Impact is often defined by data — by what we can measure, quantify, and report. Social and environmental outcomes are expected to come with metrics and indicators. Yet, not everything that matters can be measured. The feeling of turning on a light for the first time or watching your business grow because of reliable electricity — these are experiences that defy easy quantification
Local context, in my view, gives shape and meaning to these intangibles. It translates emotion into understanding and helps us grasp the deeper forces that drive participation, ownership, and long-term impact. When we take time to understand context, we make it easier for projects to take root and endure. But history has also shown what happens when we don’t — when context is overlooked, the result can be mistrust, resistance, and outcomes that fail both companies and communities.
The collapse of the Kinangop Wind Park (KWP) in Kenya stands as a powerful reminder of what happens when local context is overlooked. From the start, the project faced fierce resistance from smallholder farmers who felt excluded from decision-making and feared losing their land without seeing any direct benefit. As protests escalated and legal disputes dragged on, financiers withdrew, pushing the debt-heavy project into receivership. Beyond the $50 million in combined losses for investors and lenders, the deeper cost was the erosion of trust — both among communities and future investors. Ultimately, KWP’s failure was less about technology or finance and more about governance and engagement: a lesson that meaningful community involvement and shared value are as vital to impact as capital and infrastructure.
There’s a saying, ‘To be loved is to be understood’. And perhaps that’s true not only for people, but for places too. Before a company or program enters our homes, our land, or reshapes the way we’ve lived, we long to be seen, to be understood. That is what local context really means — not just a strategy for project success, but a form of respect. When communities are understood, what’s built with them stands the test of time, becoming not an imposition but another thread in the fabric of culture and community.
References:
RES4MEDAfrica_Unlocking-Value-from-Sustainable-Renewable-Energy_2018-1.pdf
Gone with the Wind: The Cautionary Tale of Kinangop Wind Park
