ENERGIA (International Network on Gender And Sustainable Energy)
ENERGIA's goal is to contribute to the empowerment of women -both rural and urban- through a specific focus on energy.
Founded in 1995 by a group of committed women who provided energy inputs to the Beijing Conference on Women, ENERGIA was to act against the inadequate recognition of gender issues as a legitimate area of concern in energy policy and practice at that time. ENERGIA works from the contention that projects, programs and policies that explicitly address gender and energy issues will result in better outcomes, in terms of the sustainability of energy services as well as the human development opportunities available to women and men.
Growing strong as a network
The network has grown into a strong, dynamic, and active body, and has become the institutional base from which actions were taken to integrate gender issues into energy access policies and projects. There now are 22 national gender and energy networks, coordinated by National Focal Points, of which 13 in Africa and 9 in Asia. These two regional networks are led by Regional Network Coordinators, with support and backstopping from the International Secretariat, which is hosted by ETC Foundation in the Netherlands and which is responsible for overall management and coordination of activities of the network.
Expanding scope of work
These activities have expanded over time. During the initial years, ENERGIA News, a magazine on gender and energy issues, was the main product and backbone of the network. Later, the network has earned a clear visibility and standing at the international level, through participation and active contributions to international policy events, advice on gender and energy issues to international institutions, and substantive research on the subject. ENERGIA was successful in putting gender and energy issues on the agendas of multilateral and bilateral development agencies in the energy sector. ENERGIA has grown in influence through its international policy influencing and advocacy activities, and its knowledge centre on gender and energy.
Change in direction of activities
Over time, ENERGIA has been faced with demands for technical advice on how to integrate gender concerns into energy projects and into national policies. As the available generic gender tools did not appear to be appropriate for the energy sector, ENERGIA developed unique training modules and tools to promote gender mainstreaming in the energy sector. In more recent years, it is increasingly being realized that greater attention to the needs and concerns of women in energy policies and programmes could help governments promote overall development goals of poverty alleviation, employment, health, education and women’s empowerment. One of the principal barriers for ENERGIA has been the lack of gender and energy expertise at all levels, capable of providing assistance on gender integration and mainstreaming into policies and projects.
This has led to a change in direction of ENERGIA\'s activities since 2007. Where until then the majority of activities were directed at the international level, now the majority of activities take place within member countries. This change was led by a strong voice of ENERGIA’s membership, who successfully called for more impact within their countries. The four main strategies along which ENERGIA is currently working are:
1. Capacity building
2. Gender mainstreaming in energy projects/markets
3. Policy influencing
4. Networking
With these strategies, ENERGIA made another shift: that from mainly showing why gender mainstreaming is crucial, to mainly demonstrating and building capacities of how to mainstream gender into energy projects and policies.
ENERGIA’s unique approach is to combine capacity building of network members in Africa and Asia with applying the acquired skills and knowledge in policies and projects.