Women Drive Sustainable Energy Access in Nigeria

June 12, 2018

Abuja, Nigeria – Solar Sister and the Solar Nigeria Programme host together a workshop to highlight the need for more meaningful inclusion of women in clean energy access value chains and policies in Nigeria.

Solar Sister will also launch new research from the Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) that examines last-mile customer preferences and provides important findings for all practitioners seeking to reach under-served communities.

Salimata is a top clean energy entrepreneur from Plateau State.

Women can and should play a crucial role in scaling up energy access, especially in underserved communities across Nigeria, but so far few have gotten the opportunity to do so.

“Our model of empowering women as clean energy entrepreneurs is essential. Women are uniquely positioned to promote clean energy adoption at the household level.” — Olasimbo Sojinrin, Nigeria Country Manager

The event brings together 60 participants from diverse sectors, including energy access practitioners and industry, government agencies, civil society, policy makers and media.

The workshop aims to bring together industry leaders in Nigeria and find ways to better advance gender equality in energy access initiatives. This workshop will not only collate best practices and actions for gender inclusivity, but will also serve as an opportunity for civil society and others in the energy sector to begin meaningfully addressing gender equality and empowerment.

***

The report Reaching the Last Mile: Women’s Social and Sustainable Energy Enterprise, is produced by MIT CITE with the support of the US State Department’s wPOWER program.

“This research is really exciting for Solar Sister because of our drive and ongoing commitment to reach the last inch of the last mile with clean energy products and services. The findings help us to better understand what this unique segment of consumers cares about when purchasing solar lights. It also verifies that our locally-embedded entrepreneurship approach fits consumer demands and preferences.” – Abby Mackey, Impact Manager, Solar Sister.

Read more about the report here.

//////////////

For media inquiries, please contact: 

Solar Sister, Abuja, Olasimbo Sojinrin,+234 809 990 7272 or olasimbo@solarsister.org

//////////////

About Solar Sister 

Founded in 2010, Solar Sister eradicates energy poverty by empowering women with economic opportunity. Solar Sister is creating a deliberately woman-centered direct sales network to bring the breakthrough potential of clean energy technology to even the most remote communities in rural Africa. To learn more, please visit www.solarsister.org

About Solar Nigeria Programme 

Solar Nigeria was launched in 2014 to build the market for distributed solar energy in Nigeria. Solar Nigeria is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and collaborates with other donors and Nigeria’s federal and state governments. The programme works directly with companies that manufacture, install, and finance solar energy systems in Nigeria. For more information, please visit www.solar-ng.com

About MIT CITE 

CITE, the Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is a program dedicated to developing methods for product evaluation in global development. CITE draws upon diverse expertise across MIT and globally to evaluate products and build an understanding of what makes different products successful in emerging markets. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had funded much of the work CITE has completed to date. For more information, see http://cite.mit.edu.