Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps ADVANCING GENDER-EQUAL BENEFITS IN CLEAN COOKING OPERATIONS Gender-Differentiated Impacts of Traditional Technology Reliance | A © 2022 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; internet: www.worldbank.org This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work and accepts no responsibility for any consequences of their use. 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License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO Translations—If you create a translation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with the attribution: This translation was not created by The World Bank and should not be considered an official World Bank translation. The World Bank shall not be liable for any con- tent or error in this translation. Adaptations—If you create an adaptation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with the attribution: This is an adaptation of an original work by The World Bank. Views and opinions expressed in the adaptation are the sole responsibility of the author or authors of the adaptation and are not endorsed by The World Bank. All images remain the sole property of their source and may not be used for any purpose without written permission from the source. Cover photos (left to right): © Vincent Tremeau/Ci-Dev, World Bank; © Nick Wambugu/Clean Cooking Alliance; © Jon Leary/MECS. Used with the permission of Vincent Tremeau/Ci-Dev, World Bank; Nick Wambugu/Clean Cooking Alliance; and Jon Leary/MECS. Further permission required for reuse. Cover and interior design: Debra Naylor, Naylor Design, Inc. B | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps ADVANCING GENDER-EQUAL BENEFITS IN CLEAN COOKING OPERATIONS Contents Acknowledgments  v Abbreviations  vi Glossary  vii Overview  1 Notes  3 References  3 PART 1. WHY INTEGRATING GENDER MATTERS   5 1. Gender-Differentiated Impacts of Traditional Technology Reliance   7 Key Impact Areas   7 Harm Mitigation and Spillover Benefits   9 Notes  10 References  11 2. Promoting Women’s Agency   13 Key Gender Norms and Behavior   13 Addressing the Gendered Aspects of Interventions   14 References  15 PART 2. WHAT OPPORTUNITIES CAN EMPOWER WOMEN?   17 3. Integrating Gender across the Value Chain   19 Design and Testing   20 Manufacture and Assembly   21 Wholesaling and Distribution   22 Marketing and Retailing   25 Fuel Supply and Distribution   29 After-Sales Support  29 Notes  30 References  31 4. Financing  33 Supplier-Side Models  33 Consumer-Side Models  34 Impact-Driven Models  37 Notes  37 References  37 ii | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps 5. Enabling Policies and Market Support   39 Policies, Regulations, and Standards Development   39 Research, Advocacy, and Market Intelligence   40 Awareness Raising to Stimulate Behavior Change and Uptake   42 Training, Capacity Strengthening, and Business Development   43 Note  45 References  45 PART 3. HOW TO DESIGN GENDER-RESPONSIVE PROJECTS   47 6. Practical Guidance for Task Teams   49 Analysis  49 Stakeholder Consultations  51 Safeguard Screening  54 Project Design  55 Monitoring, Verification, and Evaluation   57 Budget Issues and Human Resources   59 Notes  60 References  60 7. Closing the Gaps   63 References  63 Boxes O.1 The World Bank’s commitment to closing gaps   3 1.1 Improving women’s health induces higher productivity: Evidence from Indonesia’s fuel-switching program   10 3.1 Stove company’s competitive strategy puts women’s feedback front and center   20 3.2 Improving stove-user acceptability in Cambodia and Indonesia   21 3.3 Adapting production methods and training to fit women’s needs   22 3.4 Empowering female biogas masons: Lessons from a pilot project in Vietnam   23 3.5 Breaking gender norms is a “win-win” for a stove-company facility in Kenya   23 3.6 Social enterprise supports female micro-entrepreneurs by coordinating logistics   24 3.7 World Bank project experience with women’s wholesaler groups   24 3.8 Community-based organization leverages women’s network for product distribution   24 3.9 Private spinoff company supports rural women retailers through capacity building, wholesaler services, and logistics  25 3.10 Clean cooking TV and radio series reaches millions of viewers in Kenya   26 3.11 Demonstrated cash savings reduces perceived risk of product adoption   26 3.12 Men’s role in promoting widespread stove adoption in Honduras   27 3.13 Overlooking literacy can adversely impact stove transitions   28 3.14 Focus group discussions reveal gendered perceptions of clean cooking solutions   28 3.15 Nepal improved charcoal project recruits women in training and business creation   29 3.16 Women-led, niche LPG businesses in Ghana advance with the right support   30 4.1 Financing’s role in breaking barriers to women’s empowerment   35 4.2 Women’s savings groups in Kenya provide flexibility that formal institutions lack   35 4.3 Grameen Shakti tailors payment plans to technologies   36 5.1 RISE to benchmark progress in closing gender gaps in clean cooking   40 5.2 Ghana’s Second Lady uses her platform to promote adoption of clean cooking solutions   41 5.3 Testing hypotheses about female entrepreneurs’ effectiveness   41 5.4 Actionable business insights from working with female micro-entrepreneurs   42 5.5 Combining agency-based empowerment, business development services, and anchor-customer identification in Kenya   44 Contents | iii 5.6 The value of training women in technical stove skills   45 6.1 Checklist for integrating analysis issues into clean cooking and heating projects   50 6.2 Analytical work by the IMF highlights key areas for narrowing gender gaps   50 6.3 Gender analysis is not limited to the project design phase   52 6.4 Multilayer consultations in Pakistan   53 6.5 Stakeholder consultations identifying women’s needs spur a successful advocacy movement in Sudan   53 6.6 Setting and tracking targets for inclusive consultations: The first step in achieving balance   54 6.7 Corporate policies in Cambodian briquette business create an inclusive work environment for both women and men   55 6.8 MV&E: A design component of Clean Cooking Fund–financed projects   58 6.9 Using technical assistance funds to close gender gaps   60 Figures 1.1 Gender comparisons of time spent on cooking-related tasks for selected African countries   8 3.1 Promoting women’s empowerment across the value chains   19 6.1 Illustrative metrics spectrum for MV&E   57 Map O.1 The World Bank’s global presence in clean cooking and heating   2 iv | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps Acknowledgments This report provides World Bank task teams and the gender and The team is especially grateful to the many practitioners social development specialists that support them key argu- in the Clean Cooking Community of Practice who submitted ments, empirical evidence, and practical guidance on entry photographs to be considered for inclusion in the report. The points for integrating gender considerations into programs team also extends thanks to Jingyi Wu and Norma Adams for focused on clean cooking (and heating to a lesser extent). To managing the selection process. our knowledge, this is the first attempt to synthesize the avail- Finally, the financial support of ESMAP is gratefully acknowl- able knowledge on the subject, including best-practice case edged. ESMAP is a partnership between the World Bank and examples. development partners and private nonprofit organizations that The report was prepared by a team of the World Bank’s helps low- and middle-income countries reduce poverty and Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), led boost growth through sustainable energy solutions. ESMAP’s by Nathyeli Acuña Castillo (Gender Specialist) and Yabei Zhang analytical and advisory services are fully integrated within the (Senior Energy Specialist) and including Caroline Adongo World Bank’s country financing and policy dialogue in the Ochieng, Norma Adams, Inka Schomer, Jingyi Wu, Alisha energy sector. Through the World Bank Group (WBG), ESMAP Pinto, Jennye Greene, Ellen Morris, and Magi Matinga. The works to accelerate the energy transition required to achieve team appreciates overall guidance provided by ESMAP Prac- Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) to ensure access to tice Manager Gabriela Elizondo Azuela and the constructive affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. It feedback received from peer reviewers Dana Charron of the helps to shape WBG strategies and programs to achieve Inter- Berkeley Air Monitoring Group and Affouda Léon Biaou (Senior national Development Association (IDA) policy commitments Energy Specialist) and Helle Buchhave (Senior Social Develop- and the WBG Climate Change Action Plan targets. ment Specialist) of the World Bank. Norma Adams edited and coordinated production of the report, which was designed and typeset by Debra Naylor of Naylor Design, Inc. Acknowledgments | v Abbreviations ADALY averted disability-adjusted life year CCA Clean Cooking Alliance CCF Clean Cooking Fund CSI Clean Stove Initiative DALY disability-adjusted life year ECCH Efficient, Clean Cooking and Heating (program) ESS Environmental and Social Standards FGD focus group discussion FPIC Free, Prior, and Informed Consent GAP gender action plan HAP household air pollution ICR implementation completion report ICS improved cookstoves ISO International Organization for Standardization LMIC low- and middle-income countries LPG liquefied petroleum gas MECS Modern Energy Cooking Services MFI microfinance institution MTF Multi-Tier Framework MV&E monitoring, verification, and evaluation PAD project appraisal document PAYG pay-as-you-go PCN project concept note PM particulate matter RBF results-based financing SDG Sustainable Development Goal SEforALL Sustainable Energy for All SLCP short-lived climate pollutant SMEs small- and medium-sized enterprises VAWG violence against women and girls   vi | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps Glossary Agency—The capacity to make decisions about one’s own life Gender equality—Refers to how gender factors (i.e., the social, and act on them to achieve a desired outcome, free of vio- behavioral, and cultural attributes, expectations, and norms lence, retribution, or fear.a associated with being male or female) determine the ways in which women and men relate to each other and the resulting Clean Cooking Fund (CCF)—World Bank–hosted US$500 mil- differences in power between them.d lion fund launched by the Efficient, Clean Cooking and Heating (ECCH) Program at the UN 2019 Climate Summit to scale up Gender norms—Commonly accepted social or cultural rules investments in the clean cooking sector. that specify male and female characteristics, roles, acceptable behaviors, and capacities. Clean cooking solutions—Fuel-and-stove combinations that achieve emissions performance measurements of Tier 4 or Gender roles—A set of social norms that are considered appro- higher following ISO/TR 19867-3:2018 Voluntary Performance priate for a specific gender group. Targets (VPTs).b Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS)—Refers to a house- Efficient, Clean Cooking and Heating (ECCH)—World Bank– hold context that has met the standards of Tier 4 or higher supported program (2015–20) to advance the clean cooking across all six measurement attributes of the Multi-Tier Frame- agenda through technical advice and country/regional grants work for cooking: (i) convenience, (ii) (fuel) availability (a proxy to the World Bank’s operational teams. for reliability), (iii) safety, (iv) affordability, (v) efficiency, and (vi) exposure (a proxy for health related to exposure to pollutants Empowerment—Mechanism by which people, organizations, from cooking activities).e and communities gain mastery over their lives. Multi-Tier Framework (MTF) for cooking—Multidimensional, Gender-based violence (GBV)—Umbrella term for any harmful tiered approach to measuring household access to cooking act perpetrated against a person’s will that is based on socially solutions across six technical and contextual attributes with ascribed (i.e., gender) differences between males and females. detailed indicators and six thresholds of access, ranging from GBV includes acts that inflict physical, mental, or sexual harm Tier 0 (no access) to Tier 5 (full access). The aggregate MTF tier or suffering; threats of such acts; and coercion and other depri- is the lowest tier rating across the six attributes. vations of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.c Social norms—Collectively agreed-on standards and rules that most members of a group or society adhere to and accept. Note: The above definitions are generally consistent with those found in other World Bank publications or are otherwise consistent with the standard terminology applied in the clean cooking and gender field. Jeni Klugman, Lucia Hanmer, Sarah Twigg, Tazeen Hasan, Jennifer McCleary-Sills, and Julieth Santamaria; Voice and Agency: Empowering Women and Girls a.  for Shared Prosperity (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2014). b. World Health Organization (WHO), Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality: Household Fuel Combustion (Geneva: World Health Organization, 2014). nter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), “Gender-Smart Investing: Off-Grid Energy Case Study, Bidhaa Sasa.” https://www.icrw.org/wp-content/up- c. I loads/2018/12/ICRW_Bidhaa-Sasa_CaseStudy.pdf. d. World Bank, World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2012). e. Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP), The State of Access to Modern Energy Cooking Services (Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2020). Glossary | vii Hema Devi lives in India’s mountainous district of Nainital in Uttarakhand state, where maintaining robust supply chains is difficult. Hema’s biodigester provides a truly clean cooking fuel, substantially reducing her expenditure on LPG. © Karthick Prabakar/Inclusive Energy, Ltd. Used with the permission of Karthick Prabakar/Inclusive Energy, Ltd. Further permission required for reuse. viii | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps Overview At the current rate of ambition, the world will fall short of To accelerate the transition to clean cooking by 2030, the achieving Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) by 2030. World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Pro- Progress toward the target for access to clean cooking solu- gram (ESMAP) has established the US$500 million Clean tions (7.1.2) has been particularly slow, compared to those Cooking Fund (CCF). Building on the achievements of the for electricity access (7.1.1), renewable energy (SDG 7.2), and World Bank’s Efficient, Clean Cooking and Heating (ECCH) energy efficiency (SDG 7.3). According to the latest tracking Program (2015–20) (map O.1), the CCF was operational- report by the custodian agencies for SDG 7  (IEA et al. 2021), ized in 2020 to scale up commitments and public- and pri- 2.6 billion people were without access to clean cooking fuels vate-sector investments in the clean cooking sector. Under in 2019; between 2010 and 2019, annual growth in access its country/regional investment program, the CCF catalyzes kept pace only marginally with population growth. Further- technology and business innovations and links incentives more, about half of the global population—some 4 billion peo- with verified results, using results-based financing (RBF) ple—lack access to Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) approaches to co-finance International Development Asso- (ESMAP 2020a). In Sub-Saharan Africa, MECS access stands at ciation (IDA) operations. Under its global platform for knowl- just 10 percent and only 36 percent and 57 percent in East Asia edge, innovation, and policy coordination, the CCF supports and Latin America and the Caribbean, respectively. the development of methodologies to measure and monetize the gender co-benefits of clean cooking programs to sup- Slow progress toward access to clean cooking solutions has port impact investments (ESMAP 2020b), as well as global significant negative impacts on women (e.g., harm to health policy initiatives (e.g., the High-Level Coalition of Leaders for from disproportionate exposure to household air pollution Clean Cooking and the Health and Energy Platform of Action), [HAP]; safety hazards and risks to well-being; and the oppor- including organizations that work directly to address gender tunity costs of fuelwood collection, fuel preparation, and inef- gaps in energy access. ficient cooking). The gender cost of inaction, in the form of women’s lost productivity associated with time use, is esti- The success of such initiatives and future programs can be mated at US$0.8 trillion per year (ESMAP 2020a).1 Because enhanced by gaining a greater appreciation of the gender the SDGs are cross-cutting, slow progress on access to clean gaps in clean cooking and heating operations and knowledge cooking solutions for all also hinders progress toward meeting about how to bridge them. A portfolio review of 46 World the targets under related SDGs, particularly SDG 3 (ensuring Bank–financed projects (1989–2017) that included at least healthy lives and promoting universal well-being at all ages)2 one clean cooking component or subcomponent revealed and SDG 5 (achieving gender equality and empowering all that gender considerations were not always integrated into women and girls).3 project design or captured during evaluation (Tuntivate 2017), even though this had been required for projects predating this Overview | 1 MAP O.1  The World Bank’s global presence in clean cooking and heating, 2019a Europe and Central Asia: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan Middle East and East Asia and Pacific: North Africa: Cambodia, China, Latin America Egypt Federated States of and the Caribbean: Micronesia, Indonesia, Argentina, El Salvador, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Guatemala, Honduras, Myanmar Nicaragua South Asia Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal Sub-Saharan Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagas- car, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia Note: This map was produced by the Geospatial Operations Support Team (GOST) of the World Bank, and population data on access to clean cooking fuels and technologies was provided by the World Health Organization (WHO 2021). Under its ECCH Program, the World Bank’s active lending portfolio in clean cooking and heating increased to US$400 million across 21 countries. In addi- a.  tion to 13 country-specific projects, ESMAP has supported two regional cooking and heating programs in Africa and Central America. A global database of cookstove initiatives and players is available at energydata.info (ESMAP 2020c). period. If opportunities to close gender gaps are not articulated recognize women as both beneficiaries and agents of change. at a project’s outset, they will likely be missed owing to the sec- Part 2 stimulates task teams to think more broadly about the tor’s unique characteristics. The World Bank Group is commit- possible opportunities for advancing gender equality across the ted to addressing gender equality through its Gender Strategy value chain, drawing on the rich experience of the World Bank’s (FY 2016–23) and project-level Gender Tag (box O.1). However, active lending portfolio, as well as best-case practices from pri- guidance is needed to ensure that operations in cooking and vate-sector initiatives and the literature on clean cooking and heating energy are fully aligned with these goals and the path- gender. Based on lessons from these empirical findings, Part ways through which they can be achieved. 3 suggests practical steps for tailoring projects to the distinct This report introduces World Bank task teams and other needs of women and men and thus increasing the likelihood of practitioners to the key arguments, opportunities, and practical (i) reducing gaps in asset ownership and human endowments steps for integrating gender considerations into clean cook- and (ii) capitalizing on growth opportunities.4 ing programs. Part 1 presents the supporting arguments that 2 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps BOX O.1 The World Bank’s commitment to closing gaps The World Bank Group’s Gender Strategy (FY 2016–23) areas and identify actions critical to achieving this. The supports the commitment of the UN Sustainable Devel- Gender Tag also helps to capture lessons based on the opment Goals (SDGs) to achieving gender equality and the World Bank’s work in addressing gender inequalities. empowerment of women and girls (SDG 5). It clarifies the Specifically, the Gender Tag requests that project teams World Bank’s pathways to empowering women as pass- (i) identify gaps between women and men and/or girls and ing through (i) human endowments, (ii) more and better boys, especially in light of the gaps identified in the Sys- jobs, (iii) women’s ownership and control of assets, and (iv) tematic Country Diagnostic and the Country Partnership women’s voice(s) and agency. Framework; (ii) identify specific actions to address these At the project level, the Gender Tag ensures that, from identified gender gaps and/or improve women’s or men’s the project design stage, the World Bank’s staff can opti- empowerment; and (iii) include indicators in the results mize opportunities to narrow the gender gap between framework to monitor outcomes from the specific actions males and females in all four of the above-mentioned identified to address them. Notes References 1. This figure does not include deaths or disability-adjusted life years ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program). 2020a. The State (DALYs) linked to HAP. Even though the cost of women’s time is conser- of Access to Modern Energy Cooking Services.  Washington, DC: World vatively estimated (US$0.54 per hour), the value of their time spent on Bank Group. cooking-related tasks and drudgery is quite high (ESMAP 2020a). ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program). 2020b. Quantify- 2. Reducing smoke emissions from cooking decreases the burden of ing and Measuring Climate, Health, and Gender Co-Benefits from Clean disease associated with HAP and improves well-being, especially for Cooking Interventions: Methodologies Review. Washington, DC: World women and children. Bank. 3. Unpaid work, including collecting fuel and cooking, remains a major ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program). 2020c. Access to cause of gender inequality. Target 5.4 specifically aims to recognize and Modern Energy Cooking Services: Players and Initiatives Database. World value unpaid care and domestic work through the provision of public Bank, Washington, DC. services and infrastructure. IEA, IRENA, UNSD, WBG, WHO (International Energy Agency, Internation- 4. The report is to be accompanied by a toolkit to facilitate quick informa- al Renewable Energy Agency, United Nations Statistics Division, World tion access by practitioners. Bank Group, World Health Organization). 2021. Tracking SDG 7: The Energy Progress Report. Washington, DC: World Bank Group. Tuntivate, Voravate. 2017. “Review of Gender-Specific Impacts and Oppor- tunities on Efficient, Clean Cooking and Heating Projects Financed by the World Bank.” Unpublished draft, April 27. WHO (World Health Organization). 2021. “Global Health Observatory.” World Health Organization, Geneva. https://www.who.int/data/gho/ data/themes/air-pollution/household-air-pollution. Overview | 3 Cooking a meal indoors in rural India. © Curt Carnemark/World Bank. Further permission required for reuse. PART 1 Why Integrating Gender Matters Gender-Differentiated Impacts of 1.  Traditional Technology Reliance 2.  Promoting Women’s Agency In the Bono East region of Ghana, a woman stands by a biomass stove with a large metal surface pan to process cassava grits (gari). Women spend 6–8 hours a day processing this staple food, putting the health of themselves and their children at risk. © Omolola Oyinkan Adeshina. Used with the permission of Omolola Oyinkan Adeshina. Further permission required for reuse. 