Powering the Future: Exploring Mission 300 Phase 1

By Dr Helen Osiolo, Dr Simon Batchelor (OBE) , and Professor Ed Brown

“Powering the Future: Clean Cooking, Electrification, and Utility Reform in Sub-Saharan Africa”  explores the potential of eCooking to enhance and give greater financial returns to investors in Mission 300. 

Mission 300 is jointly led by the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank. It seeks to address persistent challenges in Sub Saharan Africa including nearly six hundred million people without electricity, underdeveloped and costly infrastructure, limited regional power integration, low uptake of renewable energy and clean cooking, weak utility performance, and insufficient private investment (World Bank Group, 2025). The initiative aims to provide affordable, reliable, and sustainable electricity to three hundred million people by 2030, anchored in the Dar es Salaam Energy Declaration and implemented through government led National Energy Compacts. The World Bank has committed thirty billion US dollars in IDA financing and is deploying de risking tools to accelerate progress.

At the 2025 Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit, twelve countries unveiled tailored compacts with measurable targets to strengthen infrastructure, expand renewables and clean cooking, improve utilities, deepen regional integration, and mobilise private capital (World Bank Group, 2025; Mission 300, 2025). The first cohort comprises Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, and Zambia. This first phase signals a scalable path, with additional countries expected to join in later rounds as compacts are developed (Sustainable Energy for All, 2025).

The brief is based on, and accompanied by, an interactive platform aligned to the four themes and a country fact sheet. Users can compare countries, filter by theme, and download charts so choices are evidence based and aligned with national and local priorities.

This brief examines baseline data from twelve Phase 1 Mission 300 countries through four themes. These are electricity and clean cooking access, fuel sources, utilisation and generation, and utility performance. Together they attempt to illustrate who is connected, what households cook with, how much installed capacity is actually delivered, and whether utilities can sustain service and growth. The analysis uses publicly available baseline indicators primarily from 2022 to 2025 country data.

The Mission 300 framework is ambitious, yet several practical areas require clearer pathways. These include modernising and reinforcing existing grids to cut technical and commercial losses, strengthening resilience to climate shocks, and integrating decentralised renewable systems with national networks. Affordability for end users, regulatory and governance reforms, and sustainable operation and maintenance also need explicit attention. Monitoring and evaluation and targeted capacity building for utilities and sector institutions should be strengthened so that gains are durable. The purpose of this brief is to highlight key gaps that emerge from the four themes, propose focused actions that countries could consider, and inform implementation of the National Energy Compacts.

The first phase of Mission 300 brings together countries with very different starting points. Although all twelve share the challenge of low clean-cooking access, their electricity systems, utility performance, and mini-grid trajectories diverge sharply. Effective policy responses will likely need to differentiate between contexts rather than rely on generic prescriptions.

The country diagnostics reveal recurring constraints in access, cooking fuels, utilisation of installed capacity, and utility performance. The policy recommendations translate those findings into actions at two levels. First are cross-cutting measures that many countries could adopt with local adaptation. Second are thematic actions mapped to each of the four indicators so implementation teams can align efforts with measured gaps.

Mission 300 is a bold opportunity for Africa to reach 300 million of its citizens with a resource that can improve their health, reduce climate emissions, open up economic possibilities and enhance lives. As a research group we will be seeking to support them in every possible way.