WORKSHOP REPORT Gender, Energy and ... - ENERGIA Africa

WORKSHOP REPORT
Gender, Energy and Climate Change
VENUE: BOTEC Conference Room
Date: 6 April 2011
Facilitator: Elsie M Alexander
Rappoteur: Christine Kgathi
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Table of Contents
Welcome Remarks ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Overview of ERNEGIA Africa .............................................................................................................. 3-4
Overview of Gender and Energy in Botswana .......................................................................................... 4
Objectives of the Workshop .................................................................................................................... 5-6
Intersection Between Gender, Energy and Climate Change .................................................................. 6-8
Case of Gender Mainstreaming: Botswana Power Corporation ........................................................... 8-9
Gender Mainstreaming Tools and Management Systems ................................................................. 9-11
Role of Public Private Partnerships and Civil Society in Gender and Energy programme ........... 11-12
Group Deliberations ........................................................................................................................ 12-13
Way forward.............................................................................................................................................. 14
Acronyms ................................................................................................................................................... 15
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1.1 Welcome Remarks – Mr G Mosimaneotsile
BOTEC’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Mr G. Mosimaneotsile welcomed participants to the
seminar. In his welcome remarks Mr Mosimaneotsile noted that there is a tendency to
underestimate the interrelatedness of gender and energy and climate change. He stated that most
people are not aware this important area. He noted that this was an important development area
that could contribute to gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Furthermore, he impressed on the participants not to take the matters of energy in rural and perï-
urban areas for granted. Mr Mosimaneotsile cited the current statistics which shows that one-
third or 2 billion people around the globe lives without access to electricity; a factor that should
encourage participants to strive to serve the under-privileged. In his closing statement, Mr
Mosimaneotsile informed the participants and organizers that their efforts are vital and BOTEC
shall benefit from the workshop’s proceedings. He extended his appreciation to the resource
person and participants for making time to participate at this important workshop.
1.2 Overview of ENERGIA Africa – Ms N Wright
Mrs. N. Wright, Coordinator of ENERGIA, Africa gave participants a brief overview of the
organization, its mandate and current projects. She pointed out that ENERGIA Africa is part of
an international network mainly focused on gender and sustainable energy, with networks in
Asia and Africa and it is coordinated by ETC Foundation. ENERRGIA strives to provide
intervention strategies to partners through systematic integration and management of gender
mainstreaming knowledge. In her presentation, she recognized the importance of gender in
energy projects as men and women play varying roles in the community, household and society,
hence the importance of consultation in all projects related to energy.
ENERGIA Africa Achievements
Mrs. Wright continued her presentation on outlining the many achievements of ENERGIA
Africa. The network has been able to establish National Focal Points which coordinate activities
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of local ENERGIA networks; some are non-governmental organizations, others are within
government department e.g. in Zambia, whereas some are housed by civic societies. As
ENERGIA Africa implementation was carried out in phases, the main focus in the Phase 4 is
capacity building through training modules that were created by ENERGIA specifically to train
energy practitioners on how to incorporate gender into energy projects. In Botswana, for
example, the Botswana Power Corporation was awarded P400 000.00 to undertake a gender
integration to inform the rural electrification programme. Additionally, the network has been
able to engage the Department of Energy Affairs (Botswana) in gender mainstreaming.
1.3 Presentation on Gender and Energy Botswana (GENBO) – Mrs T Ngidi
Mrs Ngidi the coordinator for GENBO, which is the focal point housed at BOTEC, gave its brief
overview. GENBO is funded by ENERGIA and is mainly run through membership of
volunteers. The major focus of GENBO is gender mainstreaming, gender auditing and capacity
building. Some government Departments, NGOs and civil societies have been served by
GENBO to address their specific needs. These are, gender mainstreaming at the Department of
Energy Affairs; funding for a women project in Oodi village and planning a small funding for
another women’s project in Ramatlhaku in Mochudi.
