ECREEE/AFDB/NREL ORGANIZES KICK-OFF MEETING TO LAUNCH THE PROJECT FOR THE FIRST EVER GENDER AND ENERGY POLICY IN HISTORY

Praia, Cabo Verde (10 February 2015) - An inception workshop to launch the project on developing the ‘ECOWAS Policy for Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access’ has been scheduled for 24 February 2015, in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

The 1-day workshop would take place at the headquarters of the African Development Bank (AfDB) and would be attended by the ECOWAS Commissioner for Social Affairs and Gender, the Minister for Family, Women and Children of Cote d’Ivoire, the AfDB special envoy on Gender, the Executive Director of the ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), representatives of partner institutions of ECREEE and other stakeholders.

The project aims at developing a regional policy and implementation strategy that will support the regional energy efficiency and renewable energy policies, as well as the Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) initiative in achieving their goals of universal access to modern energy services.

The Policy, which would be the first of its kind in the world, would aim to address barriers that hinder the participation of women in the expansion of energy access by ensuring that women, who make up 50% of the region’s population and 43% of the ECOWAS labour force, make both intellectual and business-wise contributions to ending the region’s energy crises, as well as benefit from the region’s energy interventions.

The workshop would, thus, provide a platform to introduce the participants to the project; review and define the methodology, activities and timeline as well as to identify any gaps in the project’s scope. In addition, the workshop is expected to lead to the establishment of a steering committee that would provide strategic oversight to the development of the Policy and its Implementation Strategy.

The Policy is being developed by ECREEE and the ECOWAS Department of Social Affairs and Gender, with the assistance of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) of the United States.

Regularly updated information regarding this event would be made available at www.ecowgen.ecreee.org and for information regarding the Policy or the ECOWAS Gender and Energy Programme (ECOW-GEN) kindly contact Ms Monica Maduekwe, the ECOW-GEN Coordinator, at mmaduekwe@ecreee.org .