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Resource paper - Workshop on women and sustainable energy



REPORT ON REGIONAL WORKSHOP ON WOMEN AND SUSTAINABLE ENERGY - SOUTHERN AFRICA

Held June 21 and 22 in Pretoria, South Africa
[Download complete document - 95Kb ~ 1 min]

Background

As one component of the project entitled "Energy and Women: Generating Opportunities for Development," UNDP’s Energy and Atmosphere office organised a regional meeting on women and sustainable energy for 10 countries in southern Africa, in collaboration with the UNDP Country Office in South Africa and the Minerals and Energy Policy Centre, a local non-government organisation. Country representatives were invited from Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The purposes of the regional workshop were:
  1. to gather and share information about the relationship between women and sustainable energy policies, including constraints affecting women’s energy choices;
  2. to support and build on existing energy networks; and
  3. to discuss new approaches and potential pilot activities in support of women’s access to sustainable energy services for productive purposes.
Although the Energy and Women project is not by itself intended to provide funding for new pilot projects, it is expected to provide technical assistance in designing new proposals and approaches regarding women’s access to sustainable energy resources, particularly for use in income-generating activities. The Energy and Women project will also undertake analytic studies on lessons learned from past energy projects, and on the role of micro-credit schemes in funding user acquisition of new energy technologies. Financial support for the Energy and Women project has been provided by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and UNDP’s Sustainable Energy Global Programme.

In many developing countries, particularly in rural areas, women are the primary users and providers of energy for household and informal productive uses. Often they are dependent on wood, dung and biomass residues for use as fuels because electricity and other energy resources are unavailable or unaffordable. Access to more efficient and environmentally sustainable energy services can provide women with more time and opportunities for income-generating work, and can also improve their overall health and living conditions, as well as the development situations of their families and communities. The geographical focus of the Energy and Women project is on Africa, where large numbers of people lack modern energy services, and where there is great potential for utilising renewable energy resources.

This workshop was the first of three planned in southern, western and eastern Africa during the next two years. In preparation for the regional workshop each country was asked to prepare a national report for presentation, preferably based on a national consultation or other participatory process involving stakeholders concerned with women and energy policies. The Energy and Women project offered financial support for these national consultations.

As this was the first regional workshop, it provided an opportunity for getting national-level reactions to the Energy and Women project objectives, and for gathering ideas about how UNDP and other development partners can provide more effective support for national actions regarding women and sustainable energy. The Energy and Atmosphere office expects to work with the country representatives attending the regional workshop in order to identify and support specific follow-up activities.

In addition to a draft agenda for the regional workshop, participants were provided with a briefing paper describing the Energy and Women project and a paper outlining draft criteria for selection of case studies on lessons learned from prior projects. Participants also received copies of all the country reports.