AFRICAN GOVERNMENTS ADVISED TO INCLUDE GENDER IN ENERGY POLICIES

Experts attending a regional workshop on gender and energy in Kampala suggested creating partnerships between government and civil society in working on mainstreaming gender in energy in order to address poverty reduction. The workshop that brought together key players in the energy sector from civil society and government in Africa noted that projects to improve energy services have often been inadequate appreciating the natural gender disparities in energy needs. This has led to new energy strategies being inappropriate for women. Gender differences and inequalities have consequences for energy needs, use and priorities.
“It is apparent that there exists energy poverty at all levels in Uganda, particularly at household level in rural areas. Evidence of this can be found in low consumption areas of modern energy forms (electricity and petroleum products), the inadequacy and poor quality of electricity services and the dominant reliance on wood fuel,” the minister of energy and mineral development, Migereko noted. “Access to energy and an understanding of how gender affects access, influences the way we make progress towards development and overcoming poverty in Africa. There is need for innovative ideas on how to increase access to energy by the poor,” Migereko said.

African News Dimension