1 Gender-Differentiated Impacts of Traditional Technology Reliance The rights-based argument for taking a gendered approach to analysis of seven African countries, women assume a dispro- clean cooking programs has been the cornerstone of cook- portionate share of responsibility for cooking, at an average stove interventions for several decades. It recognizes how the of 2.7 hours per day compared to 0.35 hours per day for men experience of being male or female influences individuals’ rela- (figure 1.1). Equalizing the time and effort spent on such unpaid tionships to cooking technologies and their potential negative work could help equalize wage labor participation rates, theo- impacts on end users. Because social norms in many devel- retically shrinking income gaps between women and men. oping countries assign women the primary responsibility for household cooking and fuelwood collection, the impacts of Drudgery relying on traditional stove-and-fuel combinations are unevenly Work performed that is perceived as repetitive, physically labo- distributed by gender. Likewise, the perceived benefits of clean rious, and difficult, as well as time consuming, is referred to as cooking interventions are also gender-differentiated. drudgery. In many developing countries, women bear a dispro- portionate share of any drudgery burden related to household cooking. Although closely linked to time poverty, drudgery Key Impact Areas should be separately assessed since some time-consuming, cooking-related tasks may not be perceived as unenjoyable Time Poverty (e.g., socializing during communal cooking).2 Drudgery can A global study by McKinsey & Company (2015) reports that 75 result from traveling long distances or navigating difficult ter- percent of the world’s total unpaid work (e.g., cooking, fire- rain to collect fuels (e.g., firewood or coal). It may also encom- wood collection, and fetching water) is done by women. The pass fuel processing (e.g., making dung cakes or chopping unpaid work associated with domestic cooking falls into three wood), actual stove use (e.g., lighting, flame control, and fire main categories of time spent on (i) gathering and preparing management), and post-cooking clean-up chores (e.g., scrub- fuel, (ii) food preparation and cooking, and (iii) cleaning uten- bing sooty pots and utensils, stoves, fireplaces, walls, and ceil- sils and the cooking and eating areas. World Bank data from ings; washing clothes). more than 70 time-use surveys across various geographies shows that fuel collection is a significant time-opportunity cost Health Burden of Household Air Pollution for rural households, consuming an average of 1.3 hours per The health impacts from household air pollution (HAP) associ- day (ranging from 30 minutes to more than 6 hours) (ESMAP ated with smoke emissions from traditional cookstoves are well 2015a).1 According to assessments by the United Nations High established. According to 2012 burden-of-disease estimates, Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for Central and East exposure to HAP accounted for some 4.3 million premature Africa, women in refugee communities walk an average of deaths each year (WHO 2016), with women and children more than 5 hours per trip to collect firewood for cooking and accounting for more than 60 percent (WHO 2021). Millions heating (HEDON 2016). Based on data from the World Bank more suffer from serious illnesses caused by air pollution from Gender-Differentiated Impacts of Traditional Technology Reliance | 7 FIGURE 1.1 Gender comparisons of time spent on cooking-related tasks for selected African countries a. Fuelwood collection (minutes per day) b. Cooking (hours per day) 20 2.35 Guinea 3 Burkina Faso 0.10 Malawi 19 3 2.41 Tanzania 16 0.28 Benin 4 1.31 9 Guinea Tanzania 0.04 5 6 Lesotho 3.73 Burkina Faso 2 1.48 South Africa 6 3 1.34 Malawi 0.20 Ghana 37 30 3.21 Rwanda c 7 0.08 12 7 Ethiopia 4.57 Ethiopia (Tigray) 100 (Tigray) 0.29 Women Men Source: ESMAP 2015b. Note: Countries where the fuel-collection responsibility is assumed mainly by men (Ethiopia) or more equally shared by men and women (Ghana) reflect contextual differences in cultural norms and practices that even vary within country. Such findings underscore the importance of understanding the local context when designing projects. cooking and heating with traditional stoves and fuels. In low- water collection (MSF 2005). A study of refugee camps in and middle-income countries (LMIC), the rates of chronic Uganda and Chad showed that, over a six-month period, obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among non-smoking 41 percent and 42 percent of households, respectively, women are quite high. In fact, women exposed to high levels reported incidences of violence during firewood collection of indoor smoke are more than twice as likely to suffer from (UNHCR 2014).3 COPD as their counterparts who use cleaner stove technolo- • Physiological injury from transporting large fuel quantities. gies and fuels (WHO 2018). In LMIC, HAP is the single leading Heavy firewood loads, often weighing more than 20 kg per environmental health risk and a main cause of stroke, lung can- load, can contribute to chronic musculoskeletal injuries and cer, and heart disease among women. In Kenya, for example, possibly poor maternal health outcomes, including miscar- women’s exposure to particulate matter (PM) emissions from riages and obstructed labor (Echarri and Forriol 2002, 2005; cooking-related activities is estimated at four times that of Ravindran, Savitri, and Bhovani 2000; WHO 2016) (photo 1.1). men, while in South Asia women experience double the expo- sure levels of men (WHO 2016). • Physical accidents from safety hazards. These include burns, fires, blunt trauma, and explosions from cooking and heating Safety Hazards and Risks to Well-Being appliances. In Malawi, a study assessing the health impacts of The gender-differentiated risks associated with household use traditional fires observed several incidences of burns among of traditional cooking and heating practices fall into the follow- women and children (Mortimer et al. 2017). The study found ing categories: that households that used an advanced biomass stove expe- rienced a 40 percent reduction in burn incidences. In India, • Violence or exploitation in the course of acquiring fuels. it was reported that women represented 82 percent of vic- Various humanitarian agencies have reported risks to per- tims from LPG cooking-stove explosions (Philip 2013). And sonal safety during firewood collection. For example, in in Kenya, it was found that women were the most likely vic- Darfur, Sudan, 500 rapes over a five-year period reportedly tims of kerosene stove explosions (Ombati, Ndaguatha, and occurred outside villages and camps when women had to Wanjeri 2013). undertake indispensable activities, including firewood and 8 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps PHOTO 1.1  Collecting fuelwood in rural Rwanda © David Bittner/Ci-Dev, World Bank. Further permission required for reuse. • Intimate partner violence. Women are often the cooks and ing cooking fuels, including their purchase, often within tight a bad meal can have serious consequences. Not having budgetary constraints. Women have been reported to make food ready on time is among the widely reported triggers of significant trade-offs to acquire cooking fuels and stoves, intimate partner violence (Heise, Ellsberg, and Gottmoeller including foregoing purchases of food and clothes; they com- 2002). In a survey across 41 developing countries, 21 per- monly report financial savings as a benefit of adopting more cent of the women interviewed believed it was acceptable efficient cooking systems (ESMAP 2021). or justifiable for a woman to be beaten if they burned food (World Bank 2012). Disagreements over cooking and heat- ing expenditures can pose added risks. Harm Mitigation and Spillover Benefits Household Expenditure The potential of clean stove interventions to mitigate the harm For households reliant on traditional cooking solutions, energy derived from the use of polluting stove-and-fuel combina- expenditure can have a large economic impact, particularly in tions is influenced by a variety of factors, including the stove poor urban areas, where families may spend up to 15–20 per- technology, fuel availability, level of traditional stove displace- cent of their monthly income on cooking fuels (e.g., charcoal) ment, and household cooking practices, among others. Cook- (ESMAP 2019). High fuel costs result from inefficient stove- stove programs also vary in the prioritization of their impact and-fuel combinations, along with the inability to purchase objectives (e.g., gender equality, better health, or cleaner cli- fuels in bulk in order to benefit from economies of scale. In mate) and performance against them. For example, a biogas many settings, gender norms assign women the role of acquir- stove intervention may achieve maximum health benefits but Gender-Differentiated Impacts of Traditional Technology Reliance | 9 increase women’s fuel preparation time. Such evidence has consumers’ willingness to adopt a specific technology, among been synthesized in systematic reviews, including a recent one others (ESMAP 2015b). Thus, any cookstove intervention pro- conducted by the World Bank (ESMAP 2021). While individual gram should incorporate its own evaluation at the design stage study results have been mixed, the overall evidence shows to confirm its benefits for women and men (Part 3). positive impacts on prioritized gender outcomes (e.g., wom- Beyond the hypothesized outcomes of clean cooking inter- en’s time use and self-reported well-being) but less impact on ventions, studies have reported unintended spillover effects, objectively measured health outcomes (e.g., chronic respi- both positive and negative. The Indonesia Kerosene-to-LPG ratory conditions). One exception is Indonesia’s large-scale, Conversion Program, for example, found a 13 percent increase clean-fuel transition program (box 1.1). in men’s labor supply following the switch to clean cooking. Mitigating the harmful effects of polluting cookstoves has The program evaluation attributes this increase to a positive no one-size-fits-all solution. What works in one setting may spillover effect from improvement in women’s health and its not be transferable to others. The impact of cooking solu- effect on intra-household division of labor. Although research tions will vary based on market circumstances and the social is scant, some evidence suggests that, when households use impact deemed most important. Even when the relative ben- clean cooking technologies and/or fuels, men are more likely efits of solutions are clear, extrapolating from the features of to cook. In South Africa, this was observed in rural areas (Mat- an individual stove to the potential market-level impact is dif- inga 2010), as well as urban areas (Annecke 2005), after house- ficult due to such factors as stove and fuel affordability and holds switched to electric cooking. The removal of arduous fire-management requirements and the elimination of smoke emissions were key factors in men’s engagement (Matinga BOX 1.1 2010). Similarly, in Uganda (Kabarole Resouce and Research Centre 2013) and Nepal (Meeks 2021), cases were noted of men’s engagement in cooking after households accessed bio- Improving women’s health gas. At the 2019 Clean Cooking Forum in Nairobi, the Kenya induces higher productivity: Power and Lighting Company reported men to have shown Evidence from Indonesia’s enthusiasm and interest in cooking during electric cooking fuel-switching program demonstrations. As men have rarely been the target group of cookstove promotion efforts and programs (Ochieng et al. A recent evaluation of Indonesia’s government-led 2021), these unintended positive benefits are of considerable Kerosene-to-LPG Conversion Program, based on interest and warrant more systematic evaluations. a longitudinal survey spanning more than 14 years (2000, 2007, and 2014), reports positive outcomes for women’s health and labor supply. The improvement Notes in women’s lung capacity over a three-year period 1. One should note that the data referred to was not disaggregated by gen- was about 4 percent,a which was correlated with a der group. However, given that men and boys collect fuels in some parts 20 percent increase in their work hours. According to of the developing world, it is hoped that future studies can provide such granular data. the evaluation, an even larger impact can be expected 2. This is an area that warrants further investigation across settings. among women in households that transition from tra- 3. It must be acknowledged that sexual violence is a complex issue that ditional biomass to LPG. technological solutions alone are unlikely to solve. The World Bank, with its partners, has developed a resource guide for staff and member coun- Sources: Thoday et al. 2018; Verma and Imelda 2021. tries that provides basic information on the characteristics and conse- a.  