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PAST EVENT | Preventing Gender-Based Violence within Energy Projects
Venue: Washington DC

Violence against women and girls is a global epidemic. The World Health Organization estimates that 1 in 3 (35%) of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.

Gender-based violence (GBV) is important to understand within the development of large infrastructure projects or community-level interventions within the energy sector. Large energy projects can result in negative social outcomes if the health risks, including the negative gender impacts, are not anticipated and incorporated into project planning. An influx of workers and new roads can create new demand for sex workers, which can ultimately increase the prevalence of sex trafficking and disease transmission, especially HIV/AIDS and other sexually-transmitted diseases. On the other hand, increasing energy access, for example, through provision of clean and efficient cookstoves, or by rural electrification, can help prevent GBV.

During the BBL, speakers shared experiences through GBV issues within their organizations and energy projects. The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves has recently published a report reviewing the existing evidence on the relationship between GBV and fuel collection in humanitarian settings. UNCHR will discuss their Safe from the Start project, which provides specialist support to operations to integrate GBV programming into activities such as access to livelihoods, alternative cooking energy and lighting, and trainings. In August of last year USAID released a toolkit on Integrating GBV prevention and response into USAID energy and infrastructure projects. This BBL both, fostered a dialogue on key GBV issues within the energy sector, and shared knowledge from organizations working to address GBV within development projects.

Speakers:

Radha Muthiah | Radha is the Chief Executive Officer of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. Since joining the Alliance in 2011, she has developed and implemented a disciplined sector strategy that has put the Alliance ahead of target on its way to reaching the goal of 100 million households adopting clean cookstoves and fuels by 2020. She has more than 20 years of experience in leading operations and is a passionate advocate for multi-sector collaboration as a means to solve systematic problems. (Presentation).

Joanina Karugaba | Joanina is a Sr. Protection Project Officer based in Geneva working on UNHCR's Safe from the Start project. Safe from the Start is a U.S. Department of State: Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration funded project to support UNHCR in strengthening the prevention and response to GBV at the onset of emergencies. Sector-specific activities supported and implemented by the project include access to livelihoods, alternative cooking energy and lighting, supporting learning on gender equality and SGBV prevention and response among others.

Learn more about the ESMAP Gender Social Inclusion in the Energy Sector Program