ENERGIA has always believed that a multi-pronged, multi-sectoral, collaborative and integrated approach that combines different actions at different levels (international, national, community, household, individual) is needed to accelerate coordinated action across the energy sector.

ENERGIA strengthened its holistic and comprehensive approach to energy and gender, engaging all stakeholders and partners to create strong synergies and amplify actions. ENERGIA collaborated with energy and non-energy civil society organizations (CSOs) that represent the interests of women and vulnerable groups, worked with financial institutions and the private sector to create an enabling environment for women and strengthened cooperation with leaders to amplify policy messages. These partnerships were used to leverage actions and resources for gender and energy interventions beyond what ENERGIA itself could achieve alone.

At the country level, ENERGIA and partners convened different actors, including government agencies, multilateral organizations, NGOs and the private sector, to advocate for gender and energy objectives in national SEforALL processes. At the international level, ENERGIA closely aligned its work with like-minded networks in order to amplify common messages and undertake joint policy influencing activities.

Implementing the Women’s Economic Empowerment program

ENERGIA’s efforts to support energy sector players in mainstreaming gender in their energy projects and programs led the network to implement its own Women’s Economic Empowerment program, in collaboration with five local partners across seven countries: Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda. The program aimed to support women by involving them in energy value chains that deliver energy products and services to consumers living in rural and remote areas, as well as by facilitating energy access to increase their productive activities. The Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) program positioned women as change agents and an untapped resource in scaling up “last-mile” energy access. ENERGIA collaborated with partner organizations to provide them with technical and financial support to scale up women-led micro and small enterprises (MSEs).

This intervention offered a two-fold benefit. By working directly with women entrepreneurs, ENERGIA has been able to follow their business journeys and adjust the program based on their needs, challenges and achievements. In parallel, the program has also provided insight into the actions needed to engage and support women entrepreneurs working in local communities, while also using this experience in the field to advocate for a faster, inclusive and just energy transition.

Information and knowledge sharing allowed for complete analysis of the linkages between energy, gender and sustainable development. Communications represented an opportunity to amplify ENERGIA’s messages and elevate the voices of women by bringing them to high level political discussions. With WEE, ENERGIA created a platform that served as a sounding board for women’s and men’s energy needs.