Solar home systems, mini-grids, productive use equipment, and digital inclusion, all running through one platform in Madagascar. Here is why DECIM is one of the most complete examples of digitally managed energy financing anywhere.
Most energy access programs focus on one asset class. A mini-grid tender here, a solar home system subsidy there, a productive-use pilot somewhere else. Each runs on its own process, its own reporting cycle, and often its own consultants.
DECIM takes a different approach.
DECIM (Déploiement de l'Électrification par les Communautés et les Initiatives du Marché) is a nationwide, World Bank-backed initiative in Madagascar designed to scale electrification through market-driven solutions. What makes it special is its breadth: the program supports mini-grids, solar home systems, public facility electrification, productive use equipment, and digital device distribution simultaneously, all coordinated through the Odyssey Platform.
The Opportunity of Multi-Asset Scale
Running a financing program for one asset class is an ambitious undertaking. Each program requires robust systems for developer onboarding, project applications, verification logic, claims processing, and disbursement. Scaling this across five asset classes simultaneously creates a powerful, diverse portfolio, but requires sophisticated operational alignment. A solar home system claim involves different verification indicators than a mini-grid connection or even an energy-as-a-service scheme for public facilities; productive-use assets and digital devices introduce their own unique reporting requirements.
For complex, national programs like DECIM, the traditional manual approach would require significant field resources and extended evaluation cycles. To deliver results at the speed required, programs are moving toward unified digital infrastructure. By integrating diverse assets into a single system, administrators can move beyond the constraints of manual processing, ensuring that every claim—regardless of asset type—is verified in real-time.
On the Odyssey platform, this becomes a streamlined, real-time reality. Project applications, claim verification, device monitoring, and disbursement workflows all run through a single system. With each asset class utilizing its own configured logic, all data is consolidated and visible to the program administrator in one place, enabling the program to maintain focus on program outcomes rather than process management.
How the pieces fit together
The Odyssey platform's role in DECIM spans the full program lifecycle.
Application windows. Developers apply through structured digital windows, with standardized intake ensuring that every applicant submits comparable documentation. Four new application windows launched in 2026, with clear, digital, accessible processes replacing what would traditionally be paper-heavy submissions.
Verification. Each asset class carries its own verification rules, checked automatically against integrated smart meter and/or pay-as-you-go repayment data. A connection is not just claimed, it is confirmed instantly against real-time monitoring data.
Disbursement. Once verification criteria are met, claims are routed for approval and payment. Every disbursement is backed by comprehensive, real-time data, providing administrators with a transparent, evidence-based foundation to release funds with confidence and speed.
Portfolio visibility. The program administrator can live-track the entire national portfolio: which developers are active, which claims are moving, where the program is ahead or behind its targets.
What the numbers say
DECIM's targets reflect its ambition: [ADD STAT: confirm current public figures — 457,000 new electricity connections, 80 mini-grids deployed, 417,000 off-grid solar kits, 664,000 digital devices distributed].
The program is already showing up in market data. In 2025, Madagascar recorded a 56% increase in solar sales, with DECIM playing a central role in driving that growth. [ADD STAT: confirm against latest GOGLA figures before publishing.]
Behind these numbers is an operational foundation that turns ambition into reality. By automating verification and disbursement calculations, the program unlocks a level of agility that ensures results can match the scale of the need. This digital-first approach ensures that electrification programs are not just faster, but built to deliver lasting, broad-reaching impact.
Why DECIM matters beyond Madagascar
For governments and funders designing the next generation of energy access programs, DECIM offers three lessons.
Breadth is manageable when the infrastructure is right. Historically, concerns about managing operational complexity have led to narrower program designs; however, modern digital infrastructure empowers governments and funders to confidently scale broader, multi-faceted programs. Households do not need only one type of energy solution, and a program that can serve mini-grids, solar home systems, and productive use together reflects how electrification actually happens on the ground.
Digital-first processes widen participation. Clear, accessible application windows lower the barrier for local developers who might never navigate a traditional donor procurement process. That matters for building a domestic industry, not just deploying assets.
Verification infrastructure is program infrastructure. The monitoring and verification layer is not an add-on to DECIM; it is the engine that makes results-based financing credible across hundreds of claims and multiple asset types. By embedding high-quality monitoring from the start, verification shifts from being a potential bottleneck to a seamless, automated driver of program speed and trust.
The bigger picture
The energy access sector talks a lot about scale. DECIM is what scale looks like in operational terms: not a bigger version of a manual process, but a different kind of process altogether, where a program administrator can manage a national, multi-asset portfolio with the operational ease typically reserved for a single-asset program.
As more governments design comprehensive electrification programs backed by results-based financing, DECIM provides a compelling blueprint. While every market is unique, DECIM demonstrates that managing diverse, multi-asset portfolios at a national scale is not just possible—it is a proven pathway to impact.
The Odyssey Platform powers financing, verification, and monitoring for energy access programs including DECIM in Madagascar, AGREE in the DRC, and national platforms across West Africa. Learn more at odysseyenergysolutions.com.
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