Page 11 - 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
preferences—making it a difficult product to introduce and disseminate into all markets. Other key
concerns included, finding a willing manufacturer to produce stoves on a large scale, setting up
dedicated supply chains and assembly lines, keeping costs to a minimum and getting assured buyers.
In Shramik Bharti’s area of operation, the first clean cookstove model to be introduced was the
top loading steel stove, which failed due to both technical and economic complexities. Technically,
the cookstove failed to gain acceptance because it forced end users to change their cooking style
drastically. Fuel wood had to be chopped into specific sizes and loaded into the stove from the top
instead of from the front. This meant that they had to constantly shift and move the utensil to load
the fuel. Economically, the steel stove was an expensive commodity and combined with its technical
shortcomings, the product overall did not deliver the desired value. This forced TERI to improvise
and introduce a compact front loading mud stove, which was an improvement on the steel stove but
still remained unsuccessful due to its small combustion chamber, which did not suffice cooking for
an average sized family. So in the next stage, when a larger chambered front loading mud stove was
developed, it proved to be successful and well accepted as it addressed almost all technical and
economic issues presented by other models. The key aspect in this case is that the decision-making
process for TERI’s stove development and improvement was expedited because of women being
more involved, which would otherwise have been a longer process.
4.2 Improving Women’s Decision Making Powers (Specifically
Purchase and Investment Decisions)
In most cases, women remain deprived of access to formal banking and financial services and
loans are generally taken by men, implying that the purchase decision or loan utilization decision
will more often than not lie with them. Financial inclusion therefore entails the process of ensuring
access to financial services and timely and adequate credit to women at an affordable cost. The
lack of access to formal financial institutions due to various factors puts women as end users and
village level entrepreneurs outside the banking periphery. For example, different types of terms and
conditions and account opening regulations imposed by banks to protect their credit interests often
prevent women in rural areas from opening a bank account. The primary requirement of an identity
proof which most often people in rural communities do not possess also makes them illegible for
loans (RBI 2013).
Increasing women’s access to finance through microfinance services can lead to women’s
economic empowerment through enabling their decisions about savings and credit use and by
enabling them to invest in their own economic activities or play a more controlling role in household
activities. This may increase productivity and the income under women’s control, and increase
women’s engagement in the market (ADA Dialogue 2007).
For Shramik Bharti, the financing of clean lighting and cooking products was carried out through
the SHGs and therefore ended up in the hands of the women. Also, through this model, banks didn’t
have to deal with individual borrowers and their small ticket loans, and instead were more willing to
lend a larger sum to Shramik Bharti as a collective borrower and more credit worthy entity.
4.3 Women’s Economic Empowerment—Money in Women’s Hands
One of the most pressing challenges to sustainable development is the pervasive inequality and
discrimination that women and girls face. Across sectors and issues, and regions and countries,
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preferences—making it a difficult product to introduce and disseminate into all markets. Other key
concerns included, finding a willing manufacturer to produce stoves on a large scale, setting up
dedicated supply chains and assembly lines, keeping costs to a minimum and getting assured buyers.
In Shramik Bharti’s area of operation, the first clean cookstove model to be introduced was the
top loading steel stove, which failed due to both technical and economic complexities. Technically,
the cookstove failed to gain acceptance because it forced end users to change their cooking style
drastically. Fuel wood had to be chopped into specific sizes and loaded into the stove from the top
instead of from the front. This meant that they had to constantly shift and move the utensil to load
the fuel. Economically, the steel stove was an expensive commodity and combined with its technical
shortcomings, the product overall did not deliver the desired value. This forced TERI to improvise
and introduce a compact front loading mud stove, which was an improvement on the steel stove but
still remained unsuccessful due to its small combustion chamber, which did not suffice cooking for
an average sized family. So in the next stage, when a larger chambered front loading mud stove was
developed, it proved to be successful and well accepted as it addressed almost all technical and
economic issues presented by other models. The key aspect in this case is that the decision-making
process for TERI’s stove development and improvement was expedited because of women being
more involved, which would otherwise have been a longer process.
4.2 Improving Women’s Decision Making Powers (Specifically
Purchase and Investment Decisions)
In most cases, women remain deprived of access to formal banking and financial services and
loans are generally taken by men, implying that the purchase decision or loan utilization decision
will more often than not lie with them. Financial inclusion therefore entails the process of ensuring
access to financial services and timely and adequate credit to women at an affordable cost. The
lack of access to formal financial institutions due to various factors puts women as end users and
village level entrepreneurs outside the banking periphery. For example, different types of terms and
conditions and account opening regulations imposed by banks to protect their credit interests often
prevent women in rural areas from opening a bank account. The primary requirement of an identity
proof which most often people in rural communities do not possess also makes them illegible for
loans (RBI 2013).
Increasing women’s access to finance through microfinance services can lead to women’s
economic empowerment through enabling their decisions about savings and credit use and by
enabling them to invest in their own economic activities or play a more controlling role in household
activities. This may increase productivity and the income under women’s control, and increase
women’s engagement in the market (ADA Dialogue 2007).
For Shramik Bharti, the financing of clean lighting and cooking products was carried out through
the SHGs and therefore ended up in the hands of the women. Also, through this model, banks didn’t
have to deal with individual borrowers and their small ticket loans, and instead were more willing to
lend a larger sum to Shramik Bharti as a collective borrower and more credit worthy entity.
4.3 Women’s Economic Empowerment—Money in Women’s Hands
One of the most pressing challenges to sustainable development is the pervasive inequality and
discrimination that women and girls face. Across sectors and issues, and regions and countries,
11
