GESI

To advance Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) integration in the clean energy ecosystem, USAID, through the South Asia Regional Energy Hub (SAREH) program, hosted the second part of the Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) series on July 03, 2024. This session titled, “GESI Integration in Clean Energy Projects” aimed to deepen understanding and application of the GESI lens within the energy sector by focusing on the frameworks to integrate gender and gender-responsive budgeting. Over 50 stakeholders participated from various regional contexts and made this event a resounding success.

The session was opened welcome remarks from by Monali Zeya-Hazra, Regional & Clean Energy Specialist at USAID India. She underscored USAID’s commitment to integrating GESI across its development initiatives in South Asia under the Clean EDGE Asia initiative. She also gave an overview of vision behind the CLA series, and the knowledge exchange work facilitated under SAREH. Dr. Mini Govindan from The Energy & Resources Institute (TERI) emphasized integrating the GESI lens throughout project lifecycles, advocating for engagement with marginalized communities and civil society organizations. She highlighted the importance to mainstream the often-neglected societal and cultural barriers in our GESI frameworks for any substantive and transformative change.

Abhilasha Sood, Program Analyst at UN Women India, elaborated on gender-responsive budgeting, stressing the importance of equitable resource allocation and gender-disaggregated data for effective decision-making. Dr. Nidhi Prabha, GESI Advisor at USAID’s SAREP, facilitated the CLA as well as the interactive Q&A session, providing a platform for participants to discuss challenges and share experiences in integrating GESI principles into their projects.

Some of the key insights from this participatory learning exercise include:

Key Insights:

• Comprehensive GESI Integration Across the Value Chain: Integrating GESI from project conceptualization to end-recipients is crucial. Institutionalizing the GESI lens at every program stage (Conceptualization > Formulation > Implementation > Monitoring & Evaluation) allows for mid-course corrections and ensures comprehensive impact.
• Tackling Deep-Seated Patriarchy and Social Stratifications: Address deep-seated challenges like entrenched patriarchy and social stratifications by engaging men and communities as allies. Example: In Maharashtra’s MSEDCL, resistance comes from the community on women line workers who need to wear a uniform for climbing poles or need to travel for trainings. This highlights the need for behavioral and mindset changes that need to be factored into project design.
• Understanding Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB): GRB is about equitable outcomes, not just catering to women. A substantive GRB exercise requires gender-disaggregated data to allocate budgets effectively.
• Rethinking Budgets as Non-Gender-Neutral Tools: We need to rethink budgets as non-gender-neutral tools, which has gained traction in the last decade. For instance, MNRE’s gender-outcome allocations grew from less than 2 per cent to 52 per cent of the total outlay in the past year, showcasing significant progress.

The session’s success was attributed to the valuable contributions of speakers and active engagement from participants, reinforcing a collective commitment to advancing gender equality and social inclusion within clean energy initiatives.

The link to the uploaded recording can be found here.