Improving gender-inclusive access to clean and renewable energy in Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka is an Asian Development Bank (ADB) supported project (JFPR Grant-9158 REG). The project aims to increase rural poor women’s access to affordable and reliable clean energy sources and technologies in selected project sites in Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

This report presents a gender review of Sri Lanka’s energy sector policies and programmes, which was undertaken as part of the project. It assesses the gender inclusiveness of the energy sector at three levels: policy, programmes and organizations. The review largely focuses on electricity access, including grid extension and off-grid electrification options, however, experiences in other sectors were also scanned, primarily to identify good practices that can be applied in the electricity sector The gender review in Sri Lanka was undertaken by Prof. Anoja Wickramasinghe, supported by Soma Dutta and Namiz Musafer. The report was reviewed by Sheila Oparaocha and Govind Kelkar. The
team would like to acknowledge the support received from the Ceylon Electricity Board; the Asian Development Bank; the Sri Lanka Resident Mission, in particular Ranishka Wimalasena and Nelun Gunasekera; the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority; the Ministry of Power and Energy; and other organizations and individuals consulted.