With just 12 years to go to 2030, progress in providing universal energy access and improving rural development outcomes in many rural areas has been too slow if the Sustainable Development Goals are to be met. Over a three-year period, the Smart Villages Initiative gathered evidence and views from over 1000 stakeholders from 70 countries to identify the framework conditions necessary for the provision of energy services to rural communities and to ensure that energy access translates into improved rural development outcomes. This short communication provides an overview of the key findings of this process and suggests a number of “bottom-up” insights and recommendations. These include taking an integrated approach to rural development, building markets to leverage the private sector, creating supportive, coherent and flexible policy frameworks at the national-level; and a re-think of financing mechanisms.