Page 10 - A Case Study on The Value of Engaging Women in the Energy Provisioning Process
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The Value of Engaging Women in the Energy Provisioning Process
4. Impacts of Energy Provisioning through Inclusive
Collaboration
Women can make significant new economic contributions in the energy sector as participants in the
energy value chain. In Shramik Bharti’s experience of driving the energy provisioning process by
primarily engaging women in the promotions, installation, and dissemination of various technologies,
the programme saw several value additions in the design evolution of technology, the influence
on purchase decisions towards clean technology products and in the overall socio-economic
empowerment and upliftment of women and the wider community.
Women’s
Economic Women CEOs as
Agents of Change
Empowerment—
Money in Women’s
Hands Improving
Women’s Decision
Accelerating the Making Powers
Conversion of Inputs
in Design and Utility
of Technology
4.1 Accelerating the Conversion of Inputs in Design and Utility of
Technology
Women’s empowerment is closely linked to efficient energy solutions. Women in developing countries
can benefit significantly from improved access to energy through cleaner, more efficient stoves
and fuels. However, a few women are currently employed in the formal energy sector, and there
is considerable room for expansion of women’s engagement in energy enterprises and supporting
institutions. Women can make significant contributions in the energy sector as stove producers,
briquette makers, masons constructing biogas systems, and as promoters and marketers of efficient
energy technologies (ECREEE 2014). In the case of Shramik Bharti, women were the catalysts that
expedited the technology evolution and improvement process, specifically in the case of improved
mud stoves.
Introducing clean cooking alternatives has not been easy, because any improved or modern
energy option has to compete with non-expensive traditional cooking methods, in this case, stoves
similar to a three stone fire, which require small investments and have negligible operational costs.
Even though improved cookstoves have been in the market for some years now, their technology is
still in a state of evolution with several adoption issues that make it hard for them to gain acceptance
with the rural poor. As manufacturers developed models that were technically efficient fuel burning
machines, the ‘one size fits all’ concept failed to take into account diverse functional and cultural
10
4. Impacts of Energy Provisioning through Inclusive
Collaboration
Women can make significant new economic contributions in the energy sector as participants in the
energy value chain. In Shramik Bharti’s experience of driving the energy provisioning process by
primarily engaging women in the promotions, installation, and dissemination of various technologies,
the programme saw several value additions in the design evolution of technology, the influence
on purchase decisions towards clean technology products and in the overall socio-economic
empowerment and upliftment of women and the wider community.
Women’s
Economic Women CEOs as
Agents of Change
Empowerment—
Money in Women’s
Hands Improving
Women’s Decision
Accelerating the Making Powers
Conversion of Inputs
in Design and Utility
of Technology
4.1 Accelerating the Conversion of Inputs in Design and Utility of
Technology
Women’s empowerment is closely linked to efficient energy solutions. Women in developing countries
can benefit significantly from improved access to energy through cleaner, more efficient stoves
and fuels. However, a few women are currently employed in the formal energy sector, and there
is considerable room for expansion of women’s engagement in energy enterprises and supporting
institutions. Women can make significant contributions in the energy sector as stove producers,
briquette makers, masons constructing biogas systems, and as promoters and marketers of efficient
energy technologies (ECREEE 2014). In the case of Shramik Bharti, women were the catalysts that
expedited the technology evolution and improvement process, specifically in the case of improved
mud stoves.
Introducing clean cooking alternatives has not been easy, because any improved or modern
energy option has to compete with non-expensive traditional cooking methods, in this case, stoves
similar to a three stone fire, which require small investments and have negligible operational costs.
Even though improved cookstoves have been in the market for some years now, their technology is
still in a state of evolution with several adoption issues that make it hard for them to gain acceptance
with the rural poor. As manufacturers developed models that were technically efficient fuel burning
machines, the ‘one size fits all’ concept failed to take into account diverse functional and cultural
10
