GENDER MAINSTREAMING STRATEGY

The Gender Mainstreaming Strategy for USAID Clean Power Asia provides a framework to address gender disparities in the renewable energy sector of Southeast Asia. It identifies key gender issues, such as the male-dominated nature of energy institutions and limited female access to resources, and proposes a 'twin-track approach' that combines gender mainstreaming across the project cycle with targeted activities to foster 'gender champions.' The strategy includes specific action points for leadership, planning, policy, investments, and communication, alongside a checklist to ensure gender-sensitive design, inclusive stakeholder engagement, and equitable benefit sharing.

• The energy sector in Lower Mekong countries and ASEAN member states is characterized as 'male dominated and generally masculine in nature,' which restricts the ability of female experts to influence energy decisions and leads to disparities in the access to and benefits of grid-connected power.
• A review of the Year 1 Annual Work Plan found that while a Gender Implementation Plan exists with explicit objectives, these goals were not yet well integrated into the program's primary tasks, and M&E indicators were limited to output-based results rather than outcome-level changes.
• The strategy adopts a 'twin-track approach' consisting of: 1) gender mainstreaming across the project cycle (planning, policy, and investment) to ensure a 'do no harm' safeguard, and 2) strategic activities to address systemic biases, specifically through 'Task G' to foster gender champions.
• The document identifies specific gender-related entry points for program tasks, including incorporating gender assessments into feasibility studies for planning, reviewing energy policies through a gender lens, and piloting 'gender lens investing' to support female entrepreneurs.
• To ensure implementation, the strategy recommends that leadership establish gender as an integral project agenda and target a minimum of 33% women as participants and beneficiaries in all activities.
• The strategy provides a checklist for staff based on three core elements: gender-sensitive design to create responsive activities, inclusive stakeholder engagement to ensure meaningful participation of both men and women, and equitable benefit-sharing to avoid entrenching existing inequalities.

APA

Giri, K. (2017). GENDER MAINSTREAMING STRATEGY. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Bangkok/SEI_2017_Report_USAID-CleanPowerAsia-GenderMainstreamingStrategy.pdf

Chicago

Giri, Kalpana. GENDER MAINSTREAMING STRATEGY. Stockholm Environment Institute, 2017. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Bangkok/SEI_2017_Report_USAID-CleanPowerAsia-GenderMainstreamingStrategy.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Giri |first1=Kalpana |title=GENDER MAINSTREAMING STRATEGY |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=31 July 2017 |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Bangkok/SEI_2017_Report_USAID-CleanPowerAsia-GenderMainstreamingStrategy.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{giri2017gender, author = {Giri, Kalpana}, title = {{GENDER MAINSTREAMING STRATEGY}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, month = jul, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/Bangkok/SEI_2017_Report_USAID-CleanPowerAsia-GenderMainstreamingStrategy.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }