Access to energy is gendered, with women in informal urban settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa experiencing energy poverty differently and more severely than men. Mainstreaming Gender for Energy Security in Poor Urban Environments, in short, Gender for Energy Security or GENS, is an Africa-UK Trilateral Research Chair aiming to build research capacity and produce knowledge across Africa concerning gender-informed innovation and commercialisation opportunities in alternative energy technology and services.
GENS work includes:
- exploring opportunities for gendered energy innovations, which means innovations that take into account the different roles, responsibilities and needs of women and men in dealing with energy insecurity
- supporting stakeholders in co-designing gendered energy innovations
- informing gendered policy landscape for energy technology commercialisation
- setting up social innovation labs for multi-stakeholder and community collaboration in Paarl, South Africa and Mathare, Kenya.
The GENS Trilateral Chair directly contributes to national and international policy priorities of:
- Enhancing partnerships to create a better South Africa, Africa and World
- National priorities of the three collaborating countries – South Africa, Kenya and the UK
- African Union Agenda 2063
- Agenda 2030 of the United Nations, specifically, SDG5 on gender equality, SDG7 on affordable and clean, SDG10 on reduced inequalities, SDG11 on sustainable cities and communities, and SDG17 on partnerships to achieve the goal
- Five-priority areas for South Africa’s economic activity as stipulated in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Economic Stimulus and Recovery plan
The GENS co-design toolkit
The outcome of this project, the Gender for Energy Security (GENS) co-design toolkit, is a set of tools designed to equip private and public stakeholders for creating gendered energy solutions for African informal urban settlements. The toolkit was developed to be used as a knowledge source, as well as an instrument for idea generation.
Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project
Related Research Group(s)
Design for Sustainability - We focus on developing the theory and practice required to design solutions that foster environmental, socio-ethical and economic sustainability in areas ranging from materials and manufacturing to products, services, business models, bottom-up initiatives and socio-technical systems.
Partnering with confidence
Organisations interested in our research can partner with us with confidence backed by an external and independent benchmark: The Knowledge Exchange Framework. Read more.
Project last modified 16/01/2024