Mrs Ngidi however, relayed her concern about the membership’s commitment and dedication to
GENBO’s cause. She recognized the laxity amongst existing members in which she encouraged
those who want to join to do so, so as to find innovative and creative means to address gender
and energy issues of Botswana.
1.4 Plenary Discussion on Gender and Energy Botswana (GENBO) presentation
Following Mrs. Ngidi’s presentation, participants wanted to know more on the membership and
the benefits of being a member. The response given by facilitators was that there are no
monetary benefits but there are other benefits that one can get such as acquisition of training
skills, knowledge on energy and gender relations and opportunities to network and share ideas. It
was decided that GENBO should compile its profile and send it to all those who are interested.
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1.5 Objectives of Workshop
Following the presentation that gave participants an overview of issues pertaining to gender and
energy globally regionally and locally, Mrs Alexander led the discussion on the intended
objectives and expected outcomes of the workshop. There are as follows
� Create awareness on relationship between gender, energy and climate change
� Sensitize participants on gender planning and mainstreaming
� Dialogue on the institutionalization gender and energy
� To map the way-forward on issues of gender, energy and climate change.
Participants added their expectations and they were as follows;
a. To learn how to link gender, energy and climate change based on climate change studies
b. Understand the involvement of the government/public sector in renewable energy
c. Understand the extent of sensitization on issues of climate change, gender and energy
d. To engage in a result based action plan.
e. To explore and understand how all Batswana can have access to national exhibitions/Fairs
where stakeholders like RIIC exhibit their projects.
f. To explore innovative ways in which the government and private sector can integrate and
incorporate gender mainstreaming in all energy related sectors.
g. To learn the processes of gender mainstreaming
h. To gain insight and to forge a way-forward
i. To devise means to engage the civil society which has been slow in responding to energy and
gender issues.
j. To dialogue on means and method to address situation specific needs of women in rural areas,
with possible workshops in those areas, e.g. situational analysis of rural livelihood and energy
consumption in Ghanzi.
2.1 Intersection between Gender, Energy and Climate Change
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Dr Peter Zhou, a consultant from EECG Consultants gave key note address to the
participants on the intersection between gender, energy and climate change. In his opening
statement Dr Zhou reminded the participants that there is no way of ignoring the existing
interrelations of gender, energy and climate change. Furthermore, he noted that although
much has not been done, the gender dialogue has already started and it is up to all
stakeholders to engage each other.
Gender equality is supported by the government of Botswana through the National
Development Plan 9, that accommodated the gender perspectives though in a very general
approach. Dr Zhou highlighted the fact that the climate change debate seems to be on-going
at international level and not at national level and also it is not clearly addressed by the
Millennium Development Goals. It is noteworthy to recognize that the climate change debate
has not sidelined women, but there has been limited training transfer to community based
organizations.
Dr Zhou underlined a conceptual framework to clarify the interrelatedness on gender, energy
and climate change. Below is the pictorial view of the conceptual network;
Climate
Change
This framework demonstrates the contribution of energy to climate change, in which non-
renewable energy sources like firewood, coal and oil are used extensively and their emissions
pollute and destroy the natural balance of climatic conditions, consequently, leading to
climatic changes that negatively impact the availability of non-renewable energy resources.
In addition, as the number of people in need of non-renewable energy sources the demand
increases and the disparity becomes significant, and it is at this juncture than women are
mostly impacted negatively.
Gender
Energy
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These are aggravating circumstances that can be tackled nationally; however, there is need
for comprehensive data for plan the course of action as current national studies are not
gender desegregated. Various factors of income variations between men and women, rural
electrification by women versus men, firewood procurement, are some of those that need to
be factored into studies of energy utilization. Dr Zhou noted that existing climate policy by
some nations are meant to fulfill international climate policy but these policy initiatives
usually fail to address the specific gender variations in utilization, accessibility etc.
