South Asia Regional Conference on Advancing Women’s Leadership in Climate Action held in New Delhi
The South Asia Regional Conference on ‘Advancing Women’s Leadership in Climate Action’ was held in New Delhi on May 11, 2023. The conference, under the aegis of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), was organized by South Asia Women in Energy (SAWIE) in collaboration with South Asia Regional Energy Hub (SAREH), which is the coordination and communication platform of USAID’s South Asia Regional Energy Partnership (SAREP), its flagship regional clean energy program.
SAWIE was launched by the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF) and USAID in September 2019. It works to promote women’s participation in high-level strategies and processes by shaping the sustainable development and climate change agenda, as well as advocating for a better understanding and acknowledgment of women’s needs and roles in the fight against climate change.
SAREH partnered with SAWIE to extend this platform in South Asia. SAWIE and SAREH jointly hosted this regional conference to bring leaders together to discuss and deliberate on the importance of gender diversity in decision-making and leadership roles.
This conference had the presence of high-level women officials from USAID such as Karen Klimowski, Deputy Mission Director, USAID India, and Mary Tyler Holmes, Deputy Director of Indo-Pacific Office, USAID India.
In her welcome address, Ms. Klimowski highlighted the important role of women’s leadership in energy and talked about the underrepresentation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) jobs. She emphasized the collaborative efforts of USAID and USISPF in initiating a multifaceted approach to bridge gender gaps and enhance networking and professional development of women in the energy sector.
In her opening remarks, Nivedita Menon, Managing Director, USISPF, spoke highly about the digital public infrastructure initiatives in the country and encouraged women to think about how they can leverage their professional training to impact the larger ecosystem there.
Vaishali Nigam Sinha, Chairperson, SAWIE; Chair, ReNew Foundation; and Chief Sustainability, CSR and Communications Officer, ReNew Power, highlighted SAWIE’s initiatives such as starting a jobs portal for women on the SAWIE website. She also talked about a a mentorship program that is important for knowledge and experience transfer “not only from a knowledge point of view, but also from a challenge point of view.”
In her keynote address, Dr Renu Swarup, Former Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, spoke about government’s ‘Vigyan Jyoti Program to help schoolgirls pursue a career in underrepresented areas of STEM, especially engineering. She urged the audience not to forget women’s leadership at the grassroot levels and in rural centres etc. “Today, if we’ve succeeded in vaccinating millions and taking COVID awareness forward – it is mostly because of our ASHA workers,” she said.
“Women who work at the ground level are going to be your agents of change,” she added.
At the end of the opening session, John Smith-Sreen, Director, Indo-Pacific Office, USAID India delivered the vote of thanks while congratulating the women speakers for their actions and contributions. He added that to combat climate change we need a coming together of policies, programs, and people.
This opening session was followed by three panel discussions.
The first discussion, titled ‘An Unbalanced Equation: Attracting Female Participation in STEM’, was moderated by Gauri Johar, Executive Director, Energy Transition and Clean Tech Global Consulting, S&P Global. The panelists were Anita George, Co-Founder, Edhina Capital; Dr Preeti Jain, Global Director – Policy, Chemicals & Carbon Solutions, LanzaTech; Dr Nisha Mendiratta, Advisor & Head of WISE (Women in Science & Engineering) & KIRAN Division of the Department of Science & Technology; Gayathri Sharma, Head of Communications – India & South Asia, Rolls-Royce, and Kiran Gauta, Senior Divisional Engineer, Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS), Government of Nepal. They discussed initiatives and strategies to encourage more women to pursue STEM careers and to address the triple challenge of retention, re-entry, and equal opportunities for women in this area.
The second panel discussion, titled ‘Drivers of Innovation: Retaining Women in the Workforce’, was moderated by Monali Zeya Hazra, Regional Energy & Clean Energy Specialist, and Mission Environment Officer, Indo-Pacific Office, USAID India . The panelists – Ratika Jain, Lead, Strategy & Corporate Relations, India, Rio Tinto; Chitra Chhabra, Director of Human Resources, Emerson Automation Solutions; Dechen Wangmo, Director of Corporate Affairs, Druk Green Power Corporation Limited (DGPC), Bhutan; and Col Rajesh Ohol (Retd), Deputy Vice President, Field Operations, Head CSR, Administration and Global Real Estate Operations, Johnson Controls-Hitachi Air Conditioning India Limited – dipped into their vast professional experiences and cited examples of initiatives that have helped retain women in their respective organizations. The discussions ranged from providing women-friendly facilities, building women’s visibility in organizations, and the larger South Asian experience.
The third panel discussion, ‘Role of Women’s Entrepreneurship in Transforming South Asia’s Energy and Climate Space’ was moderated by Apurva Chaturvedi, Senior Clean Energy Specialist, Indo-Pacific Office, USAID India. The panelists were Nehal Gupta, Director, AMU Leasing, Upamanyu Patil, Director, Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP); Avik Roy, Founder & Managing Director, Re-emerging World; and Kabita Pokhrel Kadel, Independent Power Producers Association of Nepal (IPPAN). They talked about creating last-mile connectivity for village-level women to become entrepreneurs, the continuously evolving energy challenges on ground, cash flow and access to finance for women-led enterprises, and more.
The session was followed by a presentation on the SAREP Partnership Fund (SPF) by Farah Ahmed, Cross Cutting Lead, SAREP. The SPF is a USD 12 million fund slated to issue multiple grants over SAREP’s five-year program period. It aims to support market-based transformative solutions to enable the clean energy transition, particularly by engaging the private sector, local organizations, and new, underutilized partners.
SSP is one of the beneficiaries of the SPF. Rajshri and Jyotsana, two women micro-entrepreneurs from Maharashtra, addressed the audience and spoke of their journey towards financial independence and empowerment through SSP’s education and training in clean energy products at the grassroot level.
In her closing remarks, Mary Tyler Holmes lauded Rajshri and Jyotsana on successfully operating their own clean energy business. She spoke of the ‘ripple effect’ a woman’s education and employment has on her whole family and the future generation. She concluded her remarks by saying that women are natural collaborators and helpers, which are inherent leadership traits that must be leveraged. She said such kind of regional conferences encourage them to share their stories in a safe space with men who champion them and help them succeed.
