Mauritania has secured US$59.28 million in financing from the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) to support a rural electrification programme aimed at expanding access to electricity in some of the country’s most underserved regions, as authorities seek to narrow one of West Africa’s widest energy access gaps.
The funding was approved on April 6 during the IsDB’s 365th Board of Executive Directors meeting and is intended to support equitable and sustainable electricity access across a number of remote and poorly connected areas. According to the bank, the package includes US$25.35 million from its ordinary financing resources and US$33.93 million from the IsDB Concessional Fund, reflecting the development lender’s focus on fragile and underserved member states.
The project will target several regions where access to reliable electricity remains severely constrained, including Adrar, Assaba, Inchiri, Brakna, Hodh El Chargui, Hodh El Gharbi, and Tagant. While the bank did not disclose the exact number of households or communities expected to benefit, the intervention is designed to help expand energy access in areas that have long lagged behind urban centres.
Beyond the installation of power infrastructure, the programme also includes a social and economic empowerment component. IsDB said it would support the deployment of 10 multifunctional energy platforms to be managed by local women’s cooperatives, with the aim of strengthening micro-enterprises and improving the livelihoods of women-led households and vulnerable communities. The inclusion of women-led productive energy use reflects a broader trend among development financiers to link rural electrification with income generation and local enterprise development rather than viewing it purely as a household utility intervention.
The new financing comes at a time when Mauritania is trying to accelerate progress toward universal electricity access by 2030, a target that remains challenging given the country’s vast geography, sparse population and persistent infrastructure deficits. According to World Bank data, overall access to electricity in Mauritania stood at about 50.3 percent in 2023, highlighting the scale of the remaining access gap. Rural access remains especially weak, with electrification rates far below urban levels.
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That urban-rural divide remains one of the central obstacles to inclusive development in Mauritania. While electricity access has improved in parts of the country over recent years, large sections of the rural population still lack dependable power, limiting opportunities for education, healthcare delivery, refrigeration, irrigation, communications and small business growth. Development institutions have increasingly identified decentralised and off-grid energy systems as essential to closing such gaps in low-density and remote areas.
The IsDB approval also follows a series of recent financing interventions in Mauritania’s broader energy sector, underscoring growing international interest in the country’s energy transition and infrastructure buildout. In March 2025, the World Bank approved support for Mauritania’s DREAM Project, which aims to boost green hydrogen development, expand battery energy storage and support reforms in the mining and energy sectors as part of the country’s long-term energy security strategy.
Mauritania has been positioning itself as a future hub for renewable energy and green industrial development, given its vast solar and wind potential. But while those ambitions have attracted investor attention, basic electricity access remains an immediate and unresolved challenge for much of the population. The latest IsDB financing therefore addresses a more foundational development need: ensuring that remote communities are not left behind as the country pursues larger energy transformation goals.
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For policymakers, the significance of the new funding lies not only in the amount approved but also in the model being promoted. By combining infrastructure rollout with community-level economic inclusion, especially through women-led energy platforms, the project is intended to turn electrification into a broader development catalyst rather than a standalone utility upgrade.
If effectively implemented, the programme could help Mauritania make progress on one of its most stubborn structural challenges: extending reliable, affordable electricity beyond urban enclaves and into the rural areas where poverty and exclusion remain most entrenched.
