The ECOWAS Regional Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERERA) and the ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC) on May 18, 2023 ended their three-day meeting in Accra, with an agreement to advance gender mainstreaming ideals in the energy sector in ECOWAS Member States.
The technical meeting, the first between the sister institutions, sought to initiate and develop a framework for collaboration between them.
Specifically, the meeting set out to define the institutional framework for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in the energy sector, identify areas that ERERA can effectively implement the Policy on Gender Mainstreaming for Energy Access and the ECOWAS Directive on Gender Assessment in Energy Projects, agree on specific areas the EGDC can assist ERERA to build the capacity of its stakeholders in promoting gender mainstreaming in the power sector.
In this regard, officials of the two institutions agreed on some activities, including a joint implementation of the EGDC’s support programme for brilliant but indigent girls through the provision of “scholarships for excellence” or internships with a focus on energy as well as technical support from ERERA for the organization of a regional forum on the African Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAF) related to gender.
Among others, both ERERA and the EGDC are to broaden the partnership within the framework of support for women’s entrepreneurship and inclusion in energy matters. They are also to sign a Memorandum of Understanding.
In his welcome remarks at the opening of the meeting on May 16, 2023, ERERA Regulatory Council Member, Mr. Aly Mar Ndiaye, expressed the hope that the meeting would enable the two institutions to better understand each other, a step which would make their collaboration much easier.
