KEY POINTS
- Zambia’s electrification agency toured rural Dodoma to study Tanzania’s village power success this week.
- Power has spurred milling, welding and refrigeration businesses across the Chamwino District communities.
- Reliable electricity has improved learning at Chahwa Primary School with better tools and evening study.
Zambia has sent its rural electrification team to Tanzania to learn how its neighbour is bringing power to remote villages.
Officials from Zambia’s Rural Electrification Authority, led by chief executive Alex Mbumba, toured Chamwino District in the Dodoma Region this week. They visited Vikonje A hamlet and Chahwa Primary School on June 24 to see live projects run by Tanzania’s Rural Energy Agency.
The trip is part of an exchange programme between the two agencies. Both share the same shorthand, REA, and the same goal of widening electricity access in the countryside.
During the tour, hosts showed the visitors how power had reached homes, schools and small businesses. Residents and local stakeholders described how the supply had reshaped daily life.
Mbumba said Tanzania’s approach held a clear lesson for Zambia. He argued that rural power should do more than light homes.
“One of the key lessons we are taking from Tanzania is that electricity should not only be a social service, but also a tool for economic transformation in the communities we serve,” he said.
He said Zambia wanted its own projects to back income-earning work directly. The aim, he added, was long-term development rather than basic supply.
Power that pays for itself
On the Tanzanian side, project manager Deogratius Nagu said electrification had lifted livelihoods across the district. He said it had opened doors that stayed shut without power.
Nagu pointed to a wave of small enterprises now running on the grid. Milling machines, welding workshops and refrigeration services have sprung up where none could operate before.
The pattern is simple but powerful. A connection turns a hamlet into a small marketplace, and that shift is what Zambia came to study.
Brighter classrooms in Dodoma
The gains reach beyond business, Nagu said. Schools like Chahwa Primary now run on reliable electricity.
He said the supply had improved the learning environment for pupils. Teachers can use better tools, and children get more time to study after dark.
That evening study time matters in places where daylight once set the limit on learning. Steady power has quietly extended the school day.
Rural electrification remains a priority in Tanzania’s development plans. The government wants it to raise productivity, improve public services and strengthen village economies.
The visit points to deeper energy cooperation between Tanzania and Zambia. Both countries are trading knowledge on how to speed up access and squeeze more development from every connection.
Mbumba’s team left Dodoma with a working blueprint rather than a brochure. The task now is to carry the model home and make it fit Zambia’s own villages.
