The Rockefeller Foundation announced the expansion of its Mission 300 Fellowship Program to at least 18 African countries to support efforts by the World Bank and African Development Bank to provide electricity to 300 million Africans by 2030. The initiative, launched during Mission 300 Day at the 2026 Africa Energy Indaba, will see additional fellows providing technical assistance to countries’ National Energy Compact Delivery and Monitoring Units (CDMUs) and strengthening institutional capacity to develop investable energy projects. The first cohort of Mission 300 Fellows is already active in Burundi, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Republic of Congo, Senegal, and Sierra Leone.
The program aims to accelerate electrification and improve access to clean cooking technologies across sub-Saharan Africa. Fellows work on operationalizing and coordinating CDMUs, defining milestones and reporting structures, liaising with government officials, and coordinating with multilateral banks, including the World Bank and African Development Bank. The Rockefeller Foundation, through its Mission 300 Accelerator and RF Catalytic Capital, supports these efforts alongside nonprofit partners CoAction Global and Energy Corps.
Mission 300 addresses critical energy access challenges in Africa, where over 730 million people lack electricity and approximately one billion rely on traditional fuels such as wood and charcoal, leading to health risks and premature deaths. To date, the initiative has connected around 44 million people to electricity. The program also emphasizes capacity building, empowering emerging African energy leaders to navigate complex electrification challenges in their countries.
In addition to expanding the fellowship program, the Rockefeller Foundation announced a US$10 million investment to accelerate electricity connections and support fast-track technical assistance in at least 15 African countries. Ongoing work includes supporting CDMUs in Malawi, Liberia, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Senegal to improve coordination, monitoring, and implementation. Fellows’ contributions have been recognized for strengthening operational capacity, increasing efficiency, and helping to overcome local challenges such as infrastructure gaps, power shortages, and bureaucratic hurdles.
Through Mission 300 and related initiatives, the Rockefeller Foundation and its partners aim to improve livelihoods, promote economic opportunity, and advance energy access while developing a new generation of skilled professionals capable of driving sustainable energy progress across Africa.
