The street food sector in Sub-Saharan Africa is a source of affordable and nutritious meals for the urban poor, while also being an important source of income for the women who dominate this sector. Despite the importance of this sector, many micro- and informal enterprises are labelled as “survivalist”, beyond the reach of common development […]

Although enterprises in the informal food sector require energy to transform, cook and process food, energy-use patterns in this sector are not well understood by policymakers and the local-level authorities who regulate their trading activities. This paper reviews relevant literature and presents empirical data collected in Rwanda, Senegal and South Africa on the use of […]

The informal sector provides economic opportunities to the poor, and in sub-Saharan African countries it is dominated by women. Energy is a key input into the food sector enterprises. A study was carried out to review academic and non-academic literature on the use and gender impacts of modern energy in informal food enterprises. The review […]

This interdisciplinary review paper explores linkages between access to energy, women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship. This will be discussed in the context of the informal food sector. Despite expectations that access to energy for productive uses empowers women by enabling them to generate an income, women in developing countries face a range of barriers when establishing […]

This report represents the Scoping Phase (Phase 1) of Research Area 2 – Productive uses of Energy – of ENERGIA’s Gender and Energy Research Programme. This Research Area applies a gender perspective to explore: (i) the energy sources used by micro and small enterprises in the informal food sector; (ii) the changes that may be […]