The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has validated a pioneering Gender Equality Index (GEI) tailored for the clean energy sector following a two day regional workshop that concluded Thursday in Cotonou, Benin, marking a significant step toward addressing gender disparities in West Africa’s energy transition.
The ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (ECREEE), in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), convened representatives from member states, gender and energy experts, women’s associations, private sector actors, and development partners on November 27 and 28 to validate the framework specifically focused on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
Gibson Obasi, acting executive director of ECREEE, reaffirmed through his representative the center’s commitment to embedding gender equality across regional energy initiatives. Guei Guillaume F. Kouhie, the renewable energy technologies program officer speaking on Obasi’s behalf, emphasized that the GEI provides a practical and measurable tool to advance inclusive and equitable energy development.
Flaubert Mbiekop, IDRC representative, highlighted the importance of research based frameworks in achieving just energy transitions. He noted that the GEI will guide policymakers and businesses in addressing gender disparities across the clean energy value chain.
Todeman Assan, director general of energy planning and rural electrification representing Benin’s Minister of Energy, Water and Mines José Didier Tonato, declared the meeting open and emphasized the urgent need for dedicated financing mechanisms for SMEs, particularly women led enterprises. He stressed that such support is essential for ensuring a just and sustainable energy transition in the region.
Participants reviewed and validated three crucial outputs during the workshop. The evaluation framework derived from the GEI methodology provides standardized metrics for assessing gender inclusion. The evaluation study report, based on a census and analysis of gender inclusion in clean energy SMEs, documents current conditions across member states. A regional recommendations and action plan for implementing the GEI across ECOWAS outlines concrete steps for integration.
With the validation of these tools, ECOWAS now benefits from a robust framework to strengthen gender mainstreaming in clean energy businesses and guide policy, investment, and institutional reforms. The validated GEI framework marks an important milestone in the region’s efforts to reduce gender gaps in energy access, enhance women’s participation in clean energy value chains, and support women’s leadership in energy decision making.
The framework builds on more than a decade of gender mainstreaming efforts in West African energy sectors. The ECOWAS Programme on Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access, established in 2013, has worked to steer member states toward mainstreaming gender in policy formulation, legislative drafting, and energy project design and implementation with the intention to promote equality through equal access to resources and equal contribution to decision making processes.
Women face multiple barriers to participation in clean energy sectors across West Africa. At the supplier level, weak educational preparation represents the greatest challenge to achieving gender balance. Males and females are not encouraged in equitable measure to pursue studies and careers in the energy sector. This education gap persists in the private sector where very few women are engaged as entrepreneurs and employees in energy related businesses.
Women remain poorly informed about business opportunities in the energy sector and often face substantially more challenges than men in accessing credit. Considering that energy sector jobs are often viewed as socially unacceptable for women, disproportionately more public effort must be made to steer women onto energy tracks until the skills and interest gaps are closed. Additional to educational preparation challenges, a wealth gap means women on average require more financial support to complete training and additional financial flows at business start up.
At the consumer level, challenges for gender equality are numerous and varied depending on specific applications. Awareness about product availability, costs, benefits, and maintenance presents one challenge. Ability to pay represents another. Female agency and intra household bargaining power continue posing difficulties for the adoption of improved energy solutions in some settings. Gender equality at the consumer level requires that women be fully recognized as consumers, be economically empowered, and have equal agency.
The Women and Clean Energy in West Africa (WOCEWA) project, formulated by ECREEE in collaboration with IDRC, specifically works to meet policy objectives relating to mainstreaming gender in the private sector and increasing participation of women as clean energy consumers and suppliers. WOCEWA aims to work with energy sector SMEs to identify limitations to their meeting gender specific requirements, devise solutions, and support them to adopt these solutions.
ECREEE previously launched grant opportunities for women entrepreneurs in the energy sector, inviting applications for developing renewable energy technologies and distributing clean energy solutions across West Africa. Projects are evaluated based on concept innovation, development impact, and business model and financial sustainability.
Regional bodies like ECOWAS are introducing policies to create enabling environments for gender equality in the energy sector as part of broader efforts supported by development partners including Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, USAID, Austrian Development Agency, and the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Some governments, including Kenya, have implemented similar initiatives.
Women are disproportionately exposed to hazardous cooking fuels, lack access to jobs in the energy sector, and are underrepresented in energy policy and governance discussions across Africa. From energy efficient ovens to solar lighting, energy plays a key role in addressing the time poverty of women and powering their businesses while improving health and education outcomes.
The ECOWAS policy for gender mainstreaming in energy access aims at achieving widespread understanding of energy and gender considerations at all levels of society, ensuring that all energy interventions are gender inclusive and directed toward addressing inequalities and energy poverty, increasing women’s public sector participation in energy related technical fields and decision making positions, and ensuring that women and men have equal opportunities to enter and succeed in energy related fields in the private sector.
Ghana participates actively in regional gender and energy initiatives as an ECOWAS member state. The country has expanded rural electrification programs and renewable energy deployment while working to integrate gender considerations into energy planning and implementation frameworks. Women entrepreneurs in Ghana’s solar, biomass, and liquefied petroleum gas sectors stand to benefit from the validated GEI framework and associated support mechanisms.
ECREEE and its partners reaffirm their commitment to working closely with member states to implement the GEI and advance a more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable energy future for West Africa. The framework provides concrete tools for measuring progress, identifying gaps, and directing resources toward interventions that can transform women’s participation across clean energy value chains.
The validation workshop represents a crucial step in translating research and advocacy into actionable policy frameworks with measurable indicators. Implementation success will depend on sustained political commitment, adequate financing for women led enterprises, capacity building programs, and systematic monitoring of gender outcomes across the energy sector.
Looking ahead, the next phase involves dissemination of the GEI framework to all member states, capacity building for national energy ministries and regulatory bodies, integration of gender indicators into project approval processes, and establishment of tracking mechanisms to monitor progress toward equality goals. ECREEE will coordinate these implementation efforts while supporting member states in adapting the framework to national contexts.