Empowering Women, Engendering Energy (EWEE)

Project

Project status

Completed

Core countries

Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania

Project vision

To increase equal and equitable access to sustainable energy services for both women and men as an essential right to development through the following four interrelated areas:

Catalyzing women’s economic empowerment to become leaders and decision-makers in the sustainable energy value chain.
Improving the enabling market and policy environment for gender equality in the energy sector.
Thought leadership in pioneering innovations and knowledge on gender and energy.
Building an influential network in the energy sector where diverse perspectives are united into one coherent agenda, strategy and voice to drive the project outcomes.

Impacts achieved per area

Women’s economic empowerment

9,100 women entrepreneurs supported to grow resilient renewable energy businesses and attain productive uses of energy through skills development and mentoring.
95% of these women entrepreneurs made independent decisions in their businesses, fostering leadership and agency within their communities.
3,600 of these entrepreneurs gained access to around SEK 17 million / EUR 1.5 million of credit mobilized from financial institutions.
1,400+ women entrepreneurs reported sales growth of at least 20% for their businesses two years after Phase 6 ended, despite the negative impact of Covid-19.
4.5+ million consumers in last-mile communities were reached with energy-enabled services and products, including off-grid solar and clean cooking solutions.
An estimated 1,945+ new permanent and casual jobs were also generated during the program.

Enabling market and policy environment

116 gender commitments from international organizations to SDG 7 were strengthened through technical support from ENERGIA.
37 (sub)national strategies/policies were operationalized, contributing to an enabling environment for gender and energy.
21 gender action plans implemented by energy organizations.
66 private sector actors in renewable energy markets were reported to have adapted their practices to incorporate a gender responsive approach.

Thought leadership

A first of its kind Gender and Energy Innovation Facility was launched to provide a platform for social innovation for addressing the challenges of women’s access to clean energy, as well as to understand and react to emerging trends.
7,800+ downloads of evidence-based knowledge resources from ENERGIA’s website
123+ million people reached in the project countries through national campaigns on the benefits of investing in gender equality and energy access

Network building

176 partnerships with civil society organizations, government agencies, private sector actors and research institutions were formed with ENERGIA and its core partners to amplify our actions and resources for gender and energy interventions.
ENERGIA led the co-creation of the UN multi-stakeholder Gender and Energy Compact in the final year of the program (2022).