Decentralized rural electrification, human development and equality: a case study of two villages in the dry zone area of Myanmar

Myanmar, a newly democratic and developing country has the lowest electrification level among the ASEAN region. The electrification rate for the whole country was 11% in 2005, which improved to 13% in 2008, with the rate in urban areas being 19% and rural areas just 10%. These figures clearly show the lack of access to electrification in rural areas. Decentralized electrification systems could provide practical energy sources for rural people, although such systems are not yet well known and their usefulness has been little studied. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to analyze the impacts of decentralized rural electrification on human development and equity in the Dry Zone Area of Myanmar. To understand the issues this research study focuses on two villages, namely Mone Taw and Pay Khwinit Pin, under a project by a local NGO called the Renewable Energy Association Myanmar. A qualitative method was used, taking the form of in-depth discussions, observations, ethnographic views, and focus group discussions. An in-depth interview was conducted with five government officers and local officials, two community leaders, 47 households in the selected communities, four NGO staff and academics, and three representatives from small-scale and large-scale enterprises in the private sector. In addition, focus group discussions were carried out in both villages with the village solar committee and households that have and do not have access to decentralized electricity, paying particular attention to the perspective of women. The main conclusion of this paper is that of the three measurements of human development, increased income, higher education and better health, the key reason why communities wish to access lighting at night through decentralized electrification (solar energy in this case) is because communities largely need light at night so children can study. Other than this, few people work at night and there is no link yet between better health and the current status of decentralized electrification. However, communities would like a larger amount of power from decentralized electrification for daily cooking as well as for small and medium-sized businesses at the local level, in addition to lighting at night. Finally, with respect to equal access, in Mone Taw village, for example, the households and the local monastery, which do have access to solar energy, share it with those who do not. This has resulted in equal access to decentralized electrification and the unity of the community, which is not the case in the second village and is something that has not been measured by human development indicators elsewhere.