emma.heywood9@googlemail.com

Community participation has become a routine expectation in development policy and practice. It appears in funding criteria, evaluation frameworks, and professional guidelines across sectors such as infrastructure, health, energy, education, and governance. The underlying idea is widely accepted: people should have some say in decisions that affect their lives, and doing so should lead to

Effective communication and two-way flow of information are essential in ensuring the success of rural innovations, for example clean energy and electrification projects. In regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and other LMICs, where access to energy remains a significant challenge, promoting strong communication channels between governments, energy companies, and local communities is key to achieving