challenges it has faced reflect the experiences of reform-based electrification schemes across Sub-Saharan Africa. This highlights the importance of designing initiatives to fit the local policy environment. Americas Brazil In 1981, 74.9% of Brazilian households were served by electric power, according to the IBGE's National Sample Survey of Households (PNAD). In 2000, the Federal government of Brazil, under the Fernando Henrique Cardoso administration, launched the Luz no Campo program to expand the distribution of electricity in Brazilian domiciles, with a focus on rural households. From 2003 on, the program was reinforced and renamed Luz para Todos by the Lula administration. The results were that, according to the PNAD, by 1996, 79.9% of all households had access to an electric power supply and that proportion rose to 90.8% in 2002 and 98.9% in 2009. Haiti Haiti remains the least electrified country in the Western Hemisphere, but several ambitious efforts have launched to address rural electrification in the country. Some have pointed out that because so much of rural Haiti currently lacks utility infrastructure, Haiti is well-positioned to leapfrog into modern, modular energy systems like microgrids (or "mini-grids") powered by renewable energy. The Haitian Government's energy regulator, along with the Energy Cell of the Ministry of Public Works and international partners are working to remove barriers and increase investment in renewable energy for both new, isolated mini-grids and regional grids. Using 2020 data, the Inter-American Development Bank estimated that 45% of the Haitian population had access to electricity. But frequent fuel shortages and other service disruptions mean that the population's real access to reliable electricity service is much lower. For example, in 2021 and 2022 even the nation's most important hospitals were curtailing their services due to lack of fuel to power their own generators for on-site electricity. Jamaica The Rural Electrification Programme (REP) was incorporated in 1975 with the specific mandate to expand the reach of electricity supply to rural areas, where the provision of such services would not be economically viable for commercial providers of electricity. The REP extends the national grid through the construction of electrical distribution pole lines to un-electrified areas and provides house wiring assistance through a loan programme to householders. In June 2012 Energy Minister Phillip Paulwell disclosed that, approximately 16,000 homes in remote parts of the island which do not have electricity are to be supplied with solar or wind electricity through the Rural Electrification