A Workshop on Women Entrepreneurs and Sustainable Energy in Africa was held at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Libreville, Gabon on 13-14 June 2017 under the auspices of the sixteenth African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN 16). The theme of this workshop was “Unlocking Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurs in Sustainable Energy: Towards Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and AU Agenda 2063”. This was one of the few regional workshops that served as a platform for regional networking among various women entrepreneurs, development partners, government and non-government organizations and civil societies in the energy sector.
The workshop was hosted by the Government of Gabon and organized by UN Environment in collaboration with Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Icelandic International Development Agency (MFA-ICEIDA), United Nations University-Gender Equality Studies and Trainings Programme (UNU-GEST), UN Women and the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA). The Workshop brought together more than 100 delegates from more than 20 countries that included representatives from governments, non-government organizations, civil societies, financiers, women entrepreneurs, multi-lateral agencies, private sectors, and Regional Economic Communities (RECs). The main objective of this workshop was to develop an action framework to outline different approaches for women entrepreneurs to (i) develop and strengthen a clear and coherent enabling gender responsive policies; (ii) access finance and markets in energy sector, (ii) build technical and business skills and know-how as well as technical competencies in sustainable energy technologies; (iii) utilize existing distribution networks and gain access to start-up and working capital.
Opened by Ms. Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo, the UN Environment Director and Regional Representative for Africa, the workshop aims to identify the main challenges that hinder establishment, growth, and development of women’s entrepreneurship. Furthermore, it aims to bring up the gender equality concerns that need to be included in the action agenda on gender and sustainable energy, and propose innovative policy instruments, financing models and technological expertise for addressing the identified challenges. In her opening speech, Juliette reiterated that clean and reliable energy is a critical element of development for Africa, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063.
Description
An action framework was developed through identification of various solution action plans to overcome the main barriers and challenges that hinder the establishment, growth and development of women entrepreneurs in the energy sector in Africa. In order to achieve the above objectives, the workshop was organized in terms of three plenary sessions and three working group discussions under the following main themes:
- Environmentally sustainable and gender responsive energy policies
- Access to finance and market for women energy entrepreneurs across the value chain
- Capacity building, skills and empowerment
Ms. Haddijatou Jallow, the Chair of the Africa Women Ministers and Leaders Environment, pointed out that women need to be included at all levels of decision-making to make the change happen at community, local, national and global levels. Policies need to be gender-sensitive, and actions to address gender equality concerns that can be incorporated in the AMCEN outcome document will be the main outcome of this workshop. She also stressed the importance of this gathering as an excellent platform for promoting the SDGs 5 and 7, and the AU Agenda 2063. “We must be ready to take bold decisions that will result in ambitious proposals, and the decisions we take are critical for women empowerment and their wellbeing in the sustainable and renewable energy sector”, argued Ms. Haddijatou Jallow.
Ms. Engilbertsdóttir from the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs in her speech notified the participants that gender and energy are the two main themes of Iceland’s international cooperation and that lessons can be learned from Iceland on how local farmers spearheaded the transition from fossil fuels to clean renewable energy sources. On the same note, Mr. John Bideri of Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) pointed out that we need to invest in clean energy and that women will play a critical role in promoting investments in this area and will be the main benefactors from the access to climate finance. Mr. Bideri also stressed the need for better understanding of the energy demand in Africa and the ways of making clean energy more accessible and affordable to everyone. He concluded that more investment in women and setting clear targets to work towards was essential.
The outcomes of the workshop were incorporated into the 2017 AMCEN outcome document (Libreville Declaration) and a forthcoming UN Environment led project on gender and sustainable energy to accelerate Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) in Africa and, in particular, at national level. UNU-GEST is proud to have been able to participate in this remarkable event and is very pleased with its results.
You can read the final autcome document of the workshop here.