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Integration of gender into energy policy dialogues and intergovernmental negotiations

ENERGIA successfully influenced key development actors to integrate a gender perspective in documents, frameworks, international reports, projects and promoted gender-inclusive energy planning policies. We also raised awareness of the urgency to support, promote and facilitate women’s entrepreneurship and economic empowerment in the energy sector.

Integration of gender responsive indicators in the SDG measurement framework on air pollution, unpaid work and clean cooking.

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC – now Clean Cooking Alliance) and ENERGIA successfully lobbied the member states of the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) to include gender responsive indicators in the SDG measurement framework on air pollution, unpaid work, and clean cooking.

This collaboration resulted in:

  • the development of a joint statement endorsed by over 20 CSOs;
  • engaging with representatives from National Bureaus of Statistic to advocate for gender and clean energy perspectives in the IAEG-SDGI intergovernmental negotiation process;
  • text changes to indicators that were incorporated in the outcomes of the intergovernmental negotiations at the first and second meetings of the IAEG-SDGI in 2015 in New York and Bangkok respectively.

This was achieved through a collaborative and strategic effort, which included:

  • Context analysis to help identify existing energy indicators and selection of key stakeholders to target (WHO and UN Women).
  • Establish contact and working relationships with selected key stakeholders to influence (WHO and UN Women).
  • Intergovernmental Agency and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) identified as the key policy process to influence.
  • Collaborate with partners in countries to influence statistical officers of the IAEG-SDGs selected countries (Uganda, Botswana, Senegal and Tanzania).
  • Develop targeted information for advocacy: ENERGIA expanded original GAAC focus only on cooking and health indicators to a joint focus that also included unpaid work and sex disaggregation principle. A list of specific recommendations on priority indicators was developed jointly by GACC and ENERGIA in a briefing note.
  • ENERGIA and GACC used position on SEforALL AG to leverage support from donors and multilateral institutions.
  • ENERGIA leveraged its membership in WMG to create a formal space for engagement/negotiation with IAEG-SDGs
    Participate and engage in IAEG-SDG meetings as well as in meetings at national level to advocate.

Integration of gender in the Global Tracking Framework (GTF) reports

As a member of the GTF Advisory Group that supported the SDG7 custodian agencies in their preparation for the Global Tracking Framework Report (today: Tracking SDG7: The Energy Progress Report), ENERGIA peer reviewed the 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 reports, developed the gender and energy nexus chapter for the 2015 report and the State of Electricity Access report (SEAR); provided input into the Multi-tier framework indicator and the development of gender standards for monetisation of access to clean energy.

Establishment of the ECOWAS Policy for Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access

ENERGIA supported ECREEE to establish ECOWAS-GEN (ECOWAS Program on Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access), which spurred the development and validation of the first regional policy on gender and energy, the “ECOWAS Policy for Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access”.

Integration of gender in European Commission energy access grant “Women & Sustainable Energy”

ENERGIA influenced the Commission’s Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) to prioritize the promotion of women’s entrepreneurship and economic empowerment in its energy access portfolio. This translated into a call for proposals on “Women & Sustainable Energy”—a grant to promote women’s role in sustainable energy value chains.

Integration of gender in the 2018 World Energy Outlook (WEO)

In 2018, the IEA developed a gender and energy text box for the World Energy Outlook (WEO) Report as a direct result of ENERGIA’s advocacy activities.