Gender and Energy Workshops for Policy Makers and Other Stakeholders

Gender and energy workshops would inform stakeholders of the synergistic values of government, private sector and NGOs collaborating and their appropriate roles in energy, women and rural development programs. It will encourage an activist approach on the part of governments, industry and NGOs in developing centers of excellence in renewable energy and in support for RE projects that facilitate rural development and economic expansion in the rural and peri-urban areas. Such workshops should be designed to bring together providers and users of RE technology. Presenters should include academicians, NGO officials, Government agencies, donor agencies, financial institutions, and industry practitioners. This would l be a catalyst for dismantling the barriers to the widespread application of renewables to improve the economy and quality of life in rural Mozambique.

Studies [2, 3] have shown that societies that discriminate by gender pay a high price in terms of their ability to develop and to reduce poverty. To promote women empowerment, the workshops must emphasize institutional reforms, based on a foundation of equal rights for women and men; policies for sustained economic development; and active measures to redress present gender disparities. In the workshops, experts must examine the conceptual and empirical links between gender, public policy, and development outcomes, and demonstrate the value of applying a gender perspective to the design of development policies.

Social and development impact of women’s empowerment extends beyond the individual woman, to her family, to her community, and for generations to come. Furthermore, women, the greatest consumers of energy, the vital engine that drives rural development, are known to be much better credit risk than men. Yet, women in developing and transitional countries such as Mozambique have no access to credit and are largely excluded in renewable energy projects. Presenters in the workshop should examine the reasons for the disparity and means for overcoming them.

G. Challenges and Lessons Learned

The energy workshops for rural girls which was first planned to be residential workshops met with two difficulties — the high cost of implementation and the reluctance of the girls to break from tradition and leave the village to spend two weeks in a city with total strangers. The cost overrun is due to the fact that the girls surveyed would not travel alone to a city which exasperates the problem of limited availability of transportation to the remote areas. With the revision of project plan to offer the workshops in regional centers close to home, this problem was solved. Also, the community town hall meetings also raised the level of interest and support of the program which all but removed their fears and reservations. Furthermore, many more young girls in the villages could only be reached by the traveling laboratory workshops as the project visit their schools in the villages.

References: [1] Joann Ledgerwood, “Microfinance Handbook:An Institutional and Financial Perspective”, World Bank Publications, id = 213006, June,2000

[2] “Engedering Development: Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources, and Voice”, World Bank Publications, id = 217246, January, 2001

[3] Ellen Kennedy, “Gender and Renewable Energy: An Issue of Language”, Proceedings of Village ’98. Sustainable Energy and Gender Workshop, Washington D. C., October, 1998.

Acknowledgement

The authors give many thanks to Engineering Information (EiF) Foundation, the USAID, and the United Negro College Fund Special Programs (UNCF) for their financial support for the project. Many thanks are also due to the university administrations at Durban University of Technology, Eduardo Mondlane University, and Savannah State University for their support.