What Night Light Tells Us About Decentralization and Development

The impact of decentralization is not a yes-or-no question. It is about how reforms are designed and when they are rolled out.

"Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” - Desmond Tutu

At first glance, the glow of towns after dark looks like nothing more than a view from space. But those night lights tell a story. They reveal where electricity flows, where markets remain open late, and where households reap the benefits of growth. Increasingly, researchers use them as a proxy for development. And in Burkina Faso, they have been used to answer one of Africa’s big policy questions: Does decentralization work?

Decentralization is often described as Africa’s shortcut to better governance. Move power closer to the people, the logic goes, and services will improve. But in practice, the results have been mixed. Some reforms have improved lives; others have increased bureaucracy without altering outcomes.

Burkina Faso presents one of the clearest tests of what decentralization can achieve. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the government implemented reforms in three waves: 33 communes in 1995, another 16 in 2000, and the remaining 16 in 2005. This staggered rollout created a natural experiment. Some communities had a head start in local self-rule, while others remained under central administration a while longer.

To measure the impact, the study by Bargain, Vincent & Caldeira (2025) turned to the night sky. Satellite images of night-time lights are now widely used as a proxy for economic activity where local GDP data are scarce. We compared night-light intensity in early decentralized areas with those that came later, using a difference-in-differences approach. To ensure robustness and verify the authenticity of the glow, the team cross-checked the data with information on settlement expansion and household welfare indicators.

What Burkina Faso’s Night Lights Revealed

The results were striking. Communes that decentralized first recorded 14 to 18 percent more growth in night-light intensity than those that had to wait. That glow reflected not just more electricity but more markets, more businesses, and more households active after dark. Household data confirmed improvements in welfare, with better access to water, education, and vaccination.

Yet the benefits were uneven. Only communes with the ability to raise their own revenues truly flourished. Where councils relied almost entirely on central transfers, the gains were far weaker. Autonomy without resources proved an empty promise.

The pattern is familiar across Africa. In Ghana, multiplying districts without boosting their fiscal base has left many assemblies strapped for funds. In Uganda, the endless creation of new districts has spread resources so thin that schools and clinics often suffer. Kenya, by contrast, shows how counties with elected governors and constitutionally guaranteed shares of national revenue have used competition to drive improvements. Where fiscal muscle and accountability align, decentralization works.

The Bigger Lesson

The challenge for African states is not whether to decentralize, but rather whether they will provide local governments with the necessary resources and autonomy to deliver effective services.

The night sky over Burkina Faso shows that decentralization can make towns literally shine brighter, but only under the right conditions. It is not a yes-or-no question. It is about how reforms are designed and when they are rolled out.

Done well, decentralization can light up neglected corners of a country. Done poorly, it risks leaving citizens in the dark while new layers of administration consume scarce resources.

Today, Burkina Faso faces one of the toughest political economies in the region. A fragile security situation and strained public finances have shifted national priorities toward survival rather than reform. In such a context, decentralisation risks being deprioritised, even though the evidence shows it can build resilience as well as growth. The real challenge is whether states under pressure can still empower local governments to deliver basic services and maintain community functioning when the central authority is overstretched.

DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Governance and Development Advisory, Utrecht University, or any institution with which the author is affiliated. This piece is written in a personal capacity to contribute to critical dialogue on decentalization and development in Africa.