Transitioning Biogas Technology from Aid Dependency to Sustainable Economic Empowerment

Biogas technology has long been promoted as a clean energy solution for rural communities, yet its adoption remains fragile due to persistent systemic barriers, including limited technical capacity, unclear governance structures, socio-cultural resistance, and reliance on donor-driven models. This study introduces a novel empowerment-driven implementation framework that reconceptualizes biogas as a community-owned economic and environmental asset rather than a short-term aid project. The framework integrates systems thinking, circular economy principles, and local entrepreneurship, emphasizing the interconnections between technical, social, and economic factors in shaping adoption outcomes. Drawing on qualitative data collected from rural households, cooperatives, and key stakeholders in Limpopo Province, the research develops and validates a User-Centered Empowerment Model. This model demonstrates how active community participation, feedback loops, youth-focused capacity building, and strategic local investment can collectively strengthen ownership, sustainability, and the socio-economic impacts of biogas systems. The findings advance theory by operationalizing systems thinking in the context of rural clean energy technologies, illustrating how iterative, participatory processes can enhance both resilience and inclusivity. Practically, the model offers policymakers, development practitioners, and enterprise support agencies a scalable and context-sensitive framework.