In Sub-Saharan Africa, agricultural communities face a myriad of challenges that hinder productivity and sustainability. Dr. Ferdinand Tornyie, a Research Fellow at the United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in Africa, sheds light on a transformative initiative aimed at revolutionising agricultural practices through clean energy-powered technologies. The “Innovate for Clean Agricultural Technologies” (INFoCAT) project seeks to eliminate drudgery in agricultural value chains and empower women, who are often the backbone of rural economies.
Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa is labour-intensive and time-consuming. Harvesting and processing crops such as peanuts (groundnuts) require extensive manual labour. Farmers, particularly women, spend countless hours on these activities, often involving their children and diverting them from education. Dr. Tornyie highlights a specific example where women spend up to five hours plucking peanut pods—a task that could be completed in just ten minutes with appropriate machinery. This inefficiency not only hampers productivity but also affects the quality of life and economic prospects of these communities.
The INFoCAT project aims to introduce clean agricultural machinery designed to reduce the physical labour involved in such tasks. By doing so, it not only boosts the productivity and incomes of smallholder rural farmers but also ensures that children can stay in school, contributing to the long-term socio-economic development of the region.
A core component of the project is the integration of clean energy sources. The global agenda on energy transition underscores the importance of moving away from fossil fuels and biomass burning, which are prevalent in rural farming communities. These traditional energy sources are hazardous to health and contribute to environmental degradation. For example, using firewood for food processing exposes women to harmful smoke and pollutants, while collecting firewood depletes forests and consumes valuable time.
By adopting clean energy solutions like solar power, the project aims to create a sustainable and healthy environment for farmers. Solar-powered machinery not only reduces the health risks associated with traditional practices but also offers a cost-effective and long-term solution for energy needs in agriculture. This shift is crucial for maintaining environmental integrity and ensuring the health and well-being of rural populations.
The “Innovate for Clean Agricultural Technologies” project employs a holistic approach that involves all stakeholders from the outset. Policymakers, green entrepreneurs, women’s groups, and experts collaborate to design and implement these technologies. This inclusive methodology ensures that the technologies developed are tailored to the specific needs and challenges faced by the communities.
Smallholder farmers and agro-processors, who are the primary users of these technologies, actively participate in the co-design process. Their input is invaluable in creating solutions that are practical and effective in reducing labour-intensive tasks. By involving policymakers from the beginning, the project ensures that the technologies developed are aligned with national development goals and policies, facilitating smoother adoption and scaling.
One of the significant aims of the project is to generate evidence that can influence policy and drive broader adoption of clean agricultural technologies. Demonstrating the benefits of these technologies from both an economic and environmental perspective is crucial. By showing how clean energy solutions can enhance productivity, improve health outcomes, and contribute to environmental sustainability, the project aims to create a compelling case for policymakers.
This evidence-based approach not only facilitates the adoption of these technologies at a local level but also informs national policies on energy and agriculture. By showcasing successful implementations, the project hopes to inspire similar initiatives across the region, driving a widespread transition towards clean energy in agriculture.
The project’s success is made possible through the support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Their sponsorship and commitment to funding innovative solutions in food, agriculture, and energy are instrumental in bringing these ideas to fruition. The backing from IDRC not only facilitates the development and implementation of clean agricultural technologies but also supports efforts to scale these innovations, ensuring they reach more communities across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The “Innovate for Clean Agricultural Technologies” (INFoCAT) project represents a significant step towards transforming agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa. By addressing the drudgery in agricultural practices, integrating clean energy solutions, and fostering inclusive development, the project aims to create sustainable livelihoods and empower women in rural communities. As the project progresses, it holds the promise of not only improving agricultural productivity but also contributing to the broader goals of environmental sustainability and socio-economic development in the region.
