Powering change: MCA-Sénégal II Electricity Compact & IDinsight’s learning agenda to support economic growth in Senegal

Decision-maker’s challenge

Senegal faces some of Africa’s steepest electricity costs, unreliable power, and limited access outside Dakar. For rural and peri-urban areas, only about 52–55% of people have electricity at home, compared to over 94–95% in the capital. This creates real roadblocks for families and businesses: no stable power means lost productivity, missed opportunities.

Impact opportunity

The MCA’s $600 million Electricity Compact aims to transform Senegal’s power sector by tackling Transmission, Access, and Reform. Reliable and affordable electricity unlocks growth, enables new income-generating activity, and ensures stronger business competitiveness nationwide. At full scale, universal access is the goal, benefitting millions of households and hundreds of key firms, with economic ripples reaching all corners of the country and region.

IDinsight approach 

IDinsight partnered with MCA-Sénégal II to design and deliver a learning plan spanning all Compact projects – Reform, Transport and Access.

• Reform project: whose objective is to create an environment conducive to improving the financial viability of the electricity sector and the good governance of the sector, with the aim of improving the quality and quantity of electricity supply.
• Transport project: Senelec’s Grid Modernization and Reinforcement Project, whose objective is to provide quality electricity from the least costly sources available to Senelec to meet the growing demand on Senegal’s interconnected grid.
• Access project: whose objective is to increase the supply and demand for quality electricity in the rural and peri-urban areas of Senegal.
• Activities include theory of change reviews, research question refinement, building sector-wide data systems, tracking project impacts for populations and firms from grid upgrades to reforms, and developing stakeholder engagement strategies.
• Focused learning cycles drive recommendations and improvements, notably in Reform (national sector governance, Senelec, CRSE), with new rounds of data collection targeting Transmission and Access upcoming.

The results so far

• Successfully delivered foundational reports that shaped Compact strategy: Kick-off,  Inception Report including the final Learning Agenda, Methodology, and M&E plans.
• Reform workstream:
  • Three official Learning Notes published for Reform, validated by stakeholders and shared on MCA website and social media.
• Knowledge-sharing workshops, including a major seminar in 2024, directly informed government, donors, and MCA staff actions.
• Five trimestrial Progress Reports submitted.
• Field mission in Kolda for Transport Project.
• Outcomes dissemination workshop for Reform Project with all the main stakeholders, including the Ministry of Energy.
• Recommendations matrix produced to guide stakeholder implementation and follow-up.
• The project remained responsive during suspension/challenges, despite a delay in the implementation, pivoting rapidly to maintain progress during USG funding realignment and persistent data access constraints.
• New data collections launching to measure impact for Transmission and Access in real beneficiary communities.

Next steps:

Due to USG pause, we have only worked on the Reform workstream and the two other workstreams status is still in process. Data collection to measure the impact of transport and access projects in the targeting areas are forthcoming;

• Launch surveys and evaluations for the Transmission and Access projects, focusing on beneficiary impact, including civil society organizations and firms.
• Continue quarterly learning cycles to ensure evidence shapes ongoing Compact strategy and future sector reforms.
• Share new findings to inform Senegal’s path to universal, affordable power access and region-wide economic growth.
  • Submit a Final Research Learning Report for each of the 3 projects.
• Deliver a post-Compact Report to guide the transition of MCA’ progress to Senegalese Government: ensure ownership and sustainability after September 2026.