evaluate the viability of the local production, its impact on employability, and the the direct and indirect social and economic repercussions on the local population and the local communities. In the framework of this study, a student in Master 2 Crisis prevention and social peace management of the IAC Ouagadougou will write his Master thesis on Electrification and Conflict Management.