The research project titled “A Just Energy Transition: Localisation, Decent Work, SMMEs, and Sustainable Livelihoods” is a vital part of the broader Clean Energy for Development Research Initiative. This ongoing project in Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa, aims to ensure that the transition to renewable energy is equitable and beneficial for all, especially workers, women, local communities and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMMEs).
Our project is based on the understanding that a just transition must deliver structural transformation and localisation. Put simply this means increasing the participation of local people in the manufacturing aspects of the sector, ensuring the transfer of knowledge and skills, and involving them in the energy production network. The goal is to maximise the benefits of renewable energy for the local people so that they not monopolised, especially by global, often foreign companies.
A just transition also includes the creation of decent work opportunities. Decent work is characterised by fair wages, job security, and the protection of workers’ rights. Additionally, gender equality is a crucial aspect, focusing on increased participation of women and ensuring their fair treatment in the energy sector. Sustainable livelihoods are another key element, ensuring that decent jobs enable workers to support their families and improve their quality of life.
Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa have promising renewable energy sectors. However, the heavy reliance on imported components and technologies undermines this potential, as most of the wealth and profits generated from this sector find their way in the global north, while localizing the costs of production, including pollution and waste. This unequal and unfair economic relationship, rooted in colonialism, perpetuates Africa’s underdevelopment and limits the localization of benefits from renewable energy projects. Our project aims to redress these enduring and new inequalities by advancing the localisation of renewable energy component production and creating job opportunities within these countries.
By localising the production of renewable energy components, such as solar panels, wind turbines, and gearboxes, we can create jobs for local manufacturers and generate economic growth. This will ensure that the financial benefits of renewable energy projects stay within the local economy, promoting further development. Empirical evidence shows that small-scale entrepreneurs can be powerful drivers of economic growth. Our project encourages local entrepreneurs to participate in the renewable energy value chain, boosting cash flow and economic development at the local level.
Historically, many sectors, including energy, have marginalized women. In many African societies, women are often denied both education and employment opportunities. The accepted role for women is that of a subservient homemaker limited to the domestic domain. Her role in the labour market is limited to reproducing future labour (childbirth) and daily reproduction of the existing male labour (her husband). Most societies adhere to gender stereotyping and condemn any deviation from this status quo, particularly when it involves women. Although women’s marginalization remains deeply rooted in most African societies, women frequently play a critical role in supporting their families, especially during economic downturns. This is especially important in the current context characterised by widespread retrenchments, declining employment opportunities, low pay, insecure, and informal work for the lucky few who can get a job. Still, women face significant barriers to participation in the renewable energy sector. Our project seeks to challenge these inequalities and empower women with the knowledge, skills, and opportunities to participate in and benefit from the renewable energy economy as workers and entrepreneurs. This is critical for ensuring gender equality and enhancing the resilience and sustainability of local economies. Both at the household and workplace level, women bring valuable perspectives and skills to the energy sector, and their involvement is crucial for the success of a just energy transition.
Africa has great potential to localise the RE global production network in ways that generate enough power to offset existing deficits across the continent and to develop a renewable manufacturing energy industry to help resolve the continent’s pressing challenges such as unemployment and poverty. Its existing regional integration provides a ready market for the development of the RE manufacturing industry to potentially reduce the overdependence on imports. It also provides opportunities for beneficiation of its abundant mineral resources often exported in raw form and localisation opportunities. However, Africa faces many challenges: poor transmission and distribution infrastructure; lack of finance; the dominance of foreign firms which undermine localisation; differing priorities which hamper a unified push for a just transition; lack of an established market to support the RE manufacturing and the widespread corruption and mismanagement. In addition, there is potential resistance from various stakeholders, including the state and labour groups who benefit from existing economic arrangements, workers, and communities if they are not convinced of the benefits of the transition. For instance, the shift from coal to renewable energy in South Africa involves significant changes in the energy mix, including potential job losses in the coal industry, and failure to generate enough energy to meet the demand which already far outstrips supply. A push towards a just transition should therefore address these risks.