Although, climate policy has failed to address gender variations, it is vital to note that there
are existing opportunities that can be recognized if climate change policy was to take gender
differences into consideration e.g. firstly, women in comparison to men are much more
systematic and secondly, there are existing indigenous knowledge on the use and
conservation of energy sources. Thus, government and other institutions can tap into these
skills and ideas and renew them to benefit them and the people. Another opportunity can be
realized by the involvement and robustness of NGO’s which are part and parcel of every
society, they also can play a pivotal role by sharing information. The same goes for the
private sector, which can provide support through various means such and micro-financing of
projects related gender, energy and climate change. However, for the private sector to be
involved the government should send a clear message to this sector of the economy as a
policy commitment.
Dr Zhou informed the participants that there is an existing climate change instrument/tool
that organizations can use to influence policy and that there are funds available for
researchers and grassroots projects through UNFCC. In Botswana the Department of
Meteorology has benefitted from this funding, furthermore, there are GEF funding which are
listed in UN webpage.
2.2 Plenary Discussions on Intersection between Gender, Energy and Climate Change
Following Dr Zhou’s presentation participants wanted to know the sources of funds for
gender, energy and climate change and the processes and procedures to access those funds. In
response Dr Zhou mentioned GEF and UNFCC funding that is available as part of the UN
system.
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Dr Zhou reminded participants that it is vital for individuals and organizations to advocate
for Biodiversity policy, issues of gender, energy and climate change and to utilize existing
networks such as ENERGIA Africa for advocacy at national level. He also highlighted the
importance of tapping into the agricultural sector, especially arable farming where there is a
high proportion of women and children compared to men. Dr Zhou reminded the participants
that it is fact that there is no gender disaggregating data, hence an area which needs attention.
Dr Zhou also noted that the government of Botswana is a signatory to the Beijing Declaration
which has a section on Gender and the Environment; therefore, Women’s Affairs and the
Environmental Departments could review this opportunity for funding. Finally, the SADC
Gender and Development Protocol subscribes to international policies that are adapted to
national context on gender protocol, thus these are the areas in which opportunities exist and
it is upon all to utilize them.
3.1 The Case of Gender Mainstreaming: Botswana Power Corporation Rural
Electrification Project – Mrs M kealotswe
Mrs. M. Kealotswe the Gender Officer at Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) provided a
success story on gender mainstreaming. This was achieved by the national power supplier in
its a rural electrification project in collaboration with a ENERGIA Africa. The aim of the
project was to provide renewable energy to women in rural areas with minimal maintenance
costs to the recipients. The corporation started with gender action plan incorporating gender
mainstreaming indicators. To create the gender action plan BPC sought assistance of
ENERGIA Africa. Once the gender action plan was in place frequent communication was
sent to all BPC staff members to create buy-in and an awareness and support to the
importance of gender and energy issues. A communication strategy was devised and various
means of communication such as a weekly internal publication and a information brief
disseminated to all departments.
BPC gender office in its implementation schedule carried out capacity building exercises to
impress to the management and staff on the relevance of gender on energy, especially
electricity. This was done with collaborations with GENBO and ENERGIA Africa.
3.1 Project Achievements and Challenges
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Although, the BPC gender mainstreaming in rural electrification project achieved most of
its targets, there were areas that highlighted problems. First, BPC has never engaged in a
gender sensitization process, thus a desk-shopping process was used to understand staff’s
gender awareness level. The outcomes showed relatively minimal understand of gender
issues and their relatedness to energy issues. Secondly, the BPC application process does
not provide gender specific data on product preference. Lastly, Botswana Power
Corporation intends to reduce connection costs however, this has not achieved and it is
under review at the EAD.
3.2 Discussions on the BPC Gender Mainstreaming: Rural Electrification Project
Participants wanted to understand how BPC is making its service accessible and
affordable to all. Mrs Kealotswe was requested to explain BPC’s poverty eradication
strategy.
In response, Mrs. Kealotswe reported to the group that there are existing opportunities at
BPC on its gender mainstreaming process; subsiding connection charges to women;
paternity leave for fathers and encouraging sub-contractors to hire women are some of
the ideas that may be included into the corporations procedures. Furthermore, she
reported on the benchmarking process the corporation is undertaking under the Public,
Private Partnership (PPP), with Solar Hart as a means to provide other alternative energy
source.
