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ENERGIA News Issue 4, October 1997

Networking Around the World

Women and Energy Workshop International Solar World Congress, Taejon, Korea, 25 August 1997

The International Solar Energy Society (ISES) founded in the 1950s to promote the development of renewable energy technologies, holds a Solar World Congress in a different part of the world every two years. ISES is very much a “bottom up” organisation, with its Directors appointed by the National Sections of the Society. The significance of the Congress lies not only in the opportunity it offers for members to gain an international perspective on their work, but in the opportunity which it provides to the hosting National Section to “bring the world” to endorse their national efforts. National Sections compete to host the Congresses according to a competitive bid system with a lead time of six years. This year it was the turn of Korea, following in the footsteps of Zimbabwe (1995), Hungary (1993) and the USA (1991). As usual, the Congress was held in conjunction with the Society's AGM and the annual meeting of the Board of Directors.

The rhythm provided by this orderly series of international meetings allows for new questions and issues to be addressed in a relatively systematic manner - although the global nature of the society, the time between meetings and the potentially ponderous nature of the democratic process sometimes makes progress slow.

This is the background of the “Women and Energy” workshop held this year. The seeds of the workshop were sown at the last ISES Congress in Harare in 1995. Female African energy professionals had expressed disappointment at the lack of relevance of the Congress to the real energy needs they were deeply acquainted with, and an informal all-women discussion group began to examine the possible links between this and the general lack of female participation in the Congress. Post-Congress publicity given to the emergence of this issue led to the creation of contacts with ENERGIA which had also formed in 1995. As a result, the decision was made to hold a formal workshop within the Congress as a joint initiative of ISES and ENERGIA.

The Workshop, held in parallel with the Congress's technical sessions, attracted around 20 of around 500 delegates to the Congress. There were roughly equal numbers of male and females and there was a wide range of national identities: participants were from Australia, Barbados, Denmark, Germany, Hongkong, Israel, Korea, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Trinidad, the UK and the US.

A main focus of the meeting was to detail the progress which had been made since the Harare meeting, focusing particularly on the ENERGIA network. It was formally agreed by workshop participants that ENERGIA provided an efficient means to address the gender questions which had arisen in Harare, and that jointly organised events held in conjunction with ISES Congresses would be useful in the future. A presentation was made of the ISES “WIRE” project: this Internet based “World Information on Renewable Energy” system, currently under development thanks to German government funding, offers particular facilities for special interest groups such as ENERGIA. An ENERGIA home page, discussion group and document bank will be available in the near future through WIRE, as will an on-line version of the ENERGIA newsletter.

A relatively short part of the Workshop dealt with the key gender and energy issues. This focused on an historical perspective on gender and energy, using a framework created by Liz Cecelski. This examined the way in which the debate has evolved in the last twenty five years, highlighting the progress which has been made and the work which lies ahead. In retrospect, it is clear that more intensive planning could have led to this part of the meeting receiving greater attention. In particular it may have been useful to look in detail at the “work which lies ahead” and create some meaningful targets which could be evaluated at the next Congress workshop.

An open discussion period led to specific suggestions as to how ISES could achieve greater involvement of women in its Congresses. A number of specific suggestions were made, ranging in scope from halving the cost to female participants, to tackling the more fundamental question of increased participation in leadership within the Society through co-opting promising female leaders onto specially created posts. An ISES Director present highlighted the fact that the Society's “Handbook for Congress Organisers” is currently being re-written and a key action should be engendering the handbook. The discussion was useful in that it stimulated thought and debate. Again in retrospect, this discussion would have been much more effective had it been moderated by someone with clear experience and expertise in the field.

Of particular note was the fact that the Workshop was chaired by two new ISES Directors: Anne Grete Hestnes (Norway) and Monica Oliphant (Australia). As a result of discussions held after the Workshop, Monica was appointed by the incoming ISES President, David Mills, to have special responsibility for gender issues within the ISES Board. Monica is also Chairperson of the local organising committee of the 2001 Solar World Congress which will be held in Adelaide.

For additional information on the outcome of the Solar World Congress, please contact:
Alison Patterson, The Franklin Co. Consultants, 24 Shrigley Road, BT30 9SR Killyleagh, Northern Ireland; Tel +44.1396.821149, Fax +44.1396.928112, Email alison@tfc-kil.thegap.com

ENERGIA Support Group Meeting

On the 24th and 25th of September 1997, the second Annual meeting of the ENERGIA Support Group was held in Amsterdam. A number of ENERGIA members were invited to participate in this brainstorm meeting. Sixteen people from all continents, all actively involved in networks and activities on Gender and Energy, were able to attend in order to discuss the past, present and future of ENERGIA. Both the ENERGIA newsletter and the wider goals of the ENERGIA network were addressed. Two days of intensive discussion focused on the questions: what could ENERGIA do for you (to support you in your efforts to engender energy planning), and what could you do for ENERGIA? A wonderfully innovative and stimulating set of needs, ideas and possibilities was generated, as well as some concrete ideas on how to make some of this “Wish List” come true. Below, are some of the possible ideas that were formulated.

One of the things that became clear in the meeting is that, as long as there is no funding for the network, “ENERGIA” is not something that is out there and that can do things for others. At the moment, the ENERGIA network is no more and no less than the combined decentralized activities of all the members that are contained underneath its umbrella. That means: all readers of ENERGIA News, who each have their own way of trying to contribute to the ultimate aims of engendering energy and strengthening women. Therefore, the wish list published below is meant to inspire all members. These needs and ideas generated by the Support Group can be taken up by anyone. Some of them may already have been carried out somewhere in a corner of the ENERGIA umbrella. Please let your fellow members know about this! Write about it to ENERGIA News and the editors will try to put your information into the newsletter.

We will report more on the future activities ENERGIA News and network, and of the role of the Support Group, in future issues.

Wish List: What could ENERGIA do for its members

• Exchange experience and ideas
• Exchange references and manuals
• Give information
• Give support in developing research frameworks
• Give input in (local, regional) workshops on women and energy
• Support regional networks/ organisations on women & energy
• Support regional newsletters on women & energy
• Support women in the South
• Create interest in women & energy in members’ organisations
• Raise awareness among colleagues members
• Give credibility to the women & energy issue
• Strengthen partnerships
• Promote networking
• Provide contacts and documentation
• Facilitate contacts with experts
• Make alliances for research, consulting and advocacy
• Provide training in gender
• Provide training of barefoot technicians
• Human resource development
• Provide theoretical background
• Focus issues
• Review my work
• Define role in women & energy for my organisation
• Generate new research topics
• Bridge the gap between gender experts and energy experts
• Change focus from women in energy to mainstreaming gender in energy
• Provide experts (people)
• Provide expertise (information)