Nigeria Power Sector Program Gender and Social Inclusion Action Plan

The program is structured into four thematic technical intervention areas, including increasing private sector investment in gas supply, power generation, and transmission; facilitating new off-grid connections to cleaner power supply; improving the enabling environment for private sector participation in the power sector; and promoting improved liquidity throughout the energy sector. NPSP's team mobilized to Abuja in late April to begin meeting with critical counterparts within Nigeria and to further define the discrete activities and partners required for achieving success in each of the Outcome areas. The program's Year 1 Workplan was formally approved on October 22nd, and this Gender and Social Inclusion Action Plan (GSAP) is responsive to the technical interventions outlined in the approved workplan. Prior to the award of NPSP, Power Africa completed a gender gap analysis for the Nigerian energy sector in late 2017, which found that significant gender gaps existed across the enabling environment, the participation of women and men in the sector, and the access of women and men to energy. The analysis recommended that the Nigeria business case for hiring and promoting women be documented and presented to the government and private sector to encourage greater interest and investment in gender equality. During the development of this Action Plan, discussions with Program staff and stakeholders indicated that social, geographic, ethnic, religious, and political divisions, as well as the domination of a handful of ethnic groups in political and economic life within Nigeria, may lead to the under-representation of some groups within Program staffing and activities. NPSP's planning and programming must therefore be implemented through a diversity and social inclusion lens, as well as through a gender lens. NPSP's Year 1 GSAP was developed by NPSP's Gender Advisor based on a review of key documents and interviews with USAID Nigeria, NPSP management and staff, and key Program stakeholders in September/October 2018. The plan utilizes a two-pronged approach to Gender and Social Inclusion, including Gender and Social Inclusion Mainstreaming and Gender and Social Inclusion Accelerator Activities. Under Gender and Social Inclusion Mainstreaming, the plan describes NPSP's overall approach to Gender and Social Inclusion mainstreaming and identifies and schedules NPSP's Gender and Social Inclusion interventions according to the Program Outcomes mentioned above. It also details how Gender and Social Inclusion will be mainstreamed into NPSP's Communications plan. This section of the document is closely aligned with NPSP's Year 1 Workplan, and therefore many of the planned activities are contingent upon the implementation of Workplan activities. Gender and Social Inclusion Accelerator Activities are aimed at women's empowerment and are based on the Power Africa/Nigeria Gender Gap Analysis findings that women are underrepresented in the sector, as well as the fact that they are disproportionately affected at all levels by the lack of access to energy. As the Program progresses, the Gender team will continue to identify initiatives on the ground that this component can support, improve, or enhance. Priority will be given to existing programs and/or structures to ensure sustainability. All activities will be implemented through a diversity lens, ensuring that NPSP interventions are – to the extent possible – inclusive of all social, ethnic, religious, and political groups. The GSAP will be implemented through a collaborative approach, involving NPSP staff, stakeholders, and external partners. The plan will be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure that it remains relevant and effective in achieving NPSP's goals and objectives. The GSAP will also be used as a tool for monitoring and evaluating NPSP's progress in achieving its Gender and Social Inclusion objectives.