Participants also wanted to know how BPC in view of the link between energy and
climate change intends to empower people in the rural areas and those who are
disadvantaged. Mrs Kealotswe responded by describing an existing projects such as
BPC-Lesedi, a project that intends to focus on renewable energy; the Hot Bag
technology , in which the user cooks food half way through and insert them in the bag
which then completes the cooking thus reducing fuel consumption. In addition, there is a
stove that can be used with minimal energy use. In empowering those in the rural areas,
BPC franchises would be awarded to individuals living in that particular village, and
nobody would be allowed to cross villages to provide services. Finally, BPC is
rethinking training of individuals in relation to electricity connections and in future plans
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to consult and collaborate with Madirelo Training and Testing Center on PBT curriculum
and training.
In conclusion, Mrs Kealotswe emphasized that in its endeavor to mainstream gender in its
operations, BPC would consult and engage various stakeholders such as the Women’s
Affairs Department (WAD), GENBO and ENERGIA Africa when necessary on issues of
capacity building and training. In addition, BPC pledges its participation where there is a
working group on issues of gender and energy and to share its experiences with other
organizations embarking on gender mainstreaming.
4.1 Gender Mainstreaming Tools and Management Systems – Elsie Alexander
Mrs Alexander, defined and expanded on gender mainstreaming rationale, process and
procedures while integrating issues of energy and climate change. She defined major
concepts in gender discourse.
Gender – a social construct and dynamic concept that changes based on societal
development and transformation in values and norms, education and employment status
and general level of development.
Gender – is an analytical tool that enables planners, policy makers and programme
officers to recognize the different roles of women, men, girls and boys as it highlights the
roles of women and men in paid and unpaid labor, caring for children, participation
economic activities etc
Gender mainstreaming – is a process of assessing the implications for women and men
of any planned action, including legislation, policies and programmes at all levels. It is a
strategy that ensures that women and men’s needs, concerns and experiences an integral
dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and
programmes play in development and society at large and that women and men have
different roles and needs that should be incorporated into policies.
Gender Management system – defined as a network of structures, management
systems, mechanisms and processes put in place within an existing organizational
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framework, to guide, plan, monitor and evaluate the process of mainstreaming gender in
the work of the organization at all levels.
Mrs. Alexander informed the participants that gender mainstreaming as a strategy it aims
to reduce inequalities; it adds value and provides a holistic approach to developing
policies and implementation of programmes. Gender mainstreaming depends on gender
disaggregated data to be able to mainstream gender effectively and provide policy
targeted responses.
Gender mainstreaming addresses organizational practical and strategic needs. The
practical needs are linked to social gender division of labour, whereas the strategic needs
are linked to social and subordinate position of women and men. This process enables
organizations to make their ;policies and plans gender sensitive so as to achieve gender
equality.
She emphasized that a gender audit or analysis is vital in organization gender
mainstreaming process to identify gender gaps and disparities. Mrs. Alexander pointed
out that gender mainstreaming needs to be seen as an important process from the top
management. High level political commitment to gender equality is critical.
She informed the participants on Gender mainstreaming management systems, which
involves putting in place systems and processes that will facilitate gender audits of
policies and procedures, gender sensitivity and mainstreaming in the organizations. The
gender management system accelerates the institutionalization of gender as an important
development variable and priority.
Gender Planning and Budgeting – gender planning assumes a robust gender analysis of
the roles, needs and priorities of women, men, boys and girls as a systematic process to
identify the gender differences, issues that contribute to gender inequalities. Gender
planning process recognizes that women and men’s access to and control of energy,
water, roads, schools, health facilities, employment opportunities etc is unequal. The
data should indicate who participates and benefits from development opportunities
to assist strengthen interventions from a gender perspective, for instance in poverty
and HIV programmes women are more affected than men in most communities.
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Gender Budgeting – this refers to the process and procedures to allocate resourcesto
ensure the implementation of programmes/projects that will impact on women and men
equally. Budget allocations should be gender sensitive to address the gender inequalities,
such as in access and control of productive resources, such as energy, water and land.
