USAID Southern Africa Energy Program Gender Equality and Social Inclusion

The program focuses on promoting gender equality and social inclusion in the energy sector, with a specific emphasis on empowering women as vital actors in the energy sector. SAEP collaborates with power utilities and the off-grid private sector to improve women's social and economic opportunities and enhance their employment prospects. SAEP's efforts in promoting utility gender and social inclusion have been successful, particularly in Malawi. In 2020, SAEP and the Electricity Generation Company of Malawi (EGENCO) worked on gender mainstreaming initiatives to increase the number of women in leadership positions and promote gender and social inclusion within the utility. SAEP identified specific gender equality challenges and gaps and designed activities to develop women's leadership skills and promote and retain women in leadership roles within the utility. As a result, major gender mainstreaming shifts took place, including the formation of an interdivisional gender task force, the hiring of a female director, and the promotion of a human resources officer to senior gender manager. SAEP also partnered with EGENCO in 2022 to develop and deliver women's leadership and men's gender sensitization training. The women's training focused on business communications, managing teams, emotional intelligence, conflict management, and dealing with gender-based violence (GBV) in the workplace. The men's engagement training equipped men in leadership positions with the knowledge and skills to identify and create opportunities for gender equality. SAEP replicated the training for Mozambique's electric utility, Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM), and facilitated a virtual training for EDM's board members to equip the board with the necessary skills to champion gender equality issues in the workplace. In the off-grid sector, SAEP supported private sector off-grid energy companies to implement gender-inclusive practices, creating opportunities for women and strengthening the companies' business outcomes. SAEP trained solar home system (SHS) companies on how gender relates to the SHS value chain, how to promote gender practices within a company's internal operations, and how to attract more women to become sales agents. SAEP also developed a study on engaging women as SHS customers and sales agents and the potential impact on SHS company success. The study was shared with regional off-grid stakeholders, helping SHS companies shape their business operations and hiring process to be more gender-inclusive. SAEP also conducted a study to support the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Secretariat and regional energy institutions with gender mainstreaming monitoring and evaluation, including indicator tracking. The study provides a baseline of 18 SADC energy institutions' gender mainstreaming status and recommendations to enhance women's participation in leadership and technical positions. SAEP shared with SADC a baseline for specific indicators on gender mainstreaming. SAEP's efforts have been successful in promoting gender equality and social inclusion in the energy sector, particularly in Malawi. The program has empowered women as vital actors in the energy sector, improved their social and economic opportunities, and enhanced their employment prospects. SAEP's work has also contributed to the development of gender-inclusive energy infrastructure projects, such as the Central-South transmission line project in Angola.