Camco has launched a new gender mainstreaming toolkit to help renewable energy developers put gender equality at the core of their business operations.
In most communities across countries in Africa, women and girls are the primary energy users in their households, with responsibility for sourcing, paying for and managing the use of fuels. They have different needs and perspectives in relation to energy compared with men, and are impacted by projects differently. Seeking women’s views is therefore critical for sustainable project development.
Camco’s toolkit is based on industry best practice and aims to provide a practical guide to help developers integrate a gender equality perspective into the design, implementation, monitoring and assessment of their projects, so that they can better serve their customers and staff.
The resource, which is free and available to anyone, includes a three-step process for establishing a gender baseline and gender action plan. It is filled with questions, prompts and other suggestions to help developers better understand existing issues, gaps, risks and opportunities at both the project and company level. Users can either fill in the toolkit as they go to establish their gender baseline and gender action plan, or use it as a reference.
Geoff Sinclair, Camco’s Managing Director, said: “Equality between men and women is not just a human rights issue, it is essential for sustainable development. But even with the best of intentions, many companies are struggling to make the necessary inroads because they are simply struggling with the how, rather than the why.
“This toolkit aims to make the process as simple and straight-forward as possible so that more and more developers can put gender equality at the heart of their businesses and operations.”
The toolkit was unveiled at a gender mainstreaming webinar hosted by the Camco-managed Renewable Energy Performance Platform (REPP).