The evaluation found no statistically significant improvement in quences of violence against women and girls (VAWG); how to integrate men’s lung capacity, which is consistent with the hypothesis that VAWG prevention and provide quality services for survivors; and how to women, who spend most of their time indoors engaged in house- integrate VAWG strategies into policies, legislation, programs, and proj- hold chores and cooking, should accrue the greatest health benefit. ects. The World Bank has created a task force to strengthen the institu- tional risk response to gender-based violence (GBV) (World Bank 2017a) and an action plan to prevent and respond to all types of GBV across its operations (World Bank 2017b). 10 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps References Annecke, W. 2005. “Whose Turn Is It to Cook Tonight? Changing Gender MSF (Médicins sans Frontières). 2005. The Crushing Burden of Rape: Relations in a South African Township.” Cape Town, South Africa: Col- Sexual Violence in Darfur. Amsterdam: Médicins sans Frontières. https:// laborative Research Group on Gender and Energy and United Kingdom www.msf.org/rape-and-sexual-violence-ongoing-darfur-sudan. Department for International Development. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/ Ochieng, C. A., U. Murray, J. Owuor, and C. Spillane. 2021. “The Forgotten viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1012.9717&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Half: Men’s Influence over Cookstove Adoption Decisions in Northern Echarri, J., and F. Forriol. 2002. “Effect of Axial Load on the Cervical Spine: Kenya.” Energy Research & Social Science 74 (April): 101913. https://doi. A Study of Congolese Woodbearers.” International Orthopaedics org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.101913. (SICOT) 26: 141–41. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-002-0336-6. Ombati, Alex N., Peter L. W. Ndaguatha, and Joseph K. Wanjeri. 2013. “Risk Echarri, J., and F. Forriol. 2005. “Influence of the Type of Load on the Factors for Kerosene Stove Explosion Burns Seen at Kenyatta National Cervical Spine: A Study on Congolese Bearers.” U.S. National Library of Hospital in Kenya.” Burns 39 (3): 501–6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. Medicine 5 (3): 291–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spinee.2004.09.010. burns.2012.07.008. ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program). 2015a. Beyond Philip, Christin Matthew. 2013. “LPG Cylinder Is a Ticking Bomb in Connections: Energy Access Redefined. Technical Report 008/15. State.” The Times of India, July 15. https://timesofindia.indiatimes. Washington, DC: World Bank. com/city/chennai/LPG-cylinder-is-a-ticking-bomb-in-state/article- ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program). 2015b. The State show/14683460.cms. of the Global Clean and Improved Cooking Sector. Technical Report Ravindran, T. K. S., R. Savitri, and A. Bhovani. 2000. “Women’s Experiences 007/15. Washington, DC: World Bank. of Utero-vaginal Prolapse: A Qualitative Study from Tamil Nadu, India.” ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program). 2019. Beyond In Safe Motherhood Initiatives: Critical Issues, edited by M. Berer and T. Connections: Kenya Energy Access Diagnostic Report Based on the K. S. Ravindran, 166-72. Oxford: Blackwell Science. Multi-Tier Framework. Washington, DC: World Bank Group. Thoday, K., P. Benjamin, M. Gan, and Elisa Puzzolo. 2018. “The Mega Con- ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program). 2021. What version Program from Kerosene to LPG in Indonesia: Lessons Learned Drives the Transition to Modern Energy Cooking Services?: A Systematic and Recommendations for Future Clean Cooking Energy Expansion.” Review of the Evidence. ESMAP Technical Report 015/21. Washington, Energy for Sustainable Development 46 (October): 71–81. https://doi. DC: World Bank Group. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/ org/10.1016/j.esd.2018.05.011. en/518251613714281312/What-Drives-the-Transition-to-Modern-Ener- UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). 2014. “Statisti- gy-Cooking-Services-A-Systematic-Review-of-the-Evidence. cal Snapshot: Access to Improved Cookstoves and Fuels and Its Impact HEDON. 2016. “Energy in Emergency Settings.” Boiling Point, Issue 68. on Women’s Safety in Crises.” Statistical Snapshot. Washington, DC: Chislehurst, UK: HEDON Household Energy Network. Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. https://cleancookstoves.org/ Heise, L., M. Ellsberg, and M. Gottmoeller. 2002. “A Global Overview binary-data/ATTACHMENT/file/000/000/331-1.pdf. of Gender-based Violence.” International Journal of Gynecology & Verma, Anjali P., and I. Imelda. 2021. “Clean Energy Access: Gender Dispar- Obstetrics 78: S5–14. ity, Health, and Labor Supply.” EconPapers, January 9. https://EconPa- Kabarole Research and Resource Centre. 2013. “A Case Study: Gender and pers.repec.org/RePEc:cte:werepe:29397. Workload in Biogas Adoption, Uganda.” Fort Portal, Uganda: Kabarole WHO (World Health Organization). 2016. Burning Opportunity: Clean Research and Resource Centre. https://www.academia.edu/ Household Energy for Health, Sustainable Development, and Wellbeing 13070251/A_CASE_STUDY_GENDER_AND_WORKLOAD_IN_BIOGAS_ of Women and Children. Geneva: World Health Organization. http:// ADOPTION_UGANDA?auto=download. apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/204717/9789241565233_eng. Matinga, M. N. 2010. “We Grow Up with It: An Ethnographic Study of the pdf;jsessionid=330D08AEF97139ABDF4CE297AEB0C72A?sequence=1. Experiences, Perceptions and Responses to the Health Impacts of WHO (World Health Organization). 2018. “Household Air Pollution and Energy Acquisition and Use in Rural South Africa.” PhD diss., University Health: Key Facts.” Geneva: World Health Organization. https://www. of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands. https://core.ac.uk/download/ who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and- pdf/11478758.pdf. health#:~:text=One%20in%20four%20or%2025,use%20cleaner%20 McKinsey & Company. 2015. The Power of Parity: How Advancing fuels%20and%20technologies. Women’s Equality Can Add $12 Trillion in Global Growth. https://www. WHO (World Health Organization). 2021. “Household Air Pollution Is a mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/how-ad- Gender Issue.” Geneva: World Health Organization. https://www.who. vancing-womens-equality-can-add-12-trillion-to-global-growth. int/life-course/news/household-air-pollution/en/. Meeks, R. 2021. “Exploring Renewable Biogas Energy in Nepal.” News. World Bank. 2012. World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Ann Arbor: School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Development. Washington, DC: World Bank. Michigan. https://seas.umich.edu/news/exploring-renewable-bio- World Bank. 2017a. Working Together to Prevent Sexual Exploitation gas-energy- and Abuse. Report of the Global Gender-Based Violence Task Force. nepal. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/482251502095751999/ Mortimer, Kevin, Chifundo Ndamala, Andrew Naunje, Jullita Malava, pdf/117972-WP-PUBLIC-recommendations.pdf. Cynthia Katundu, and William Weston, et al. 2017. “A Cleaner Burning World Bank. 2017b. “Global Gender-Based Violence Task Force: Action Biomass-Fuelled Cookstove Intervention to Prevent Pneumonia in Chil- Plan for Implementation.” http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/ dren under 5 Years Old in Rural Malawi (the Cooking and Pneumonia 206731510166266845/pdf/121031-WP-PUBLIC-Gender-Based-Vio- Study): A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial.” The Lancet 389 (10065): lence-Task-Force-Action-Plan.pdf. 167–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)32507-7. Gender-Differentiated Impacts of Traditional Technology Reliance | 11 Understanding women’s unique cooking practices and preferences can shed light on which technical solutions may increase household uptake of clean cooking solutions over the long term. © Clean Cooking Alliance. Used with permission of the Clean Cooking Alliance. Further permission required for reuse. 2 Promoting Women’s Agency A key argument for integrating gender considerations into Energy Efficiency Management clean cooking interventions is enhancing women’s agency As consumers, women may be more sustainability oriented (e.g., by providing opportunities for their employment and than men. The European Institute for Gender Equality, for access to capital). Increasingly, the clean cooking sector per- example, reported that women are more likely to value ener- ceives women as vital participants in market expansion. By gy-efficient fuels and change their behavior to achieve ener- undestanding and harnessing the influence of context-specific gy-efficiency goals (EIGE 2012). In Bandung, Indonesia, a study gender and social norms to empower women as both con- of household electricity and LPG use showed that energy con- sumers and suppliers of clean cooking solutions, intervention sumption was lowest in households where women were the strategies are more likely to succeed. sole decision-makers for energy expenditure, suggesting that they may be more efficient energy managers (Permana, Aziz, and Siong 2015). Key Gender Norms and Behavior Decision-Making Power Product Preferences and Uptake Women may not always have decision-making autonomy Because cooking practices are usually passed down across about whether to adopt clean cooking technologies. In Ban- generations, introducing clean cooking technologies could gladesh, Miller and Mobarak (2011) found that women had a disrupt some of the most intimate and emotive of human tra- stronger preference for health-improving cookstoves than did ditions. Also, women’s and men’s preferences for clean cook- men, but lacked the decision-making power to purchase them. ing and heating products, as well as other household energy A World Bank study in Indonesia revealed a similar pattern; services, may differ; in turn, those products and services may while women did most of the cooking, men made the pur- have gender-differentiated impacts. Many of the early pro- chasing decisions and were less willing to pay for the improved grams promoting clean cooking solutions failed because they cookstoves (World Bank 2015). did not consult the primary stove users, who were usually women (Kammen 1995). Understanding gender norms and Effect of Non-Energy Gender Norms male-female relationships at the household, community, and How women and men access and benefit from clean cooking national level can shed light on which technical solutions, busi- and heating technologies is also affected by gender norms out- ness models, and program and policy frameworks are the best side the energy sector. For example, women’s limited mobility fit (photo 2.1). and access to information may constrain their knowledge and adoption of modern fuels (Cecelski and Matinga 2014). Promoting Women’s Agency | 13 PHOTO 2.1  Demonstrating the convenience of LPG for nighttime cooking in the Democratic Republic of Congo © Bboxx Capital RDC. Used with the permission of Bboxx Capital RDC. Further permission required for reuse. Addressing the Gendered Aspects of men and women and male-female relationships, targeted Interventions research would be necessary. Better communication with stakeholder groups can also help to manage expectations, For all of the above-mentioned reasons, the gendered aspects build community consensus, and mitigate backlash such as of clean cooking and heating interventions should be consid- that exemplified by the West Africa project. ered across the project cycle, as follows: • Reduce pre-existing gender gaps. The expansion of well- • Understand the degree to which projects are equitable in functioning markets, accompanied by sustained adop- their distribution of impacts. This can include the appor- tion and use of the new cooking technology, may have an tionment of jobs; income and asset building among proj- unintended benefit of reducing gender gaps. Integrating ect participants; or the opportunity to access skills training, gender-equality approaches (e.g., targeted measures to capacity building, or other means of increasing human increase the number of women in fuel production or other endowments. To illustrate, a project in West Africa promot- areas of the value chain where they are severely underrep- ing improved fish-smokers had to deal with resentment resented) can increase women’s capacity for income gen- and backlash from men in the community who supplied eration, reduce household expenditures, and even change women the fish for smoking; the men believed the project intra-household power relations. But these benefits are accorded the bulk of its benefits to women while ignoring not automatic. Rather, they are sensitive to the business their plight (Goetz 1989). To gain a deeper understanding and program choices made and depend highly on the local of the differential impacts of clean cooking projects on context (Part 3). If executed wisely, they can help maximize 14 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps the degree to which pre-existing gaps between women References and men may be reduced. Cecelski, E., and M. Matinga. 