Engendering Utilities and Workplace Advancement for Gender Equality (WAGE) FY 2021 Q1 Quarterly Report

Funded by the USAID Scaling Up Renewable Energy (SURE) and WAGE activities, the program is implemented by Tetra Tech. Engendering Utilities partners with 29 utilities across 21 countries to improve gender equality and business performance outcomes in utilities. The program focuses on implementing organizational change management interventions throughout the employee life cycle (ELC). Customized best practices, demand-driven coaching, and a Gender Equity Executive Leadership Program (GEELP) are used to build the capacity of utility leaders to implement gender equality interventions in their organizations. The GEELP is a key component of the program, and Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business successfully implemented the final GEELP Module 7 for Cohort 2 utilities and the first GEELP module for Cohort 3 utilities. Engendering Utilities has finalized the third iteration of the Best Practices Framework, which includes links to new knowledge products and case studies. The program has also designed 12 course modules for the Accelerated Executive Course, which will be delivered in collaboration with partner universities. The program has selected La Universidad de los Andes in Colombia to run the Accelerated Course for the Latin America region, in addition to established partners in Kenya, Nigeria, and Vietnam. During this quarter, the current Engendering Utility partners implemented a total of 78 gender equality activities across the 12 ELC phases, including drafting, reviewing, adopting, or implementing ten policies related to gender equality. The utilities trained a total of 398 people (231 women and 167 men) on gender equality. Across current partners, USD $144,923 in direct and in-kind funding was contributed from utilities to implement gender equality initiatives. Engendering Utilities Change Management Coaches provided bi-weekly virtual coaching sessions for utilities in Cohorts 2 and 3, and ad-hoc support as needed for Cohort 1. The program continued recruiting new partners for Cohort 4, with the goal of completing utility and participant selection for 12 new partners by February 2021. Cohort 4 will include water and power sector partners, and, for the first time, an organization in the ICT sector. The Self-Empowerment and Equity for Change Initiative (SEE Change) was launched in November 2020, and participants were introduced to SEE Change and the personal agency and empowerment training. SEE Change continued developing and testing the Canvas platform, which was used to deliver virtual ToT sessions of the Empowered Employee Training Program with Engendering Utilities partner, EDM. WAGE ramped-up support for the Women in African Power Network (WiAP) this quarter, including updating the WiAP website with new content and supporting WiAP to develop a networks directory. The program also supported WiAP to engage the Power Africa Gender Champs and collaborate with the Internal Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Vance Center for International Justice. WAGE subcontractor Promundo delivered a webinar for partner utilities on key male engagement concepts, and the project offered two follow-up sessions to allow for additional discussion on topics related to male engagement. WAGE has chosen two pilot utilities (IBEDC in Nigeria and BRPL in India) to participate in the male engagement ToT.