Community-Owned Microgrids in Egypt: Tools of Empowerment or Unwanted Burden?

The principle of community building and community participation in development projects is nothing new. Development goals over the past decade have been shaped by an emphasis on community building, which “means empowering locals to take ownership of processes that allow them to make their own changes.” (Amer, pers.comm., 2015). To this end, community participation is seen as an intrinsic tool of sustainable development, as “[e]nviornmental issues are best handled with the participation of all concerned citizens” (UNEP, 2002, online resource).
 
Simultaneously over the past decade, microgrids for electrifying rural areas have received considerable attention and investment from international aid organizations. Total microgrid capacity worldwide has quadrupled in the last four years[1], and many off-grid communities now enjoy electrification from a sustainable, renewable source. Thus, a greater priority for Egypt’s development plans is increasing energy access in remote areas, at least for international NGOs and researchers, along with increasing participatory decision-approaches, such as teaching local governance, that empower a community to effect social change.
 
Indeed, at the First International Conference on Solar Energy Solutions for Electricity and Water Supply held at the American University in Cairo in November 2015, almost all microgrid projects presented relied on the labor of community members for the actual construction and to espouse community empowerment. Community building in the context of the physical construction of a microgrid, or any other public service or building, owned and run by the community itself gives the term a quite literal meaning, and also certain challenges. While microgrids, or any innovation, have many proven technical strengths, the distance between the development practitioner’s vision for and the target community’s acceptance of a new grid can be an insurmountable gulf.
 
Fundamentally, often practitioners assume that ownership and responsibility is desirable for all communities when in reality, it can be seen as an unwanted burden. In Egypt, the government tends to view decision-making for a community as an exclusive political power and there are regimes that do not want to see empowerment on the local level. Presently, the government is wary of any project, especially conducted by a foreigner, that encourages community building, especially around electricity access. Among the masses, electricity access in Cairo has historically been a social barometer for the performance of national leadership. It is not uncommon to hear people link their support of a political party to how many power or water outages occurred during the party’s time in office. Thus, implementing projects dependent upon community empowerment in menacing political climates necessitate particular sensitivity on the part of practitioners, and sheds light on the fact that the very idea of community empowerment may be a strange concept in some areas of the world.  
 
Nonetheless, participatory approaches to development projects such as microgrids are necessary. After all, once established, the infrastructure will be owned, operated, maintained and financed by the local community, and its sustainability depends on the local community. However, there needs to be thorough understanding of the ways in which these projects can be clearly translated into practices that community members are willing and ready to incorporate into their lives. If communities do not accept the rationale behind a project, and especially if community members are expected to contribute the labor to construction and maintenance, these projects will be abandoned quickly. 
 
In Egypt, there have been cases where locals would severely question green practitioners’ recommendations of site location or construction material, and would end up ultimately unsatisfied with the given reason. For example, in the Western Desert of Egypt, the manufacture of white bricks for housing construction is notorious for its detrimental impacts on laborer’s health and the environment. However, residents continue to use white bricks in their housing for reasons of affordability, speedy delivery, and the elevated social status of living in a more “Western” house. In sustainable development practice, practitioners often assume that minimizing greenhouse gas emissions or preserving natural and cultural landscapes are goals shared by local residents, when often these ideals do not make the roster of prioritized values. If community members see that they have to pay more for a resource they do not feel is necessary, they will not take up the responsibility of ownership. 
 
The issues that arose in Egypt’s communities in response to community building initiatives and sustainable practices are applicable to the proliferation of microgrids in remote areas and the broader development field, that prioritizes “empowering locals.” As past projects in desert communities in Egypt demonstrate, only with local acceptance, and flexibility on the part of the researchers, can sustainable concepts be translated into successful practice. 


[1] http://www.utilitydive.com/news/how-remote-microgrid-systems-are-driving-capacity-growth-for-the-sector/410072/