4.2 Plenary Discussion - Gender Mainstreaming Tools and Management Systems
A plenary session was conducted with a discussion on gender mainstreaming within represented
organizations. The discussion focused on mainstreaming in policy design and planning. The aim
was to explore issues, challenges and opportunities faced by all the different organizations.
Participants pointed out that the challenge of a budget as most of their activities funds come from
the main budget which affect their ability to achieve their objectives. Therefore, they wanted
information on accessing funds to engage on gender related activities, for example, the Women’s
Affairs Department has a limited budget.
The WAD representative appreciated the topic and information on gender, energy and climate
change, however, it is apparent that as officers they may not be able to incorporate these issues
as they have a limited budget they are not involved in the budget process. They suggested that in
future the WAD management should form part of the forum.
Participants were reminded about the various funding sources such as GEF and UNDP. GENBO
coul also assist in sourcing funds. In addition, participants are advised to consider collaborating
or sourcing assistance with SADC because, the organization has a strong SADC Energy and
gender and development programme. However, there is a recognition that SADC‘s protocol on
energy has not mainstreamed gender concerns adequately. Participants were encouraged to view
gender mainstreaming as an ongoing process hence, can be incorporated into planned activities.
Participants also recognized that the topic of discussion was gender, energy and climate change
but in the presentation and discussion it focused mainly on women, and requested the inclusion
of men so as to balance the dialogue. The response to the concern was that they over-emphasize
on women is intentional as they are more disadvantaged than men and the goal is to level the
plain field that in most instances have been biased in favour of men.
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Participants were informed that the National Policy on Women in Development is currently
being reviewed to develop a broader Gender Development Policy. This is an opportunity to
design a inclusive gender policy for the benefit of women and men and sustainable development.
Participants noted the gradual changing gender roles given the entrenched traditional roles of
women and men, especially, in rural communities. WAD and other civil society organizations
should strengthen the creating awareness on gender as an important development issue. Further,
people should also be informed as regards the international gender instruments and protocols
Botswana has signed to advocate for domestication.
5.1 GROUP DISCUSSIONS - The Role of Public Private Partnerships and Civil Society
in Gender and Energy Programme .
To create balance of gender in all of societal structures in Botswana in relation to gender and
energy programme, all institutions and stakeholders must play their role according to their
mandate and capabilities. The public sector through its ministries and the energy affairs
department can play a leading role and influence the private sector by registering companies that
comply with the gender policy, a threshold of ten is an acceptable margin. The civil society on
the other hand, should serve as a watchdog to ensure gender mainstreaming across all public
sector and also to undertake gender audit of various institutions. The civil society should aim to
source and provide gender disaggregated data. Lastly, the private sector should comply with the
gender policy and use gender disaggregated data to comply with international protocols.
The main purpose of the group work is to identify the specific roles that the public, private and
civil society should play to promote and develop the gender, energy and climate change agenda.
This will be based on the various stages of the planning/project cycle. The exercise should
identify the key gender issues and suggest activities to address the gender concerns to develop a
gender mainstreaming plan.
Group Work: Role of Public, Private and Civil Society Institutions In Gender and Energy
Programme
Participants were given an opportunity to identify the various components of gender
mainstreaming process using the following areas as case studies.
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� Rural Electrification Project
� Gender Planning Concerns and Indicators
� Gender Management Systems
The table below provides a summarized overview of the groups’ deliberations.