2014. Cooking with Gas: Why Women in • Leverage women’s power to achieve performance objec- Developing Countries Want LPG and How They Can Get It. Dublin: World LPG Gas Association (WLPGA). tives. Women are proving vital to the expansion of the clean EIGE (European Institute for Gender Equality). 2012. Review of the cooking market through applying their household experi- Implementation in the EU of Area K of the Beijing Platform for Action: ence as users and managers of cookstove technologies and Women and the Environment—Gender Equality and Climate Change. Vilnius, Lithuania: European Institute for Gender Equality. http://eige. leveraging their social networks to effectively sell products. europa.eu/sites/default/files/documents/Gender-Equality-and-Cli- For example, Shankar, Onyura, and Alderman (2015) found mate-Change-Report.pdf. that women outsold men by a factor of three when both Goetz, A.-M. 1989. “Misbehaving Policy: A Feminist Analysis of Assump- tions Informing a Project for Women Fish-smokers in Guinea.” Paper groups were trained on empowerment-based agency. They presented to the Canadian Association of Africa Scholars Annual Meet- also found that consumers who purchased cookstoves from ing, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. women were more likely to use the stoves consistently and Kammen. Daniel M. 1995. “Cookstoves for the Developing World.” Scien- tific American, 273 (1): 72–75. correctly. Women represent a large, untapped market to sell Miller, G., and A. M. Mobarak. 2011. “Intra-household Externalities and Low into, and when those purchases are financed (e.g., through Demand for a New Technology: Experimental Evidence on Improv- ed Cookstoves.” https://www.cleancookingalliance.org/resources_files/ microfinance institutions [MFIs]), female clientele often have intra-household-externalities.pdf. better repayment rates. Permana, Ariva Sugandi, Norsiah Abd. Aziz, and Ho Chin Siong. 2015. “Is Mom Energy Efficient? A Study of Gender, Household Energy Consumption and Family Decision Making in Indonesia.” Energy Research & Social Science 6 (March): 78–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. erss.2014.12.007. Shankar, Anita, Mary Alice Onyura, and Jessica Alderman. 2015. “Agen- cy-Based Empowerment Training Enhances Sales Capacity of Female Energy Entrepreneurs in Kenya.” Journal of Health Communication 20: 67–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2014.1002959. World Bank. 2015. Stoves, Fuels, and Cooking Practices on Sumba Island, Indonesia: Findings and Recommendations of Qualitative Field Research. East Asia and Pacific (EAP) Gender Facility and Clean Stove Initiative (CSI). Washington, DC: World Bank. Promoting Women’s Agency | 15 In Mozambique, Green 66 sales team members receive training on the benefits of bioethanol stoves and fuels. © Mauro Vombe/Clean Cooking Alliance. Used with the permission of Mauro Vombe/Clean Cooking Alliance. Further permission required for reuse. PART 2 What Opportunities Can Empower Women? 3. Integrating Gender across the Value Chain 4. Financing 5. Enabling Policies and Market Support In Maputo, Mozambique, a Green 66 ambassador describes the benefits of cooking with bioethanol fuel to a potential customer. © Mauro Vombre/Clean Cooking Alliance. Used with the permission of Mauro Vombe/Clean Cooking Alliance. Further permission required for reuse. 3 Integrating Gender across the Value Chain Increasingly, clean cooking and heating initiatives offer a range Lusardi, and van Oudheusden 2015). Because women tend to of opportunities for contributing to women’s socioeconomic spend more of their incomes on consumables, they may have empowerment. Women can benefit by leveraging their exist- fewer durable assets than men for investing in their businesses. ing skills as traditional managers and users of household cook- In addition, women may suffer from time poverty resulting ing and heating technologies, for instance, as co-designers of from additional hours spent on unpaid household work. stoves or sales agents. They can also benefit from employment This chapter provides a detailed discussion of opportunities in non-traditional areas of the value chains as stove metal- for women’s engagement across six stages of the clean stove workers, installers, and inspectors, among other roles. Figure product and service cycle: (i) design and testing, (ii) manufacture 3.1 illustrates hypothetical pathways for gender intergration in and assembly, (iii) wholesaling and distribution, (iv) marketing Efficient, Clean Cooking and Heating (ECCH) value chains and and retailing, (v) fuel supply and distribution, and (vi) after-sales the outcomes that could be realized through this type of inter- service. Some stages feature overlapping opportunities (e.g., a gration. distributor might be involved in direct sales and after-sales ser- In reality however, women entrepreneurs often face a range vice or a manufacturer might also provide supplier or consumer of barriers to entering emerging value chains related to cook- finance). For each stage, the relevance of gender integration is stove and heating appliances. Compared to men, women may interspersed with examples of initiatives that have successfully have lower financial literacy and access to finance (Klapper, identified or optimized such opportunities. FIGURE 3.1 Promoting women’s empowerment across the value chains Involvement of women in ECCH value chains Instruments of empowerment Outcomes of empowerment • Leaders of organizations • Employment • Agency involved in the sector • Income • Social status • Selection, design, and testing of • Marketable skills • Control over resources products • Business and social networks • Decision-making • Production of equipment or fuels • Distribution, retailing, and ser- • Assets • Confidence vicing • Access to capital • Autonomy • Financing of businesses or consumers Source: Adapted from GACC and ICRW 2016. Integrating Gender across the Value Chain | 19 Design and Testing Stove testing informs product design (or selection) and also collects critical data related to performance and use that are Once outside the laboratory, cooking solutions become em- helpful proxies when estimating impacts. Also, testing is some- meshed in complex human behavioral patterns. Design and times necessary for government regulation of stove products. testing aim to optimize the theoretical and actual performance Technical tests for harmful emissions, fuel efficiency, heat trans- of cooking technologies (subject to relevant constraints) and fer, and cooking times are typically undertaken in laboratory often form an iterative cycle in the product development pro- settings. These are complemented by field-based performance cess. Including women and men in successive design stages can tests. Earlier stove programs that relied heavily on laboratory help tailor stove products and services to their habits and needs, testing failed to achieve the anticipated performance levels ultimately contributing to successful adoption (photo 3.1). Owing to their traditional roles as primary users and man- PHOTO 3.1  Cooking-diaries study participants in Kenya agers of cooking technologies, women’s input in the design process is critical (box 3.1). In Kenya, for example, including women end-users’ feedback led to the development of trans- lucent LPG cylinders, which allowed for the visual monitor- ing of gas levels, thereby avoiding running out of gas without warning during meal preparation. The redesigned cylinders were also lightweight so that women could easily carry them. The success of the widely adopted Kenyan Ceramic Jiko has been attributed, in part, to co-design with women, who sug- gested widening the stove base to improve stability (Kammen 1995). In Lucknow, India, women’s feedback on the Mina stove design resulted in modifications that improved affordability, combustion, and ease of use (by including an accessory for © Jon Leary/MECS. Used with the permission of Jon Leary/MECS. Further permission cooking chapati, a traditional flatbread) (Rouse 2002). required for reuse. BOX 3.1 Stove company’s competitive strategy puts women’s feedback front and center EcoZoom Ltd produces centrally manufactured stoves, ciency and emissions. Engineering drawings based on the which are distributed in Haiti, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, modified design are made, and the stove is manufactured. Senegal, and Zambia, among other countries. To ensure EcoZoom then pilots 100–500 units. It also holds one- women’s concerns are integrated into its product design, on-one discussions with users to solicit feedback (both the company follows a five-step process. It starts by positive and negative) for further product improvement. assessing fuel consumption and expense patterns, meals As of 2014, more than 230 women had participated in the cooked, pots used, and available options and impacts, company’s product design process. among other variables. A functional prototype is then In Mexico, women’s feedback was used to improve the designed and tested in the laboratory. Once efficiency and durability, safety, and convenience of EcoZoom stoves (i.e., emissions performance levels are considered acceptable, by adding accessories that included solid slates with silicon the stove is field-tested with women users to solicit their handles and a tray to improve ash removal). By 2014, the feedback. Women’s feedback is ensured through single- company had moved from piloting 10,000 stoves to sell- and mixed-gender focus group discussions (FGDs), con- ing more than 22,000 units. Women’s feedback was also trolled cooking tests (CCTs), home trials, and stove pilots. instrumental in helping EcoZoom select Kenya as the lead Based on the women’s feedback and co-design, Eco- market for its product and develop locally relevant brand Zoom modifies the stove without compromising effi- names in Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, and Rwanda. Source: EcoZoom 2013. 