Our initiative incorporates stakeholders from the start to identify risks and minimise them while highlighting the importance of the transition in protecting our planet. This is crucial for Africa. Africa suffers the worst climate change effects despite contributing less than 3% to global emissions as of 2022. Recent floods, droughts, wildfires, and high temperatures in various nations demonstrate this. The project will engage labour unions, civil society, and government leaders to produce and exchange knowledge and build transition consensus. We will analyse the value chain to determine which sectors can create the most decent jobs. We also analyse climate change and energy justice in their larger context, highlighting their connection.
The renewable energy sector offers many opportunities to address existing inequalities and promote sustainable development. While the transition presents risks, such as job losses and precarious employment, it also holds the potential to create a more equitable and sustainable energy economy. Our project is focused on ensuring that the benefits of renewable energy are shared widely, particularly with local communities and vulnerable populations.
By promoting localisation, decent work, and the involvement of SMMEs, we aim to create a just energy transition that supports sustainable livelihoods and economic growth. Our research and evidence-based approach will inform policy and investment decisions, ensuring that the transition to renewable energy is both inclusive and transformative. Through this project, we hope to build a resilient and equitable future for all.
Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries have the lowest level of women’s labour force participation in the world, as well as some of the highest levels of youth unemployment. The Economic Research Forum (ERF), a regional network promoting high-quality economic research to develop Arab countries, is conducting research in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia to understand how Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will adapt to the transition to clean energy and the phasing out of energy subsidies in the region. The project, which runs from 2022 to 2025, examines how the clean energy transition might generate quality livelihood opportunities for women and youth.
Significant progress has been made on this project in the past two years. An initial analysis of gender equality in 6 countries revealed various data gaps and emphasized the importance of both quantitative and qualitative data in understanding the challenges of adopting clean energy and its impact on women and youth. The report highlighted the lack of gender- and age-specific data on clean energy MSMEs, underscoring the need for gender-disaggregated data to explore their transition to clean energy. Data is crucial for policy prioritization. In response, the ERF is using a mixed research method that combines surveys of MSMEs with interviews and focus groups to understand key issues and challenges.
Women make up 32% of the formal clean energy workforce globally, but only 7–9% in MENA. Within the clean energy sector, women are overrepresented in human resources and administrative services but underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) and renewable energy operations, management, and leadership.
ERF researchers conducted a survey of 1000 MSMEs in Morocco, Egypt, and Jordan, examining the challenges and drivers of clean energy adoption. The results showed that only a small percentage of Egyptian enterprises use clean energy, while Jordan and Morocco had adoption rates of 5% and 4%, respectively. However, 21% of Egyptian enterprises and 37% of Jordanian and Moroccan firms were considering transitioning to sustainable energy.
The study revealed that factors such as firm size, age of owners and management, and education level influenced the adoption of renewable energy. Interestingly, the gender of the business owner and the percentage of female employees did not independently impact clean energy adoption. This underscores the importance of promoting gender equity beyond economic considerations and recognizing the intersectionality of gender with other factors.
However, research from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, which surveyed over 22,000 organizations worldwide, found that gender diversity can lead to improved economic success. Organizations with 30% women executives have been shown to achieve a net profit margin that is 6% higher than their industry peers. Gender balance not only benefits women but also enhances working conditions, well-being, organizational culture, and productivity for everyone involved.
ERF’s research on women’s involvement in clean energy entrepreneurship in MENA matches global trends. According to the International Energy Agency, only 11% of renewable energy start-up founders are women, compared to 20% in other industries (excluding consumer products). Like their counterparts in other sectors, women in clean energy entrepreneurship face challenges in raising investment capital and lack access to specific skills and training. A 2019 global survey by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) found that 56% of respondents from Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa identified financing as a significant obstacle for women in clean energy entrepreneurship, while 71% highlighted skills and training. In the MENA region, awareness of financial schemes is low, and banks are often reluctant to provide loans to businesses owned by women and youth.
