In rural areas, access to electricity is required for better living standard, enhance income options and reduce population migration. In last decades, steady progress has been made but the status of electrification significantly varies across countries. In developing countries, about 1.6 billion people live without electricity and another 2 billion have access but to an unreliable extent. Large population also live in remote areas where extension of grid is not feasible, where people continuing to live under distress conditions. International projections reveal that number of un-electrified people will remain same by the year 2030 if similar pace of electrification is continued in future.From this perspective, the study describes what bigger countries such as India, China and Brazil are doing and where rural electrification stands in priority in a poor country like Ethiopia. Is off-grid technologies show an option for such remote locations" The two case studies of Vietnam and South Africa reveal that work carried out through external support in the absence of national policies. As a result, people have experienced the benefits of technologies but unable to retain them in long term. Electricity has given various advantages but poor affordability of the people hinders the acceptance of technologies in rural areas.The study shows the need of a framework to achieve the long-term support for rural electrification. A framework that could direct the national priorities, understands social, economic and environmental aspects of off-grid technologies, identify key areas to be strengthen, allocates the roles and responsibilities at different working levels, maintains a consistent flow of adequate finance, pursue regular monitoring process and incorporate the monitoring results, or, critical success factors into the national policies to make them more effective. Both macro- as well as micro- level approaches have been suggested in this study.