Rwanda Green Growth Strategy 18nov11 - Global Climate Change ...

Chapter 6Gender EqualityGender equality is a guiding principle for the Strategy, and a full assessment of how to mainstreamgender into the Programmes of Action and Enabling Pillars is necessary to make gender equality a reality.Neither impacts of, nor responses to, climate change are gender-neutral. Gender matters at all levels andscales and in all sectors. Robust analysis is required on gender roles, norms and unequal power relations;risks and opportunities for men, women, boys and girls; resources for developing and implementinggender-sensitive responses; men’s and women’s needs and preferences; gender-sensitive policy andprogramme evaluation; and gender-aware and inclusive accountability mechanisms. Gender equality andwomen’s empowerment, the third MDG, is recognised as a condition for the achievement of sustainabledevelopment [17] . In Rwanda, it will make a large contribution to addressing the challenge of populationgrowth which impacts on economic growth.Chapter 6: Roadmap to ImplementationThe key stakeholder for mainstreaming gender equality is the Ministry of Gender and FamilyPromotion (MIGEPROF) which has put in place a National Gender Policy. This policy defines the process ofmainstreaming gender needs into all public and private sector policies, programmes, projects and budgets.Private Sector DevelopmentThe private sector is crucial for economic growth in Rwanda. Further analysis is needed tounderstand competitiveness and market drivers, particularly for green technologies and renewable energy.Five forces define an industry’s structure: competition amongst existing competitors, bargaining power ofbuyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants and the threat of substitute products orservices. Industry structure drives competition and profitability in the medium and long term, though theconfiguration of the five forces differs by industry [18] . Government policy would benefit from a greaterunderstanding of how the private sector operates in Rwanda and how it can be supported to contribute tolow carbon development and climate resilience.Research was conducted on green businesses in Rwanda during the development of the Strategy. Afull report of the findings can be found in Appendix G. The report indicates that private companies cannotonly help reduce GHG emissions, but also increase non-farm employment, which was identified in theNAPA as a central measure to adapt to climate change. Although the GoR has implemented a number ofpolicies to promote green investments, more efforts are still needed to overcome existing challenges. Someof the proposed actions in this regard include the following:• Clearer tax and import duty exemption rules for all efficient energy technology components;• A government supported microfinance scheme (loan guarantees or grant-per-unit-financed) tohelp households purchase renewable energy;• More flexible pricing arrangements for biogas digesters;• A government-supported low–interest credit line or loan guarantees for renewable energybusinesses and installations;• An increase in the price paid for renewable energy by EWSA to RWF80 or RWF90 per kWh;• An engineering capacity building programme; and• Government support for recycling and reuse of economically valuable waste products such asplastics and organic waste for fertilizer and fuel, with an eventual transition to mandatory wastemanagement for households and businesses.National Strategy on Climate Change and Low Carbon Development 45