Entrepreneurship is especially important in the MENA context, where job scarcity is identified as the major reason for starting a business. The MENA region has some of the highest levels of youth unemployment in the world, combined with the lowest rate of women’s labour force participation at 21%. Social norms, prejudices, and misperceptions (for example, that in times of high unemployment, men should be given jobs first and women should be let go first) interact to compound the challenges women face in seeking employment.
Addressing the persistent inequalities in women’s access to capital and financing requires tackling root causes, including wage inequity and women’s marginalization in land and property ownership. There are three principal means of acquiring land and property everywhere in the world: inheritance, purchase in the market, and state distribution. Enforcing wage equity and granting women equal and independent land and property rights can reduce these inequities. However, the urgency of the climate crisis and the slow pace of wage and land reform necessitate additional measures to improve women’s capital access. This may entail providing access to finance without the standard requirements of collateral, to which women and youth have much weaker access. Private climate finance channelled as guarantees can reduce risks for women- and youth-run businesses, especially in places with limited access to finance and little credit servicing history.
Women and girls in the MENA region excel in education compared to men and boys, often demonstrating a greater inclination towards pursuing STEM and Technical and Vocational education. According to UNESCO, several countries in the MENA region have a proportion of women STEM graduates above 50%. UNESCO also reports that the percentage of female graduates in STEM fields in Morocco rose from 39% to 49% between 2010-11 and 2020-21. There are big generational differences in women’s accomplishments in technical fields in the MENA region. For example, Tunisian women between the ages of 20 and 24 possess ICT skills four times more advanced than those of older women. Despite obstacles such as discrepancies in rural areas, girls routinely surpass boys in academic achievement at every level of education. Therefore, it is crucial to shift the focus from simply recruiting women into STEM fields to ensuring that they obtain appropriate employment opportunities aligned with their degrees.
Although government, corporate, and non-profit initiatives have increased women’s employment and entrepreneurship in the MENA clean energy sector, gender gaps persist. Women face “sticky floors” and “glass ceilings” in their careers due to cultural conventions, social biases, and structural constraints such as the gendered division of labour within families and higher societal value awarded to paid work over unpaid caregiving. ERF research highlights women’s prospects and challenges in renewable energy, offering policy recommendations to level the playing field.
IRENA predicts there will be 38 million clean energy jobs by 2030 and 43 million by 2050 under a 1.5°C global trajectory. Most of these jobs will be associated with solar, wind, biomass, small-scale hydropower, green hydrogen, and geothermal energy. Clean energy skills are presently in short supply worldwide, including in MENA. The global transition to sustainable energy presents a unique and opportune moment to create decent livelihoods for women and youth in the MENA region.
ANDE is launching a new initiative to investigate the significant challenges that women face in clean energy entrepreneurship, through applied research. They will fund actionable research that aims to build the evidence base on the barriers that women face in clean energy entrepreneurship, with a regional focus on Latin America, the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE), with support from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), will fund six research projects on women in the clean energy sector. Lead organisations or individuals must be based in Latin America, the Caribbean, or Sub-Saharan Africa, and the research project should propose to conduct research in these regions.
Only proposals from individuals, teams and/or organisations based in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America or the Caribbean will be considered.
ANDE is one of 12 projects working with the Clean Energy for Development initiative. Their project seeks to reduce barriers and improve pathways to growth for women-led enterprises in clean energy, with a particular focus on gender-smart capital mobilisation towards locally relevant clean energy solutions.
Visit the ANDE website for more details and information about this call for proposals.
2X Global is launching an innovative research project seeking to improve the outcomes for women-led clean energy enterprises through applied research. This applied research will focus on the regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia Pacific.
2X Global and the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs (ANDE) will lead independent research projects aligned with the theme of supporting women in the clean energy sector. The ensuing project description and call for proposals focus on the particular research stream led by 2X Global. 3 regional research leads from and based in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean, and/or Asia-Pacific will be selected for an innovative applied research project.
