Off Grid On the Agenda: Zambia's Mini-Grids Project Gets to Work

Insights Following the Inaugural Steering Committee Meeting for the Africa Mini-Grids Programme in Zambia

July 10, 2026

People seated around a long red-draped conference table in a meeting room. — Members of the Project Steering Committee at the inaugural meeting in Lusaka.

Photo by: Vanessa Wematu Akibate/UNDP Zambia

The Africa Mini-Grids Programme (AMP) Zambia project reached a key milestone this week as its Project Steering Committee convened for the first time, formally marking the transition from project design into implementation.

The meeting brought together representatives of the Ministry of Energy, the Rural Electrification Authority (REA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and partners — including the Non-Governmental Gender Organisations' Coordinating Council (NGOCC), whose seat on the Committee ensures that the voices of beneficiaries, particularly women, are reflected throughout the programme.

The Committee approved the project's governance arrangements and its 2026 Annual Work Plan and Budget, and reviewed procurement readiness and preparations for the official project launch later this year.

If one theme ran through the room, it was a commitment to ensure that the measure of this project will not end purely with an account of the number of mini-grids built.

“The success of the Africa Mini-Grids Programme should not be measured only by the number of mini-grids installed,” said Laurent Rudasingwa, the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, in his opening remarks. “Success should be measured by whether we create a sustainable market that continues attracting investment beyond the life of the project.” That means, he added, strengthening enabling regulations, improving the investment environment, and developing business models that can be replicated and scaled across the country.

REA's Chief Executive Officer, Eng. Alex Mbumba, made the same point from the implementer's chair. “Our work here would have met its goal if we see long-term impact in the lives of people in communities. That is the impact we are working towards. That is the impact we want to see. We don't want delivery and a successful conclusion, we want success.”

The optimism in the room is grounded in experience. REA and the UNDP Zambia office has been preparing for this programme since 2022, and its confidence was bolstered by the success of the Productive Uses of Energy (PUE) project, implemented by UNDP in partnership with REA. Due to the overwhelmingly positive community response to the PUE initiative and the continued unfolding of its benefits beyond the project's closure.

The Committee agreed that by leveraging the successes and structures of programmes already on the ground to fast-track implementation, with productive uses of energy and digitalisation embedded into the project's design from the outset, the project is geared towards success and most importantly, lasting impact.

“We are looking for partnerships that are sound, firm, and seamless,” Eng. Mbumba said of REA's approach.

Two men in suits sit at a conference table with drinks and a laptop. — UNDP DRR Laurent Rudasingwa and REA CEO Eng. Alex Mbumba addresses the Committee

Photo by: Vanessa Wematu Akibate/UNDP Zambia

The clearest signal of commitment to partnership came in the numbers. Of the project's USD 15 million total cost, USD 13.45 million is grant co-financing from REA itself. This figure stands at nearly ten times the USD 1.36 million GEF grant administered by UNDP. Rooted in Zambia's National Electrification Plan and its universal access agenda, this investment gives concrete expression to the Government's pledge of universal electricity access by 2030, championed at the highest level through the Presidential initiative for 1,000 mini-grids.

For UNDP, this scale of national co-financing reflects exactly the direction development cooperation is moving where host governments move beyond the grant recipient role to take their rightful claim as lead investors in their own transformation, with catalytic finance used to unlock far larger flows.

This nationwide project is expected to run for four years, with a national mini-grid delivery model and strong stakeholder ownership, business model innovation with the private sector, scaled-up financing, and digital and knowledge management.

Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented by REA with support from UNDP, AMP Zambia is the national component of a programme operating across 21 African countries. It aims to accelerate access to clean, reliable electricity for rural communities by supporting the development of a sustainable mini-grid market, strengthening enabling regulations, de-risking investment, and demonstrating business models that can be replicated at scale.

As the Committee closed its first meeting, polishing off the paperwork and ensuring the necessary structures are in place, the project is officially powering up. Zambia's mini-grids journey kicks off with the launch later this month, where the real work, and the real impact, begins.