by Egline Tauya

Zambezi Basin states have placed gender-related concerns at the top of their agenda as they move towards sustainable solutions to energy generation in the region.

Six Basin states, Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, recently established national gender and energy networks with support from ENERGIA, an international energy and gender network.

Through the network the basin states are promoting the use of minihydropower, solar cookers and lanterns, improved wood efficiency stoves and the use of biogas and gel stoves among the rural population, the majority of whom are women.

Improved efficiency stoves, which directly benefit women, girls and children, through reduced wood fuel use and therefore reduced time and distance for firewood collection, are now being widely disseminated in the basin.

In Namibia, women dominate in training and operations of the stove production centre in the Biomass Energy Savings Project (NAMBESP). Both men and women make suggestions for improvements in the stoves.

For instance while men were interested in having a grill on top of the stove for roasting meat, women's interests were in making the stove more portable and more stable for stirring the staple millet porridge.

The Programme for Biomass Energy Conservation in Southern Africa (ProBec) also reports that women registered a preference for larger stove sizes for brewing beer, an important income-generating activity.

The stoves save households from daily exposure to noxious firewood smoke, which claims nearly a million children's lives in the world each year as reported at the 15th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD 15) held in May 2007.

Meanwhile, organisations such as Practical Action Southern Africa are supporting rural-based, mini-hydropower schemes in Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Examples include the Rusitu and the Nyamarimbira minihydropower schemes in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe, which were constructed with labour provided by local people.

The rural mini-hydropower system uses water from a river, thereby avoiding damage to the environment and social effects that large hydroelectric schemes cause.

Besides providing power for practical needs the mini-hydro schemes are being used for income-generating activities such as grain milling.

Other rural-based energy initiatives being implemented include the use of solar power for cooking, heating and lighting.

Respondents to a survey carried out by Practical Action say that through the use of solar technology their working day is more productive and women are able to do some of their chores at night.

“Since the solar panel came I have been getting four hours of lighting using the solar lantern. I have also managed to put light where I operate the poultry business,” says a female respondent from Tanzania.

The Botswana government is promoting solar photovoltaic systems for rural electrification in areas where grid connection is not deemed to be cost effective. The programme aims to reach out to at least 88 villages by end of 2007.

Mozambique's Energy Fund (FUNAE) plans to install 2,500 solar powered systems by the end of June 2007 in Inhambane and Sofala provinces.

Meanwhile, the Namibian government has launched a five-year Renewable Energies Programme, which aims to provide solar water heating systems and panels for use by more than 27,000 rural households not yet connected to the national power grid.

The United Republic of Tanzania has established a Rural Energy Fund (REF) to be used to finance rural electricity projects.

The Ministry of Energy and Power Development in Zimbabwe is also spearheading a project to promote use of solar energy and biogas in resettled farming areas.

So far, 400 biogas digesters have been set up for demonstration purposes throughout Zimbabwe while thousands of solar panels have been distributed.

Efforts to raise gender concerns in the energy sector have gained support from the recent launch of the book, Where Energy Is Women's Business, during the CSD 15 forum.

The book, compiled by ENERGIA, expresses the view that gender-related concerns associated with energy sourcing and consumption should form the basis for energy-related interventions.

The move comes after the realisation that large-scale energy initiatives have little benefits to the marginalised, the majority of whom are women in the rural areas.

The view also gains support from the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) where women in rural areas are being targeted for a range of low emission technologies related to household energy, water pumping, food processing and agriculture.

International cooperating partners expressed their support for mainstreaming gender in the energy initiatives during CSD 15. 

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