20 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps in the field. User acceptability testing conducted in the field is Social norms and hesitancy of past programs to challenge critical for understanding what users—usually women—like and gender roles in the production, assembly, and installation do not like about the new technology. Such acceptability stud- of clean cooking and heating solutions mean that women ies allow stove programs to select the stoves that women and often miss out on jobs with higher earning potential. Gender men would actually use and not just the ones that perform well gaps persist especially in sheet metalworking, welding, and under controlled conditions (box 3.2).1 soldering; masonry for building biogas plants; and assem- bly of boilers/furnaces and solar water heaters; among other areas. Emerging best practices in integrating more women Manufacture and Assembly into traditionally male-dominated trades include identifying women’s existing skills that can be leveraged to facilitate Both artisanal and factory production of stove technologies their entry into clean stove production, while, at the same and fuels present an opportunity for women’s integration into time, supporting their pursuit of new skills and opportunities the clean-cooking value chain. At present, however, women (photo 3.2, box 3.4). are underrepresented, particularly in factory production. As Promoting gender-equal emloyment opportunities and artisans, women tend to focus on making clay liners, leveraging women-friendly workplace environments is an opportunity for their traditional role as ceramicists (box 3.3). closing the gender gaps in the clean cooking sector (box 3.5). BOX 3.2 Improving stove-user acceptability in Cambodia and Indonesia Two recent World Bank–financed projects in Southeast the qualitative studies. In both cases, observational data Asia—the Cambodia Supporting Self-Sustaining Com- were collected in advance to inform the new stove designs. mercial Markets for Improved Cookstove and Household Biodigester and the Indonesia Clean Stove Initiative (CSI)— Key findings demonstrate the value of engaging women in stove design Researchers observed that the types of foods normally and testing under real-life conditions. By acquiring com- cooked and consumed influenced how women interacted prehensive and systematic feedback from women stove with and operated the stoves during the cooking period. users, these projects were better able to integrate gender They often started by preparing the part of the meal requir- dimensions and improve product acceptability and use. ing low heat, followed by food requiring higher heat and then food to be simmered. Women’s participation in design and testing Many women were concerned about how long the In Cambodia, via the implementing agency GERES (Groupe stove could operate unattended during food preparation Energies Renouvelables, Environnement et Solidarites), so they could perform other cooking-related tasks (e.g., women participated in the design, development, and chopping vegetables in between heat cycles). They were testing of the Neang Kongray stove. In the Indonesia CSI, also concerned about how well the pots fit the stovetop women were involved in the design and testing of 2 of the and how the stove and smoke/soot may affect the pots. 10 stove types promoted, the Keren Super 2 and the Supra In addition, they were concerned about how the ashes Anglo, as well as 8 privately developed stoves. A multidis- affected air flow. Unlike gas stoves, biomass stoves require ciplinary team comprising a sociologist, anthropologist, constant fuel adjustments in the combustion chamber to and statistician conducted in-depth interviews; led focus achieve or maintain the desired heating power. group discussions (FGDs); and developed case studies to Multiple factors—ranging from the cooking methods and understand sex-disaggregated views about stove prefer- types of foods cooked for any meal to the working life of the ences and use, fuel consumption, and cooking habits and stove, fuel-use rate, emissions, heating efficiency, heating sequences. power or level, and speed of lighting—were found to influ- Both projects carefully observed how women inter- ence how a stove design worked for these women. Design acted with the stoves and fuels during cooking and con- changes were made to meet all of these contextual con- ducted in-depth interviews with them. Also, a quantitative cerns, which improved women’s acceptability and uptake. survey was administered to supplement the findings from Sources: Tuntivate 2017; World Bank 2015. Integrating Gender across the Value Chain | 21 BOX 3.3 Adapting production methods and training to fit women’s needs Training women artisans in the production of the Neang phase (August 2007–July 2008), 10 women completed Kongray improved ceramic stove was a key component of the training, producing approximately 2,000 Neang Kong- the World Bank–financed project, Cambodia: Supporting ray improved stoves, all of which met the technical stan- Self-Sustaining Commercial Markets for Improved Cook- dards. Lessons from the pilot were used to expand training stove and Household Biodigester. Experienced in mak- at other production and training facilities throughout the ing traditional ceramic pots and cookstoves, the women country. The project’s initial plan to establish a joint train- artisans received training in the technical aspects of the ing and production facility was changed when the women new stove design, quality control, and production stan- indicated that working from home would allow them dards (e.g., clay mixing, molding, and kiln firing), as well greater flexibility. Thus, the joint training and production as business management and marketing. During the pilot facility became the training center only. Source: ASTAE 2010. PHOTO 3.2  Factory employee at BURN Manufacturing’s Wholesaling and Distribution Nairobi facility Wholesaler and distribution channels are vital to the sustainabil- ity of clean stoves markets. Depending on the enterprise type and size, products and services can be funneled from manufac- turers to agents and retailers, who then sell them to consumers, or purchased directly if locally produced. Distribution usu- ally requires some level of product and customer knowledge; possible familiarity with import and customs procedures; and a handle on transport/logistics, warehousing/storage, and inven- tory tracking. Women are comparatively underrepresented in larger-scale wholesaling and distribution operations owing to such factors as the higher capital requirements, lack of famil- iarity with professional networks related to imports and supply- chain logistics, and perceived shortage of skills. Supporting women requires facilitating access to finance and information, skills development, and confidence building. In rural areas, where poor road infrastructure and dispersed populations can raise distribution costs considerably, hiring or otherwise engaging men to assist with transporting goods on behalf of women can be a winning strategy. The Indonesia CSI, for example, found that women in rural areas were at a dis- advantage when trying to maneuver motorbikes loaded with bulky stoves (World Bank 2018). Kopernik found that women micro-entrepreneurs in rural Indonesia whose spouses pro- vided transporting assistance were more effective in reaching © Jon Leary/MECS. Used with the permission of Jon Leary/MECS. Further permission distant markets (Baranova 2017) (box 3.6). required for reuse. Opening up more income-generating opportunities for women in wholesaling and distribution could impact down- stream supplier relationships, as well as create more women- friendly, business-to-business relationships. Distributors can make logistical arrangements to facilitate women’s participa- 22 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps BOX 3.4 Empowering female biogas masons: Lessons from a pilot project in Vietnam SNV Netherlands Development Organisation has pro- male counterparts in mastering the technical aspects of moted household biogas in Vietnam since 1992. Over a biodigester construction. After eight days of coaching, all 12-year period, the National Biogas Program (NBP) trained nine men trainees expressed confidence in becoming bio- more than 1,700 masons; however, less than 0.2 percent gas technicians, while all nine women trainees requested were female. To address this gender imbalance, SNV and an additional five days of coaching. All men and women NBP piloted a program to support women’s inclusion trainees received an additional three days of coaching on in biogas systems supply. The first step was to conduct biogas piping and appliances, and training sessions were a gender analysis to understand the barriers to wom- also held on business development and effective skills in en’s entry into biogas construction. Based on the results, product sales. SNV and the NBP identified women already working as Subsequent to training, eight biogas masonry enterprises masonry assistants for training in biogas construction. were established, seven of which were women-led. Female Because of social norms discouraging women from being lead masons earned an average of US$18 per day and away from home, SNV and NBP enabled these women to assistant masons about US$10. Although the women had select a partner (e.g., husband, family member, friend, or a lower daily rate than the men (male lead masons earned other acquaintance) to attend the training with them. US$20 and assistant masons US$15), these new incomes A gender-sensitive training module was developed that were critical additions to their family earnings. Women took women’s lower experience level with masonry and masons were found to be more careful with detailed work, biogas entrepreneurship into consideration. Women train- produce better-quality digesters, and have more satisfied ees appeared to lack confidence and take longer than their users, thereby contributing to the program’s success. Source: SNV n.d. BOX 3.5 Breaking gender norms is a “win-win” for a stove-company facility in Kenya BURN Manufacturing’s overall mission is to save lives and stoves a day and sells 10,000 units per month. Jobs focus forests in the developing world by designing, locally man- on low-skilled factory work, with equal opportunity for ufacturing, and distributing clean-burning cookstoves. In all employees, more than half of whom are women. The 2013, the company launched its Jikokoa stove assembly facility promotes safe and healthy working conditions, facility in Kenya, initially sourcing kits made by a contract and employee benefits include maternal leave, loans, and manufacturer in China. By late 2014, the full in-country ample opportunity for promotion. facility was opened. The company makes about 550 Source: EEP Africa 2015. tion as retail agents. With greater gender balance on their man- Tapping into pre-existing apex groups with significant agement teams, wholesalers and distributors might be more female membership has been effectively used by development clued in to the barriers women retailers face and better able to projects and social-enterprise ventures to include women in respond appropriately. Also, since many supplier relationships this market segment (box 3.7). The approach has succeeded are based on mutual trust and historical relationships (ASTAE with self-help groups in India (box 3.8), women’s village banks 2013), women-led wholesalers and distributors might be bet- in Malawi, women’s health-promotion groups in Nepal, and ter positioned to activate retailer networks with similarly high tea cooperatives in Kenya, among many others. Such networks female participation. can serve as a source of customers, as well as a hub-and- Integrating Gender across the Value Chain | 23 BOX 3.6 Social enterprise supports female micro-entrepreneurs by coordinating logistics Kopernik is a social enterprise that aims to increase access can collect inventory for onward distribution. Through to life-changing, affordable technologies by people living this arrangement, the women minimize logistics costs in remote parts of the world . Among the solutions offered (e.g., supply negotiations, transport, and warehousing), are clean cookstoves. To support women’s inclusion in which otherwise would significantly increase their cost of Indonesia’s clean cookstove value chains, Kopernik’s doing business. As of April 2018, 535 Wonder Women par- Wonder Women project, launched in 2015, consolidates ticipants had sold 55,280 stoves and small solar-lighting product shipments to remote locations, where women technologies. Source: Polla 2018. BOX 