The rice husking mill may be on the edge of Mahasolo, but it's at the centre of the lives of the rural village's residents in central Madagascar.

"We pour the paddy rice in here," explains the mill operator Rakotomalala Nary, his flip-flops slapping across the floor of the windowless concrete room as he demonstrates how the antiquated-looking husking machine works.

He shows us a few green stalks of rice, freshly harvested from the waterlogged paddy fields surrounding Mahasolo. Most of the residents of this part of the country depend on rice farming for a living, labouring in the fields from dawn till dusk. Other crops are grown, but like Madagascar's most famous export, vanilla pods, little of this produce is destined for domestic consumption. Not so rice. Served with vegetables or a small piece of meat, the grain forms the staple meal of rural Malagasy.

"Adjust the roller like this and let the rice fall through," Rakotomalala continues. "A second roller cleans the grains, and you get husked rice. Often you have to repeat the process before the rice is ready."

When it's switched on, the machine whirs into life with a noise that is almost deafening. Noxious diesel fumes also fill the small room. Rakotomalala points out the culprit: the generator that powers the husker.

Like many in rural Madagascar, Rakotomalala doesn't just have one job, but performs a range of services for his village to make a living. In addition to running the rice mill, he works as a driver and a mechanic. His skill with engines doesn't just help get broken-down cars back on the road, however.

"The generator often breaks down," he explains, a note of weariness entering his voice. "I have to buy the parts, like piston rings and cylinder liners, and repair it myself. When the generator has worn-out parts, it uses up more diesel and oil. We have to buy the diesel from someone who gets it from the nearest gas station, transports it here and marks the price up."

The rice mill in the neighbouring village doesn't have any of these problems. Their husker works more efficiently to husk the rice, without polluting the air or deafening the operators. The machine in that village runs on electricity, a "luxury" that Mahasolo, far from Madagascar's ageing and inadequate power grid – which reaches only 10 percent of the country's population – doesn't have.

It's because of cases such as Mahasolo's rice mill that Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) is working to bring affordable, reliable and sustainable energy to communities in Madagascar, as well as Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Zambia.       SEforALL launched the Universal Energy Facility (UEF) in 2020. This multi-donor results-based fund is supporting developers of solar-powered mini-grids to get their technology into the places where it's so desperately needed. By January 2025, over 40,000 Malagasy had received electricity generated from one of the country's most abundant renewable resources – sunshine.

It is, of course, not only in the village rice mill that the UEF mini-grids will make a difference and a huge improvement in people's lives.

In summer 2024, mini-grid-powered streetlights were installed in Mahasolo – the first public outdoor lighting the village has known. Market vendors and shopkeepers tell us stories that quickly become familiar, of frustration with having to close their businesses as soon as night fell, and of electricity outages during busy trading hours, resulting in disappointed customers and lost revenue. While some do have access to solar panels, and take pride in their businesses running on sustainable electricity, these outdated panels cannot keep providing power during Madagascar's rainy season, with its frequent storms.

Now, not only can some of Mahasolo's businesses stay open into the evenings. As attested by the shoppers strolling around in the streetlights' glow, people feel safer to go out after dark. Literally overnight, the village after sunset has become unrecognizable.

School students also stand to benefit from the mini-grids. Talking with one 17-year-old in their final year at Mahasolo's high school, we hear about the struggle of learning without reliable electricity access – evenings of studying at home by candlelight, or light produced by a noisy and polluting generator. The problems are felt inside the schools too.

"There is no electricity in the school where I work," explains Reverend Ndriana, a local teacher. "In the dry season when the sun sets early, we have to stop teaching when it becomes too dark. And we can't teach the way we want to, using technology like computers and printers."

All agree: the reliable electricity supplied by the mini-grids from UEF is having, and will continue to have, a huge impact.

Back in the rice mill, Rakotomalala expresses relief when we ask him about the arrival of the new mini-grids in Mahasolo. "I'm looking forward to working in some quiet, and not having to repair the generator quite as often. Although there'll be some challenges adjusting, and I don't know how much the electricity will cost yet," he admits.

Rakotomalala, Reverend Ndriana and the other villagers know that the coming of reliable electricity won't mean the end of all the difficulties they face. But the new mini-grids do more than shine a light, so to speak, on the challenges of life in rural Madagascar. In the rice mill of Mahasolo, as well as the schools, businesses and homes, daily life will be changed for the better.