Project Stage Gender Considerations
Problem Identification
� Mapping
� Needs analysis
� Targets
Project Design
� Consultation
� Approach
� Partners, linkages
Project Implementation
� Human resources
� Financial resources
� Financial resources
� Technology
� Documentation
� Media/profile
In mapping and planning a way-forward , the
existing statistics of gender disparity will
serve as relevant data to inform the project
e.g. in rural electrification projects, women
are mostly in villages and most are poor,
hence preference will be accorded to women,
grassroots and youth. In relation to the BPC
project, other groups identified that there was
minimal needs analysis carried out
especially poverty indicators
Participants identified local authority as
partners and consultation should be taken
with local authorizes as well as potential
recipients of the serves. All those consulted
should be sensitized at all time. This is
important to avoid an error observed in the
BPC project in which gender disaggregated
data was not used to identify primary
beneficiaries, e.g. in most rural areas parents
are financed by their children working in
urban areas for connection and electricity
tariffs money. Various approaches such as use
of media, house to house participatory
methods were suggested as a means to
dialogue with all stakeholders. Furthermore
the consultation process should serve as a
time for gender sensitization.
A focal person within an institution is
relevant to push gender related issues and
sustainability. The technology for
implementation should be user friendly to the
recipients as most women in rural areas are
not educated.
As finances are vital source for the whole
project, a buy in should be created from
politicians, management and other technical
team.
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Maintenance/sustainability
� Governance structure
� Management
� Technical skills
� Capacity building
Monitoring and evaluation
� Fixing of targets and indicators
� Data gathering
� Reporting and review systems/donor
partners meetings
� Criteria for evaluation
6.0 Way Forward facilitated by Ms Alexander
Gender equity would be emphasized to all at
all stages. Gender audits and disaggregation
data would be used to inform the
implementation of the project.
In addition the locals should be empowered to
carry-out non-complicated maintenance; both
men and women should be given an
opportunity.
Media houses which are gender sensitive or
capacitated would be used to disseminate
information to all stakeholders. As for the
BPC project it is clear that the people in rural
areas are not aware of the ready box. If it is
marketed properly people in rural areas could
resort to it other than the standard connection
process of the grid system.
The local authorities who are gender sensitive
would form part of the leadership structure. In
situation where they are not gender sensitive,
capacity building workshops should be run
for them. Focal person at district level can
take advantage of events that bring people
together and spread the message.
Information on recipients of services would
be revisited constantly to ensure that the
project is on target. Questionnaires,
conferences, and workshops are some of the
means of evaluating the efficacy of the
project
As participants acknowledged the gender discourse that has already started, it is imperative that
they use the information shared during the workshop and apply it to issues energy and climate
change. The facilitator noted that the first step would be for participants to undertake a gender
audit within their respective institutions, to identify the gender issues and gaps, in order to
develop a data base for a gender policy. She noted the one day workshop was inadequate to
transfer skills on gender mainstreaming. A follow up training workshop should be planned in the
near future. The following recommendations were made:
� Undertake a gender audit of each institution to identify gender issues, concerns and gaps;
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� Develop a gender policy, a gender action plan and design a gender management systems.
� Request assistance from GENBO’s on the development of an Gender and Energy policy
and plan.
� Develop result based action plans and a monitoring and evaluation system to monitor
effective implementation.
� GENBO and partners create awareness and sensitization on gender, energy and climate
change in the organization and communities.
� Use national environment based fairs by RIIC and the Department of Environment
Affairs to create awareness on gender, energy and climate change.
� Develop affordable, renewable energy technology, such as, the BPC energy projects to
improve rural livelihoods.
� Encourage private sector participation to develop innovative ideas to design technology
based on a gender perspective.
� Provide training on gender mainstreaming skills to build capacity of institutions to
mainstream gender in policies and plans.
� Encourage civil society to play a key role in developing awareness of communities on the
link between gender, energy and climate change.
� Advocate for a climate change policy that will mainstream gender concerns.
� Advocate for the adoption of the draft Energy policy as soon as possible.
� Undertake research to generate gender statistics/data on gender and energy.
� GENBO give incentives to members to increase their level of commitment to the
network.
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Acronyms
BPC Botswana Power Corporation
EECG
EAD Energy Affairs Department
ETC
CC Climate Change
GENBO Gender and Energy in Botswana
GEF
PBT
PPP Public Private Partnerships
SADC Southern Africa Development Community
UNDP United Nations Development Program
WAD Women’s Affairs Department
Participants in Attendance
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