CONCEPT NOTE
Submitting Agency:
Church World Service
Name of Contact:
Steve Weaver : / Title:
Regional Coordinator for Middle East/Europe
Project Name:
Engaging Women in Renewable Energy TechnologiesProgram
Project Partners and Location:
Ormax, Moldova; Rural Communities Development Agency (RCDA), Georgia; and Regional Development Service (RDS), Bosnia and Herzegovina
Partner Agency History/Relationship with the Project:
Ormax Youth Cultural Association (Moldova) was founded in 1996 and registered in 1999 with the aim to improve the ecological situation by empowering civil society in the fields of environmental and ecological development. Since its establishment in 1999, RDS has been implementing programs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, initially with the primary purpose of helping refugees, returnees and displaced persons. RDS now implements a wide range of innovative technology programs, including creating and managing a Social Innovation Centre for renewable energy and energy efficiency.
RCDA (Georgia)was established in 1997 by a group of small farmers, farmer’s credit unions and farmer’s co-operatives, CBOs and NGOs. Within its vision to build sustainable communities through fulfilling the potential of people, it implements programs focused on Renewable Energy Resources and transfer of affordable and environmentally friendly technologies.
Church World Service has been active in the region for decades, with a long-standing commitment to strong local partnerships. Over the past three years, CWS has supported Ormax, RDS, and RCDA as they have come together to develop a regional innovative technologies learning platform and the initial phases of a regional program. This learning platform began in 2014.
Description of Project
The Engaging Women in Renewable Energy Technologies (EWRET) Programis implemented in Georgia, Moldova, and Bosnia & Herzegovina (B&H). Needs in all three countries are similar: in B&H, almost 40% of a total population of 4.5 million people live in rural areas, characterized by poverty which affects laborers and small farm holders. Poverty continues to be deeply entrenched in rural areas in Georgia as well that account for 59% of the total poor and 62% of the extreme poor, according to the World Bank. In Moldova, the poorest country in Europe (including the Caucasus), almost 50% of its 3.6 million inhabitants live below the poverty line. In all three countries, this program aims to reduce poverty in rural areas by empowering women in the promotion and implementation ofrenewable and affordable technologies to lessen environmental degradation and provide economic opportunity.
Theprogram employs a range of affordable, renewable energy solutions including: Hot water solar collectors, PV solar panels, solar fruit and vegetable dryers, fuel efficient stoves, composting toilets, and biomass briquette compressors. These technologies are produced locally using locally sourced materials (except for PV panels). The training and the subsequent use of these devices reduces communities’ dependence on conventional energy sources, reduces environmental impact,and creates income earning opportunities that result in sustainable livelihoods.
CWS and local partners are building villager’s skills and capacities in social entrepreneurship, environmental protection, and utilization of renewable energy resources with a focus on and prioritizing women community members. In three targeted countries, the program aims to: i) raise awareness about renewable energy technologies; ii) build skills and capacities of local communities on constructing, utilizing and maintaining renewable energy technologies; iii) develop cooperatives/social enterprises, emphasizing women led and majority operated entities or directly support families/households in their income generating activities; iv)enable communities to decrease energy consumption and decrease energy poverty; v) enhance regional cooperation among Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova and Georgia; and vi) raise the awareness of stakeholders on the importance and benefits of renewable energy technologies in poor rural areas.
A cross-cutting priority in all areas of work is to empower vulnerable women (heads of households, unemployed with little/no access to other income generating activities).More than 60% of the project’s beneficiaries will be women. Fuel efficient stoves and solar water heaters provide significant time savings to women. Health and safety are major concerns of community women in their use of biomass fuels. Indoor smoke reduction and improved healthfor children are often the two most important reasons cited by women for adopting improved stoves and fuels. When women end users are involved in the design of improved household energy technologies and initiatives, significant benefits to women in terms of fuel savings and time savings in fuel collection and cooking have been reported. The women are additionally supported with trainings, focused cooperative and social enterprise building and access to affordableand clean energy technologies. Gender awareness is low in the areas of program implementation and promoting women's participation in public life/economic activities is a priority for CWS and partners.
CWS’s Washington DC based Advocacy Office, already targets Congress and the U.S. Administration on their climate policy. To promote the benefits of this Renewable Energy Benefits Program and other critical environmental and climate related initiatives, CWS Advocacy will undertake the following activities:
  1. Advocacy in support of the passage of S.2194 the Clean Cookstoves and Fuels Act, introduced by Sen. Susan Collins.
  2. Advocacy for the inclusion of empowerment of women’s participation in alternative energy projects across the development policy of the US Government through targeted CWS communications materials on the issue; outreach to Congress and the Administration, in climate advocacy spaces and working with the Global Clean Cookstoves Alliance.
  3. Initiating, planning and facilitating key climate change public events with key congressional members, academics and non-profit organizations.

Target Population:
  • vulnerable women (heads of household, unemployed with little/no access to other income generating activities);
  • individuals (or families) not able to provide for basic needs for themselves due to socio-economic or other reasons (no income, elderly, physically or mentally disabled, dependent on other people’s care, large families, returnees);
  • selected representatives from civil society, emphasizing women leaders,who play a role in the uptake of new technologies (e.g. community leaders, local authorities, community based organizations, women initiative groups, etc.)

The overall goal of the project: To promote women engagement in promotion and use of renewable energy technologies
Objectives and Activities
Objective 1: Provide training, education and community awareness on the value and use of appropriate renewable energy technologies
Activities
  • Organize training sessions and practical workshops on renewable energy technologies for rural population
  • Support developing Renewable Energy Action Plans for communities. The Renewable Energy Action Plan provides communities with access to clean and affordable energy and a decrease of CO2 emissions through a bottom-up approach that promotes use of existing renewable energy resources at the community level, estimates energy savings through increased renewable energy production and estimates CO2 reduction. The renewable energy action plans will provide detailed step-by-step recommendations for the entire process of elaborating a local energy and climate strategy, from initial political commitment to implementation.

Objective 2: Support the establishment of a women’s energy cooperative
Activities
  • Organize training sessions on "The Cooperative and its Principles" to promote the importance of ​​cooperatives as a principle of social entrepreneurship.
  • A women’s energy cooperative will be established for 15 to 20 women providing livelihoods from renewable energy technologies

Objective 3: Provide individual, household, and/or community-level renewable energy technology inputs that support the country-specific model of social entrepreneurship
Activities
  • Equip poor rural families with appropriate renewable energy technologies
  • Equip women’s cooperatives with appropriate renewable energy technologies

Duration of Project:
June 2017 – May 2018
Total Budget:
$90,000
Participant’s Story of Transformation:

CWS believes that this is one of our more innovative development initiatives. It introduces the production of affordable “green” technology that can serve rural families who currently do not have access to electricity and it provides skills training in the production of the technologies to individuals who can then begin to produce and market them in their areas, thus creating employment and income generation opportunities in countries with extremely high unemployment levels and widespread energy poverty.