Rockefeller Foundation Commits an Additional US$10 Million to Accelerate Electricity Connections Across Africa by 2030

• To boost electrification efforts in least 15 African countries in collaboration with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet
  
  
• Work is not only underway in Malawi and Liberia with new funding to the Global Energy Alliance, but is also in Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Senegal through the Mission 300 Accelerator, an initiative of The Rockefeller Foundation's public charity, RF Catalytic Capital, with previously announced funding
  
  
• Helping improve coordination, monitoring, reporting, and implementation capacity in support of World Bank and African Development Bank initiative to connect 300 million more Africans to electricity by 2030 

CAPE TOWN, South Africa, March 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of Mission 300 Day during the 2026 Africa Energy Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa, The Rockefeller Foundation announced an additional US$10 million in support of Mission 300, the World Bank Group and African Development Bank's ambitious initiative to connect 300 million Africans to electricity by 2030. With this funding, The Rockefeller Foundation is collaborating with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet ('Global Energy Alliance') to fast-track electrification efforts in at least 15 African countries by providing technical assistance to National Energy Compact Delivery and Monitoring Units (CDMUs), with support already underway in Malawi and Liberia. In addition, The Rockefeller Foundation specified that the Mission 300 Accelerator's support is helping improve CDMU coordination, monitoring, reporting, and implementation capacity in Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Senegal, using previously announced funding with its public charity, RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC).

"African governments are choosing to transform their energy sectors by committing to National Energy Compacts, driving forward ambitious reforms, and investing in African-led solutions to connect hundreds of millions of people to electricity. These new connections will reduce reliance on costly and dangerous alternatives, helping Africans build businesses and improve agricultural yields, while fueling job creation, education, healthcare, and hope," said William Asiko, Senior Vice President and Head of Africa at The Rockefeller Foundation. 

Today, more than 730 million people still lack access to basic electricity, with an estimated 600 million living in Africa. This shortage hinders healthcare, education, digital inclusion, women and children empowerment, the creation of local jobs, building economic opportunity, and more. According to the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, lack of access to electricity is the single greatest predictor of extreme poverty.

Launched by the World Bank and African Development Bank to combat energy poverty and unlock opportunity across Africa, Mission 300 is an ambitious joint initiative to provide electricity to 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030. With support from The Rockefeller Foundation, Global Energy Alliance, and Sustainable Energy for All, this innovative collaboration uses both grid extension and off-grid, decentralized renewable energy solutions to reach rural and underserved populations. To date, Mission 300 has connected approximately 44 million people to electricity.

Investing in Mission 300 CDMUs
Since the very first National Energy Compacts were announced during the Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, in January 2025, dozens of African countries have presented their compacts. These government-owned compacts go far beyond connections, committing governments to concrete reforms and investments that make large-scale electrification feasible and bankable. The compacts are all about creating the conditions for economic transformation that will drive industrial growth, and each accompanying CDMU is responsible for coordinating effective implementation.

In addition, The Rockefeller Foundation confirmed that the Mission 300 Accelerator is actively providing support to CDMUs in Nigeria, along with Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal, the latter two of which have a Mission 300 Fellow and active CDMU staff. With more in the pipeline, these three CDMUs are being supported through previously announced funding to the Mission 300 Accelerator's Technical Assistance Facility. 

"Energy access is key to unlocking human potential and economic development. Mission 300 has been critical toward speeding the rate of connections in sub-Saharan Africa and giving people the ability to improve their lives and livelihoods," said Andrew Herscowitz, CEO of RF Catalytic Capital's Mission 300 Accelerator. "These additional investments will allow Mission 300 to go farther and do more so we can achieve our goal of connecting 300 million people to electricity by 2030."

"Connecting 300 million people in Africa to electricity by 2030 is one of the most consequential development ambitions of this decade. But targets alone do not deliver transformation. What delivers transformation is execution: governments with the institutional capacity, coordination mechanisms and implementation infrastructure to move at speed and scale," said Carol Koech, Vice President for Africa, Global Energy Alliance. "Compact Delivery and Monitoring Units are how bold National Energy Compacts become real. They align partners, strengthen institutions and ensure reforms translate into connections and economic opportunity. Through our work building the Grids of the Future and expanding Energy and Opportunity, the Global Energy Alliance is proud to partner with our Mission 300 partners to help countries turn ambition into affordable, abundant electricity and the means to use it to power jobs, growth and lasting systems change across Africa." 

Additionally, during Mission 300 Day at the 2026 Africa Energy Indaba, The Rockefeller Foundation also announced that:

• In collaboration with nonprofit impact accelerator CoAction Global, CDMU-based Mission 300 technical assistance fellowships are expanding to at least 18 African countries.
  
  
• The initial cohort of "Mission 300 Fellows" are already providing technical support toCDMUs in Burundi, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Republic of Congo, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.

About the Global Energy Alliance
The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet Inc. ('Global Energy Alliance') builds transformative public, private, philanthropic partnerships to end energy poverty and accelerate green economic opportunity. Founded in 2021 by The Rockefeller Foundation, IKEA Foundation and Bezos Earth Fund, we work to unlock finance, strengthen institutions and transform markets, delivering progress that goes beyond individual projects to drive lasting systems change. Through our two interconnected global pillars, Grids of the Future — focused on innovation and infrastructure — and Energy and Opportunity — with a focus on jobs and livelihoods — we work toward our vision: a world where everyone has access to affordable, reliable, clean electricity and the means to use it to improve their lives. 

With work in more than 30 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, our alliance aims to reach 1 billion people with clean electricity, prevent 4 billion tons of carbon emissions and create or improve 150 million jobs. For more information, please visit www.energyalliance.org and follow us on X @EnergyAlliance. 

About The Rockefeller Foundation
Investing $30 billion over the last 113 years to promote the well-being of humanity, The Rockefeller Foundation is a pioneering philanthropy built on unlikely partnerships and innovative solutions that deliver measurable results for people in the United States and around the world. We leverage scientific breakthroughs, artificial intelligence, and new technologies to make big bets across energy, food, health, and finance, including with our public charity, RF Catalytic Capital (RFCC). For more information, sign up for our newsletter at www.rockefellerfoundation.org/subscribe and follow us on X @RockefellerFdn, Instagram @rockefellerfdn, YouTube @RockefellerFdn, and LinkedIn @the-rockefeller-foundation. 

SOURCE The Rockefeller Foundation