Only proposals from individuals, teams and/or organisations from and based in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and/or Asia-Pacific will be considered.
2X Global, in collaboration with ANDE, is one of the 12 projects working with the Clean Energy for Development initiative. Their project seeks to reduce barriers and improve pathways to growth for women-led enterprises in clean energy, with a particular focus on gender-smart capital mobilisation towards locally relevant clean energy solutions.
Visit the 2X Global website for more details and information about this call for proposals.
Concerns about environmental sustainability and fossil fuel insecurity have motivated countries around the world to transition to clean energy sources such as solar, wind, bioenergy, geothermal energy, and small-scale hydro.
Since many communities, particularly in developing countries and emerging economies, lack adequate access to energy for their domestic and livelihood needs, the global shift to clean energy is also reducing energy poverty and improving energy access in remote and rural communities, where 84% of the world’s poorest people live.
The transition to clean energy is also creating new employment opportunities all over the world. Producing and distributing clean energy is more labour-intensive than for fossil fuels, which tend to be more capital-intensive. Initiatives such as the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, Solar Sister, Barefoot College, Hivos, Kopernik, Grameen Shakti, and Project Gaia, have reached millions of low-income people in African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Central and South American countries. These are positive developments both from environmental and economic perspectives. However, a gender equity analysis of clean energy technologies and the ways in which they are being deployed reveal at least two stark blind spots.
Women are known to have weaker access to new technologies almost everywhere in the world, so there are unequal access issues inherent in the transition to clean energy. It is also well established that 75% of the world’s poorest people are women, youth, and children, and that women are already very inequitably employed worldwide in the clean energy sector.
Globally, women currently represent 32% of the clean energy workforce – a much higher share than women in the conventional oil and gas sector (22%) – but well below their 48% participation in the overall economy. At 28%, women are particularly underrepresented in the clean energy sector in jobs that require science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) training, compared to 35% in non-STEM technical jobs, and 45% in administrative positions. This is both a problem and an opportunity because the global shift to clean energy is creating demand for a growing array of technical, administrative, economic, policy, legal, business and entrepreneurial skills, and acute labour and skill shortages, are being reported in the clean energy sector all over the world.
To enable a sustainable global transition to clean energy, the sector must engage the skills and talents of women and youth since they constitute well over half of the global human population. There are both instrumental reasons of meeting labour requirements and intrinsic reasons of equity and fairness for enabling larger numbers of women and youth to access employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in the clean energy sector.
The clean energy sector directly or indirectly employed nearly 12.7 million people worldwide in 2021. This is a 5.8% increase from the 12 million employed in 2020, and employment in the sector is expected to continue to grow rapidly in the future. If gender equity and youth inclusion are not addressed proactively and systematically, the clean transition may do what the green revolution did in the 1970s: boost economic productivity by putting capital and technology in the hands of wealthier farmers, who are predominantly men, while marginalising women in the agricultural sector and making them more invisible and vulnerable to poverty than they already were.
Without appropriately targeted training, education, apprenticeships, employment placement, entrepreneurship opportunities, financial tools, and supportive social policies, the global transition to clean energy may exacerbate existing inequities for women and youth and hinder the achievement of global poverty alleviation and human development goals, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Gender equality was framed as a standalone SDG (SDG 5) because it is a fundamental human right and a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable world.
When the SDGs were framed in 2015, ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, modern energy for all was also deemed an objective important enough to warrant a standalone SDG (SDG 7). Since women constitute more than 50% of the world’s population, and since they are also presently underrepresented in the clean energy sector, there is growing recognition that universal clean energy access is unlikely to be achieved by 2030 without gender equality, and, conversely, that gender equality is unlikely to be achieved without equitable global access to sustainable energy.
