Women and Sustainable Energy - Stakeholder consultation

The European Commission's Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO) organized a stakeholder consultation meeting on renewable energies in Brussels on December 7th- 8th, 2016 in view of launching a Call for proposals on "Women and Sustainable Energy".
 

This meeting focused on both sustainable development goals, SDG 5 (Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) and SDG 7 (Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all).
 

In the context of delivering access to affordable, sustainable, reliable and modern energy, this Call aims to build partnerships for supporting an enhanced and active role of women in the sustainable energy sector under the Gender Window of ElectriFI.
 

Discussions explored potential synergies and space for collaboration for increasing women's entrepreneurship through sustainable energy by providing affordable access to finance and to energy. A special focus was also dedicated to improving the framework and supporting a more active role of women in the sustainable energy value chain through vocational training, capacity building, political advocacy and awareness campaigns.
 

During the work sessions, the discussions covered the above mentioned themes and went further, ranging from innovative financing, private sector-civil society relations, advocacy and awareness-raising to professional training.
 

Gilda Monjane, representing Mozambique's Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy (MIREME) and Lojas de Energia (Energy Shops), was invited to participate in the "Gender & Energy Challenges and solutions" panel. She presented concrete examples of projects being implemented which are related to Women and Sustainable Energy Technologies, as well as the innovations carried out and examples of business models for different scenarios and target groups.
 

The experience brought from Mozambique and the diversified business models adapted to each context were highly appreciated by the participants. Several country representatives and donors have stated that they would like to replicate what is done at the small Lojas de Energia, because the employment-generating and the promotion of access to energy for people living in marginalized communities are visible.
 

  Working groups have been set up:
 

1. Women Entrepreneurship and Access to Finance
2. Women and sustainable energy technologies, innovation, business models & opportunities in the value chain
3. Enabling Environment for Women’s Empowerment & Entrepreneurship

At the end of the meeting, participants were informed about the availability of funds to finance renewable energy projects, particularly those that demonstrated gender sensitivity, and they were encouraged to apply for the call. There are peer-to-peer groups for ideas exchange and the idea of​​ competing in a single proposal for different countries is being considered.