Women and Clean Energy in West Africa (WOCEWA)
This project aims to reduce the gender gap in the energy sector in West Africa consistent with the policy for gender mainstreaming in energy access of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The policy seeks to ensure that women and men have equal opportunities to enter and succeed in energy-related fields in the private sector. Its target is to achieve gender balance (50-50) by 2030.
With women-led small and medium-sized enterprises in the energy sector still accounting for less than 10 percent in the ECOWAS region, there is a need to evaluate the current gender mainstreaming strategies, test innovative approaches and use the findings to shape and inform the formulation of new, gender-inclusive finance programs to facilitate business start-ups in the clean energy sector. The project will also inform the scaling of technical and vocational training as well as entrepreneurship and business management training in the energy sector targeted at women.
project
Location
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Togo,
Project outputs
Smallholder farmer testing INFoCAT renewable energy powered groundnut pod plucker in Gomoa (Central Region, Ghana). Photo by UNU INRA.
Webinar: Clean Energy Transitions: A care economy lens
Wednesday 16 September 2026
Clean energy transitions: what changes when we put care at the centre? Join us for an engaging webinar exploring how clean energy transitions can do more than expand access to power: they can also reduce drudgery, shift how unpaid care work is recognised and shared, and open up new opportunities for women and young people in […]
Solar panels, Bolivia
Inclusive and Clean Energy for SMEs in Rural Bolivia
7 October 2026
Bolivia has achieved high rates of electricity access, yet rural and semi-rural producers still face major barriers to securing reliable, affordable energy for productive use. Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the agrifood sector play a central role in ensuring national food security and creating employment. However, they remain highly dependent on fossil-fuel-powered pumps with […]
Smallholder farmer testing INFoCAT renewable energy powered groundnut pod plucker in Gomoa (Central Region, Ghana). Photo by UNU INRA.
Putting care at the centre of clean energy transitions
14 October 2026
Clean energy transitions are often discussed in terms of technology, finance and climate targets. But what changes when we put care at the centre? Across many low- and middle-income countries, women and girls carry a disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work. Cooking, collecting fuel and water, caring for others, processing food, and sustaining […]