Despite clear evidence of the synergies and interdependencies between SDG5 and SDG7, empirical data on the participation of women and youth in the clean energy sector remains weak and scattered, and so do policy interventions designed to optimise their participation. This is precisely what Canada’s ‘International Development Research Centre’ (IDRC) is trying to improve through the ‘Clean Energy for Development’ initiative.
By providing financial resources, research and policy advice, and training to researchers in developing countries, this initiative aims to contribute toward a transformation of the energy sector, from fossil-based systems of energy production and consumption to clean energy sources, while simultaneously creating more economic opportunities for women and youth. The programme also aims to encourage knowledge sharing with policymakers, researchers, and local communities to motivate the formulation of context-specific programmes and policies to ensure that access to employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in the clean energy sector do not remain out of reach for low-income groups in general, and women and youth in particular.
Universal access to clean and affordable energy by 2030 is pivotal to sustainable development goals (SDGs), both in its own right and as a critical means of achieving other SDGs targets including decent work and economic development. With the first Global Stocktake at COP28 ongoing, reducing carbon emissions remains vital to mitigate the climate crisis.
Recent reports, however, show that progress in meeting SDGs targets is in peril or even going into reverse. Likewise, numerous national plans towards net-zero transition fall short of requirements. Many of these appear to be faltering for multiple reasons, including spiralling energy prices precipitated by global conflicts and the Covid-19 pandemic. Amidst all this is the fact that the synergy between clean energy and sustainable development is less understood to guide policy and action.
Despite a recent dip, global clean energy production shows unprecedented growth, and generation cost is falling, notably for solar photovoltaic and wind plants. But contribution to clean energy capacity additions, and the benefits thereof, bypass significant regions, countries, and communities most in need. UN sources show that, worldwide, 675 million people – many of whom are in sub-Saharan Africa, a region rich in renewable resources – have little or no access to electricity. These people contribute little to the climate crisis but bear the brunt of it. The UN underlines that, if the current trend is to continue, by 2030, there will be many more millions of people without access to electricity and who will rely on unstainable resources such as biomass energy and carbon fuels. Finding mechanisms for increasing investment in clean energy generation and access remain central to clean energy generation and transition.
Clean energy and sustainable development are intertwined; delivering improved food and nutrition, health and education outcomes, industrialisation, and local economic growth all. require energy. However, there is a growing concern that there is little coherent – and authoritative – knowledge on the synergy between clean energy and sustainable development. Technological solutions (such as solar photovoltaic or energy storage systems) may be increasingly available but little is known as to who gains from these technologies, nor when and where institutions and energy systems (centralised grid or distributed systems) serve those most in need. Women, young entrepreneurs, and informal businesses, as well as micro, small, and medium size enterprises (MSMEs) tend to be creators of most jobs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) but are also the most economically vulnerable. Research into the clean energy and sustainable development nexus is a long-overdue and critical topic.
Appreciating this knowledge gap, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) commissioned a ‘Clean Energy for Development’ programme. It initially supported five projects, with more to follow, which collectively seek to understand how clean energy transition contributes to sustainable development, energy equity and security, decent job creation and economic development.
The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) is providing cohort-level learning and engagement support to the programme’s research teams to help them synthesise knowledge for global and regional audiences. We will promote the latest outputs, learning and recommendation from their emerging body of evidence throughout the programme.
The initial five projects are in 15 LMICs, across four continental and sub-continental regions. They draw from a range of perspectives, including political economy analysis and energy transition, to generate significant global knowledge about the synergy between clean energy and sustainable development. They explore a wide range of questions, including:
The goal is to identify the root causes of barriers to and opportunities for clean energy transition and sustainable development. The projects involve those most impacted by the research, particularly women and youth, to support their voices and agency in policy processes.
The Clean Energy for Development programme encourages collaborative partnerships within and between the project stakeholders foster the pathways to impact. Evidence and learning are crucial to clean energy transition in an equitable and just way.