Last month, I had the opportunity to talk about the gender and energy nexus at the Asia Clean Energy Forum 2019. My talk was based on the experiences of incorporating gender into the micro hydropower projects (MHPs) of the UNDP Renewable Energy for Rural Livelihoods (RERL) project at the Alternative Energy Promotion Centre (AEPC) in Nepal and the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) in Pakistan.
Both Nepal and Pakistan have a rich history of MHPs -- with over 3000 projects in Nepal and over 1000 projects in Pakistan. Therefore, the countries make for good cases to look at how we could involve women in the MHPs to not only empower women but also to contribute towards the financial sustainability of the mini-grids.
Both Nepal and Pakistan have a rich history of MHPs -- with over 3000 projects in Nepal and over 1000 projects in Pakistan. Therefore, the countries make for good cases to look at how we could involve women in the MHPs to not only empower women but also to contribute towards the financial sustainability of the mini-grids.
When we talk about gender and energy nexus, we find a lot of papers and discussions that circle around household energy. It does make sense as energy-poverty in households is commonly gender-biased, with women mostly gathering the firewood and cooking on smoky fireplaces and men having relatively easier and more access to resources such as land, credit, and education. This access to resources also supports their position as the decision-maker of the family. Similarly, when new electrical appliances are bought, they are designed to meet the demands of the men, although women are the ones doing most of the labor-intensive chores in the household. Nevertheless, apart from household energy, another important aspect is the productive activities of women. When we look at the MHPs in Nepal and Pakistan, one of the biggest challenges is the lack of cost recovery tariff and low load factor. To tackle this challenge, it is important to recognize the productive activities of women and integrate them as potential customers. Also, promoting women-led productive activities provides an additional stream of income for MHPs – ultimately resulting in sustainability of the MHPs.
Looking at the MH projects from a gender lens, we see that women are already involved in energy projects: during the construction phase, they supply the required physical labor and during the post-installation phase, women are represented in the MHP communities but mostly as token women. They oftentimes have no decision-making authority and the productive end use activities are also mostly owned by men. So, it is clear that women are already involved as of now, but the question is how to involve them further so that it benefits the projects financially and also empowers the women. Based on the experiences from Nepal and Pakistan the following ways are proposed.
Looking at the MH projects from a gender lens, we see that women are already involved in energy projects: during the construction phase, they supply the required physical labor and during the post-installation phase, women are represented in the MHP communities but mostly as token women. They oftentimes have no decision-making authority and the productive end use activities are also mostly owned by men. So, it is clear that women are already involved as of now, but the question is how to involve them further so that it benefits the projects financially and also empowers the women. Based on the experiences from Nepal and Pakistan the following ways are proposed.
Knowledge Empowerment of Women: Apart from the physical labor, women should also be consulted for their resource knowledge. For example, women are better able to tell when the water level is high or low in their village and also know about their forest, land, local customs, etc. Involving women in MHP planning also empowers them as they see that their knowledge is valued. In countries like Nepal where there is a high outflux of men and youths to cities and abroad for work, training women as operators ensures that your trained manpower stays in the MHP site. This reduces the cost of training the operators again and again. In Pakistan, experiences showed that when women are involved in MHP activities like running the loading center or tariff collection, there are less absences as compared to men. The customers also appreciated the fact that women were more reliable and accountable as compared to men.
Women Ownership of the MHP – In Pakistan, women are the shareholders of the MH system. After involving women as shareholders, it was observed that women were more accountable for the MH plant. For example, they would take initiative for the repair and maintenance of the MHP, which was previously lacking. As a board member, they were also involved in tariff setting and paid special attention to making MH tariff affordable for other female entrepreneurs.
Therefore, involving women increases their accountability towards the MHP and also leads to better and more inclusive management – ultimately leading to sustainable MHPs.
Women-Owned Productive End Uses (PEU) - The Government of Nepal provides a subsidy to every female-owned business. This has encouraged women to run their own businesses in Nepal. Currently out of 2500 PEU, 474 are owned by women. Also training such as bookkeeping and management is provided to help them run the business. In Pakistan specific productive end use training is provided to women such as sewing, jam making, milk seller, freezer facilities and carpenter. This helps to boost their confidence as well as their household income.
Women Ownership of the MHP – In Pakistan, women are the shareholders of the MH system. After involving women as shareholders, it was observed that women were more accountable for the MH plant. For example, they would take initiative for the repair and maintenance of the MHP, which was previously lacking. As a board member, they were also involved in tariff setting and paid special attention to making MH tariff affordable for other female entrepreneurs.
Therefore, involving women increases their accountability towards the MHP and also leads to better and more inclusive management – ultimately leading to sustainable MHPs.
Women-Owned Productive End Uses (PEU) - The Government of Nepal provides a subsidy to every female-owned business. This has encouraged women to run their own businesses in Nepal. Currently out of 2500 PEU, 474 are owned by women. Also training such as bookkeeping and management is provided to help them run the business. In Pakistan specific productive end use training is provided to women such as sewing, jam making, milk seller, freezer facilities and carpenter. This helps to boost their confidence as well as their household income.
Gender integration is a gradual process and will not happen overnight. The MHP implementation and operation & maintenance are dominated by men and the work itself is seen as men’s department. This hinders the participation of women, especially in terms of involving women into the operation of the MHPs. The prevailing gender norms in South Asia also make it difficult to ensure equal participation of women. The powerhouses in many cases are located in rural far-off sites which makes it difficult for women to travel, due to security issues. Thus, it is necessary to dive deeper into these issues and design specialized solutions for each case. Also, it might be difficult to involve women in the beginning, but experiences have shown that when people see empowered women, more women are inspired to follow suit. Therefore, gender integration should be treated like a long-term process and not a checklist on the MHP installation.
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