OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN ENGENDERING THE AFRICAN ENERGY VALUE CHAIN

This policy brief examines the opportunities and challenges of integrating women into the renewable energy (RE) value chain in Africa, with a specific focus on case studies from Rwanda and South Africa. It argues that while RE offers a unique chance to move away from the non-gender-aware patterns of traditional energy sectors, significant barriers remain in leadership, financing, and education.

• Africa faces a massive energy deficit, with approximately 600 million people (about 60% of the population) lacking energy access as of 2017. The African Development Bank and UN Environment Programme estimate that financing the energy sector requires an average of $41 billion annually.
• Women are disproportionately affected by energy poverty. In sub-Saharan Africa, an average of 85.7% of households use environmentally hazardous fuels for heating, cooking, and lighting, which forces women into labour-intensive activities that hinder economic engagement and keep girls out of school. Conversely, providing women with clean energy access is linked to a 59% increase in wages.
• Rwanda has implemented strong gender equality strategies, including the Vision 2020 Strategy and the Infrastructure Gender Mainstreaming Strategy (2017–2018), aiming for 100% electrification by 2024. However, a gap persists in access: only 12% of female-headed households use on-grid electricity as their main lighting source, compared to 19% of male-headed households.
• South Africa's Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement (REIPPP) programme, launched in 2011, has successfully attracted over ZAR 22,195 billion in investment. Despite this, the sector remains male-dominated; an informal survey by Green Cape found an average women-to-men ratio of 33% across RE companies, and only one IPP company interviewed has a female CEO (BioTherm Energy).
• Three fundamental barriers hinder the engendering of the energy sector in Rwanda and South Africa: a lack of leadership to mainstream gender, an absence of appropriate financing mechanisms, and insufficient entry-level gender-based initiatives.
• Financial barriers often exclude women and SMEs. In South Africa, the REIPPP's large-scale nature creates high upfront administrative and transaction costs that act as entry barriers. To counter this, the Facility for Investment in Renewable Small Energy Transactions (FIRST) provides loans between ZAR 50 million and ZAR 300 million to smaller players, with ZAR 350 million from KfW specifically to de-risk these loans.
• A critical long-term challenge is the lack of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and maths) education. The document recommends establishing a broad educational trust fund for STEM bursaries and promoting enterprise development for women-owned SMEs, particularly for solar projects of 5MW or less, which are more accessible for smaller entities.

APA

Parshotam, A. (2018). OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN ENGENDERING THE AFRICAN ENERGY VALUE CHAIN. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/GA_Th1_PB_Parshotam_20181029-1.pdf

Chicago

Parshotam, Asmita. OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN ENGENDERING THE AFRICAN ENERGY VALUE CHAIN. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2018. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/GA_Th1_PB_Parshotam_20181029-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Parshotam |first1=Asmita |title=OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN ENGENDERING THE AFRICAN ENERGY VALUE CHAIN |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=October 2018 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/GA_Th1_PB_Parshotam_20181029-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{parshotam2018opportunities, author = {Parshotam, Asmita}, title = {{OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN ENGENDERING THE AFRICAN ENERGY VALUE CHAIN}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2018}, month = oct, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/GA_Th1_PB_Parshotam_20181029-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }