Women as creators of energy through personal empowerment Anita Shankar, PhD Executive Director, SEE Change Initiative Department of International Health
Challenges of energy poverty Photo sources: The Clean Cooking Alliance, Oxfam, Intl, IBD.org and Nic Bothma/EPA 2
Women are critical along the value chain: Participate in Engage in design of Help to scale Provide key after-sales production of energy new technologies distribution service solutions Photo sources: Solar Sisters, Betty Ikalany and LaML 3
Types of energy needed to transform communities Physical sources of energy Psycho-social sources of energy ► Electricity ► Beliefs ► Clean fuels ► Values ► Solar technologies ► Inter-personal relationships ► Clean Cookstoves ► Personal agency 4
Ecosystem Support Framework Types of Capital Economic Time Social Symbolic Cultural • Cash, • Household • Networks • Social • Mindsets resources work status (Habitus) • Information • Financial • Family care • Credibility • Education, assets work training Source: Shankar, Elam and Glinski, 2020 5
The MINDSET is the physical embodiment of culture Ø Gender ideology is socialized in individual mindsets (i.e. ways of thinking, feeling and doing) To break the cycle of inequality, mindsets need to shift Source: Bourdieu, P. 1986 6
Shifting Mindsets Through Personal Agency-Based Empowerment Training Definition of Empowerment Ø External supports that allows one to take action - Skills, education, opportunity, money Ø Internal ability to make decisions and take action - Related concepts include self-efficacy, self- respect, self-reliance, personal agency Ø Personal agency-based empowerment enhances one’s capacity to create and focus on his/her goals Increased personal agency more likely to take advantage of opportunities when they arise 7
Personal Agency-Based Empowerment Training ü Cognitive behavioral approach ü Draws on positive psychology, mindfulness ü Focus on self-awareness and reflection ü Capacity building grounded in individual context and experiences Shankar, Siddhu and Smith, 2018 8
Testing the impacts of personal empowerment training in Kenya ► If given equal opportunity, can women sell improved cookstoves as well as men? ► Does the agency-based empowerment training improve the effectiveness of improved cookstoves entrepreneurs when compared with standard entrepreneurial training ? ► Does the gender of the improved cookstove seller affect adoption practice? Photo source: ManiStudioWorks; Envirofit 9
Results: Randomized controlled trial in Kenya (2015) ► Nine months after the training, those in the empowerment training group were twice as likely to have active businesses than those with standard business training Shankar, Onyura, Ojode, Milliam, 2015: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25839204 10
Results: randomized controlled trial in Kenya (2015) Participants received either empowerment training OR standard business training Total Unit Sales by Type of Training ► Empowerment training Empowerment 900 Training Group 800 group had more than 700 double the sales and 600 Units Sold 500 higher business growth Standard business 400 training group rates than standard 300 200 business training group 100 0 ► Women outsold men 3:1 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 - - - - - - - - c n b r r y n l u e a p a a e u M J D J A M F J - - - 5 - - - 5 - 5 5 5 5 - 5 1 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 Shankar, Onyura, Ojode, Milliam, 2015: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25839204 11
Kenya Cookstove Study Conclusions ► Women sold cookstoves more effectively than men, if given equal opportunity in the Kenyan context ► The agency-based empowerment training improves the effectiveness of cookstove entrepreneurs ► If a woman sells cookstoves, adoption and perception of the value of the cookstoves is significantly better Photo source: Envirofit Shankar, Onyura, Ojode, Milliam, 2015 12
Empowered Entrepreneur Training Handbook Developed with funding from the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves Lead authors: Dr. Anita Shankar & Genevieve Smith ► Part 1: Human Centered Design Handbook ► Developing customized trainings for each organizations using human-centered design principles ► Part 2: Empowered Entrepreneur Handbook ► ~50 hours (or 6 days) worth of business, empowerment and leadership training curricula ► Part 3: Participant Packet ► Available in English, Swashili, Bengali, Tamil, French, and Spanish Accessible: http://cleancookstoves.org/resources/342.html 13
14 Evaluation of training results Training Evaluation Results Training Evaluation Results Trained entrepreneurs tend to earn more Briquette sales over time Practical Action / SCODE entrepreneurs (n=169 trained, 147 untrained) Practical Action /SCODE entrepreneurs (n=56 trained, 20 untrained) Quartile Rank in Sales at Month 6 Retention over 6 months 80% Untrained: 10% 71% Trained: 52% 70% RR = 1.8 (CI:1.7-2.0) 60% 50% 50% 40% 30% 20% 20% 16% 15% 15% 10% 10% 3% 0% Mar ‘16 Apr ‘16 May ‘16 Jun ‘16 Jul ’ 16 Aug ’ 16 < KES 2400 ($24) Lowest quartile KES 2400-6000 ($25-$58) 2nd KES 6000-18000 ($60-$180) 3rd KES > 18000 ($180) Highest quartile Untrained Trained Untrained Trained 14
15 Self-Empowerment and Equity for Change (SEE Change) Initiative SEE Change mobilizes global research and training solutions grounded in behavioral science and positive psychology to promote equity and prosperity. Current Research and Training Activities Ø Integrated Clean Cooking and Empowerment in a Refugee camp in Rwanda Ø Empowered Employee Training in Energy utilities worldwide Ø Training of global social businesses involved in Photo Source: Solar Sisters agricultural and water for food programs 15
THANK YOU 16
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