3.7 World Bank project experience with women’s wholesaler groups The Second Sustainable and Participatory Energy Manage- women’s groups and associations as part of the wholesale ment Project (PROGEDE II) in Senegal stands out as the and retail supply chain was a natural fit as the project had only World Bank–supported project under the Efficient, already been working with local women on communi- Clean Cooking and Heating (ECCH) Program that estab- ty-based forest and fuelwood management. The project lished clear linkages between gender and wholesaling in assisted participating women’s groups and associations in its project documents. As part of the project, local wom- securing credit from local microfinance institutions (MFIs). en’s groups and associations were responsible for placing By the end of March 2017, the project had commer- bulk orders for improved cookstoves with stove makers cially disseminated 700,000 improved cookstoves, some and selling them at a profit to their members. Utilizing the 300,000 units above the project’s target. Source: Hammond et al. 2015. BOX 3.8 Community-based organization leverages women’s network for product distribution In 2003, Jagriti, a community-based organization (CBO) first phase (2002–09), the women distributed 539 water located in India’s Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, began heaters, 207 pressure cookers, and 383 LPG stoves in the introducing clean fuels and cooking technologies, lever- remote Lag Valley, which typically is not reached by such aging the Women’s Savings and Credit Groups (WSCGs) it technologies. By 2011, Jagriti was working with a network had established two years earlier as distributors. The CBO of more than 130 WSCGs, reaching 1,400 women mem- engaged WSCG members to distribute efficient water bers with LPG fuel and improved cooking technologies. heaters, pressure cookers, and LPG stoves. In the program’s Sources: Hart and Smith 2013; UNDP 2011. 24 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps spokes model for distribution.2 If already involved in financing transportation, and other infrastructure constraints, women in activities, the organizations concerned may be well positioned many rural areas have more limited mobility than men (Uteng to simultaneously address the affordability constraints of users 2011).3Many projects or companies use the stable presence of and micro-entrepreneurs (chapter 4). women in remote rural areas to build out their retail networks (box 3.9). Such companies as Kopernik and Dharma Life have observed that, after a few years, many of these women exhaust Marketing and Retailing their geographic market, suggesting the need for longer-term strategies when establishing such networks. Retailing of clean cooking or heating solutions involves sourc- ing a product or service from the manufacturer, wholesaler, Awareness-Building Techniques or distributor; managing inventory (e.g., based on the cost of Cooking demonstrations can help women overcome their storage or available storage and sales, deciding how much of a anxiety about switching cooking devices by allowing them particular product to stock, or recording sales and returns); and to freely interact with the technology and express their con- marketing, including selling at appropriate price points (e.g., cerns. Having a woman conduct field demonstrations may balancing profitability and competitiveness). lower communication barriers and encourage more interac- tion among the women. Targeting a specific group of women, Women-Centered Business Models such as mothers, has also been demonstrated as an effective Many clean stoves projects and business models have built way of increasing uptake (Evans et al. 2020). The demonstra- their marketing and retail networks around women. Some tions can also help men, especially those responsible for bal- consider women uniquely placed to excel at this work owing ancing household budgets, to overcome their reluctance to to their closeness to the final customer. Others believe mar- purchase clean cooking solutions. The demonstrations raise keting and retailing are more amenable to women’s participa- awareness of and interest in the touted benefits of the tech- tion because of the flexibility offered in work location, ability to nologies (e.g., fuel, cash, and time savings). To achieve a wider combine such activities with already existing businesses, and reach, field demonstrations can be broadcast through the lower capital requirements. mass media as part of a publicly supported awareness-rais- However, establishing women-centered, rural retail net- ing campaign strategy for multiple forms of technologies and works for clean stove technologies also runs the poten- fuels (box 3.10). tial risk of market saturation. Owing to social norms, lack of BOX 3.9 Private spinoff company supports rural women retailers through capacity building, wholesaler services, and logistics Sakhi Retail Private Limited (SRPL), a distribution network vation over several months, after which the women are created by Self-Education for Empowerment (Swayam provided training, coaching, and, in some cases, compen- Shikshan Prayog), an Indian nongovernmental organi- sation. SRPL then buys cookstoves at negotiated prices, zation (NGO), empowers rural women through eco- bears their transport cost from the warehouse to villages, nomic opportunities and networks that reach the poor and delivers them to the Sakhi women, who onsell them with appropriate solutions. SRPL includes poor women and earn a commission. SRPL maintains decentralized as retailers of cookstoves and biomass pellets. It selects warehousing infrastructure, with at least three separate women from “the top of the bottom of the pyramid;” that facilities, to bring products closer to its retailers. As a result is, those who are likely to have some income and capacity of this strategy, 400 women earn incomes as cookstove to engage in businesses. It then tests these women’s entre- distributors, reaching 700 villages and 70,000 households preneurial skills by observing their sales volume and moti- in Maharashtra. Source: Hystra 2013. Integrating Gender across the Value Chain | 25 Trial periods can aid women stove users to manage the per- PHOTO 3.3  Agnes from Jikoni Magic leads bi-weekly class on ceived risks of switching to clean cookstoves (Miller and making everyday meals with the electric pressure cooker. Mobarak 2011). These risks are both financial (e.g., whether the expected fuel savings could be realized or the loan repaid) and nonfinancial (e.g., concerns about effective use of the product or possible changes in the taste of foods) (photo 3.3). During the trial period, women can try out the new technology to understand its functionality while husbands and other fam- ily members can gain assurance of the product’s benefits and value before reaching a purchase decision (box 3.11). Women-to-women marketing entails one woman with know- ledge (and preferably stock) of specific clean cooking tech- nologies talking with other women about the products and marketing them. This has been an effective strategy for multi- million-dollar global corporations and poverty reduction initia- tives alike. The approach has been successfully used in such diverse sectors as cosmetics (Avon Corporation), kitchenware © Jon Leary/MECS. Used with the permission of Jon Leary/MECS. Further permission (Tupperware Brands Corporation), and solar products (Solar required for reuse. BOX 3.10 BOX 3.11 Clean cooking TV and radio series Demonstrated cash savings reduces reaches millions of viewers in Kenya perceived risk of product adoption Shamba Chef, a popular TV show in Kenya, which aired in 2017, shared practical tips on improving families’ Toyola Energy Limited, a company in Ghana that man- kitchens and diets, utilizing cook-offs, kitchen make- ufactures and sells energy-efficient cookstoves in overs, and recipes demonstrated by popular Kenyan urban and rural areas, offers customers the option of a chefs. Each episode featured real-life Kenyan families 30-month trial period, which includes use of a simple learning how to prepare more nutritious meals and device that tracks the amount of fuel used. Designed trying out improved stoves and fuels. The series was like a piggy bank, the device, called the Toyola Box, broadcast on Citizen TV, Kenya’s most popular TV sta- consists of a tin can with a slot cut in the top and a label. tion. Available in English and Swahili, Shamba Chef had Each day during the trial period, customers deposit the more than 3.2 million viewers every week. Each epi- difference between their previous and current charcoal sode was adapted for radio, which attracted 5 million expenditures into the box. After the 30 days, the sales listeners weekly. Audiences could also subscribe to a agent returns and opens the box together with the cus- free, interactive mobile platform, called iChef, to access tomer. Virtually all customers want to keep the stove, more information, including nutritious recipes and and many insist on keeping the Toyola Box. ongoing advice on clean cooking. Families exposed to Shamba Chef were four times more likely to be aware Source: Hystra 2013. of cleaner cooking options. The program was pro- duced by The Mediae Company with the support of the Clean Cooking Alliance. Sources: CCA 2021; Evans et al. 2020. 26 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps Sisters). The Indonesia CSI found that women were more likely PHOTO 3.4  Sales staff of Emerging Cooking Solutions in to sell stoves to female customers, possibly because of better Lusaka, Zambia relatability (World Bank 2018). Shankar, Onyura, and Alderman (2015) found that women who purchased improved cook- stoves from other women instead of men were more likely to use the stoves consistently and correctly and recommend the technology to others. Men’s engagement in information dissemination can be an effective way to overcome hesitancy to switch to clean stove technologies and fuels, depending on social norms in the proj- ect area (box 3.12). Mobile marketing, which promotes goods and services using mobile phones and other handheld devices, has been found effective in regions where it has been tried. Mobile marketing can help women entrepreneurs surmount the problems of limited mobility and advertising budgets as simple applications can be used to reach thousands of people within a short time. Product bundling mitigates the risks associated with depen- dence on one product line by enabling entrepreneurs to sell other products along with the clean stove technologies, which can attract additional customers. For Eco Fuel Africa’s net- work of 580 women retailers (most of them previously unem- ployed), product bundling in kiosks made it possible for them © Energy and Environment Partnership in Southern and East Africa. Used with permission of the Energy and Environment Partnership in Southern and East Africa. Further permission to earn US$152 per month (Hart and Smith 2013). In Ghana, the required for reuse. BOX 3.12 Men’s role in promoting widespread stove adoption in Honduras A study in Honduras documents how men played a crucial menter to the community to hold a workshop at which the role in disseminating information on improved cookstoves stove was formally introduced to the attendees, including (ICS) across a large part of western Honduras, which led those contacted during the original solicitation and other to the successful adoption of the LE2X3 model. The stove interested individuals. At the end of the workshop, the list program, called Proyecto Mirador, relied on word-of- of those interested in adopting the stove was finalized and mouth to diffuse positive information to residents in far- installation arrangements were made. off communities. Because of the society’s patriarchal nature, men com- The dissemination model consisted of two stages of municated with other men more readily than women decision-making among adopters, both of which involved did. Also, the men were more active in disseminating information exchange across existing social networks. In stove information, covering longer distances than could the first stage, a community member learned of the stove women (greater than 30 km), and were more likely to talk and submitted a written solicitation requesting the proj- to women about the stoves than vice versa. The project is ect to install units in his or her community. The solicitation reported to have installed more than 40,000 units in com- included the names of 10 or more interested community munities located up to 150 km away from its base of oper- members. In the second stage, the project sent an imple- ations, with no investments in formal marketing. Source: Ramirez et al. 2014. Integrating Gender across the Value Chain | 27 Health Keepers Network applies a product bundling approach. baseline technologies (box 3.13). Thus, characteristics of the By diversifying their product line to include health items that target group should be taken into account when designing women tend to purchase, women entrepreneurs reduce their a stove marketing strategy, and appropriate modes of dis- business risk while placing cookstoves within easy reach of their seminating information should be utilized. For example, the female customers. Product bundling can also be done at the Samba Chef series illustrates how to apply mass communi- design phase, as exemplified by cookstove designs that include cation tools to reach a heterogeneous audience (box 3.10). a USB phone-charging port. One study found that access to ✓ Consider door-to-door marketing and promotion. This USB charging ports significantly increased adoption of the approach can work especially well for beneficiaries with cookstoves, but only among women, contrary to the expecta- lower literacy levels (box 3.13). It can also be used as a tion that they would be appreciated by men (Wilson et al. 2018). means of reinforcing information disseminated through other modes of communication. Checklist for Effective Promotion Strategies ✓ Respect women’s time constraints. Marketing techniques ✓ Consider the sociodemographic characteristics of the should consider the time constraints women face, which target group. Stove adopters differ by sex, as well as age, could be overcome by door-to-door marketing or holding education, locality (rural or urban), social status, and other promotional events on market or clinic days, when women variables that influence how they receive and internalize and men are already attending other activities. cookstove information. Gender disparities persist in edu- cation and, according to UNICEF (2020), girls are more ✓ Engage both women and men through targeted commu- likely to be disproportionately disadvantaged in countries nication activities. For example, single-gender focus group that have not reached gender parity (in Africa, the Middle discussions (FGDs) can discover whether and how men and East, and South Asia). A recent systematic review by ESMAP women differ in their responses to messages (box 3.14). (2021) reveals the high degree of learning necessary when Having a mixed gender team at the point of sales can over- introducing stoves and fuels that differ substantially from the come such challenges (photo 3.4). BOX 3.13 BOX 3.14 Overlooking literacy can adversely Focus group discussions reveal impact stove transitions gendered perceptions of clean Many cookstove programs have included training, edu- cooking solutions cation, and awareness-raising activities in their design, A recent study conducted in Northern Kenya compared but how effective were they? A recent evidence syn- and contrasted men’s and women’s perceptions about thesis by the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management clean cooking solutions. Six focus group discussions Assistance Program (ESMAP) finds that the training (FGDs) were held with 23 married couples, who were provided by many cookstove programs was one-off divided into two single-gender groups. Despite acknowl- and failed to consider the literacy levels of the target edging problems associated with the use of traditional beneficiaries. For example, a follow-up evaluation of cookstoves, the men’s group did not prioritize tackling a solar cookers program in South Africa revealed that the issue. In their view, women were the “fire experts” stoves had fallen into disuse because participants who and were used to cooking with traditional stoves. The had earlier received the training had forgotten how men’s perception was in stark contrast to that of the to use the technology. Other programs that provided women, who wanted to solve the problem but were training materials (e.g., in Bangladesh, Guatemala, and limited in their ability to act because the men controlled India) presumed that participants had the required lit- household expenditures. The study recommended tar- eracy level to comprehend the contents. However, an geting both groups with cookstove information and cre- evaluation of one of those programs found that only ating opportunities for open dialogue between men and 39 percent of the beneficiaries considered the training women on cookstove-related challenges. manuals helpful. Source: Ochieng et al. 2021. Source: ESMAP 2021. 28 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps Fuel Supply and Distribution Out of 14 World Bank–financed projects in 1989–2017 that focused on solid fuel supply and community-based forest The scope for increasing women’s engagement in clean cook- resource management, 11 involved women in fuel production ing and heating can be extended beyond the stove supply chain and sustainable management (Tuntivate 2017) (box 3.15). Per- to include fuel supply and distribution. Value-chain opportuni- haps the most notable one was PROGEDE II in Senegal (box ties include the production of more efficient and sustainable 3.7), which supported the entry of more than 1,000 women processing, distribution, and use of charcoal, biomass pellets, into the traditionally male occupations of charcoal production ethanol, and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) (photo 3.5). and wholesaling. Not only did women’s involvement go hand Some studies suggest that women’s engagement in the in hand with more environmentally sustainable production fuel supply sector is more likely when capital requirements are practices; women were empowered to take more active roles lower. This was the conclusion of Kariuki and Balla (2012), who in community governance issues. surveyed 885 energy microenterprises under the Developing However, women need not be excluded from more capital- Energy Enterprises Programme-East Africa (DEEP-EA) sup- intensive, fuel supply sectors (e.g., LPG). In Ghana, for example, ported by Energy 4 Impact (formerly the Global Village Energy 6 out of 42 LPG distribution points were run by women in 2015 Partnership). Overall, 42 percent of the microenterprises were (Matinga 2015). Lessons from such exceptional cases are worth women-led; however, women microenterprises represented 62 highlighting (box 3.16). percent of briquette manufacturers and retailers. Conversely, men were overrepresented in businesses with higher start-up capital requirements (e.g., photovoltaics and biodigesters). After-Sales Support PHOTO 3.5  Working on an innovative retort kiln for improved Providing after-sales support services can create a positive buy- charcoal production in India ing experience for customers, avoid products going into disuse, and ensure the continuous flow of information between users and product developers, which is vital to building sustainable markets. Warranties provide customers a guarantee that their new stove product will be repaired or replaced if it breaks down or becomes ineffective within a specified period or under cer- tain use conditions. Along with trial periods (box 3.11), warranties help stove users manage the risks associated with switching to cleaner cooking solutions. Existing evidence shows that, after adoption, users’ challenges with the new technologies can lead them to make modifications that compromise stove perfor- mance (ESMAP 2021). After-sales courtesy visits, repair services, and phone lines to handle customer questions and complaints can avoid many of these issues. © Chris Adam. Used with the permission of Chris Adam. Further permission required for reuse. BOX 3.15 Nepal improved charcoal project recruits women in training and business creation Charcoal production in Nepal typically occurs in an unsus- coal production business, the project provided a five-day tainable manner, and is considered a job for poor, low- training class in charring technology and processes. One caste men. The Nepal Bio-Energy Project manages forests successful approach used the first two women trainees as by removing invasive plant species and using them to pro- role models for recruiting other women. As of March 2017, duce charcoal, which is then sold to private companies, women comprised 40 percent of the 1,274 trainees. Of the institutions, and households, creating lucrative business 1,100 trainees that went on to establish charcoal produc- opportunities. To facilitate women’s entry into the char- tion businesses, 440 were women-led. Source: European Commission 2017. Integrating Gender across the Value Chain | 29 PHOTO 3.6  Circle Gas/M-Gas support staff member BOX 3.16 inspecting LPG cylinders Women-led, niche LPG businesses in Ghana advance with the right support Under the African Rural Energy Enterprise Develop- ment (AREED) program, two women-run liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) companies in Ghana, M38 and Lambark, applied for and received loans totaling hun- dreds of thousands of dollars to grow their businesses. The entrepreneur behind M38 had noticed that her neighbors traveled across town and waited in long lines to refill their LPG cylinders. Her solution was to open a filling station in her Accra neighborhood. Lambark’s entrepreneur, located in Kumasi, knew that customers in the surrounding areas spent much time traveling to the city to obtain LPG, so her distribu- tion company launched a motorbike delivery service. © Daniel Mutema/Clean Cooking Alliance. Used with the permission of Daniel Mutema/Clean Cooking Alliance. Further permission required for reuse. AREED provided business development support and affordable capital (5–8 percent, dollar denominated), transaction costs (Gold Standard 2016).4 As traditional man- which enabled these women to address compelling agers of household cooking and heating, women may be bet- needs they identified in the LPG market. ter positioned to obtain feedback from women end users and Source: Haselip et al. 2013. support their consistent use of the new technologies. Use of mobile phones can facilitate women’s communication with their customers, thereby reducing unnecessary, costly vis- its. In India, for example, purchasers of the Oorja cookstove After-sales support includes various actors along the in Maharastra and Bihar states can access the women stove value chain. Last-mile distributors may be first-line for han- sellers by phone, which ensures a quick response to their dling troubleshooting inquiries and product returns, while questions. Similarly, in Uganda, LivingGoods uses a mobile a national-level manufacturer or wholesaler may offer and platform to increase the accessibility of its micro-franchises honor warranties and coordinate repairs and replacements. for after-sales support. Microfinance institutions (MFIs), who recognize the influence of after-sales service quality on default rates, may insist on Notes having service agreements in place before lending or take a 1. Strides have been made in integrating women’s feedback in stove field- more active role in providing the technology and monitoring testing; however, the inclusion of women professionals in conducting customer satisfaction. field tests remains low and is thus an area for narrowing the gender gap. 2. In a hub-and-spokes model, a manufacturer or main distributor (e.g., The design of after-sales support should take a gender- importer) contracts a super stockist to receive goods and dispatch them responsive approach (photo 3.6). This means interacting with to sub-distributors who, in turn, supply the goods to retailers, then on to male and female customers to support their product needs, consumers. 3. Social norms are said to be the main constraint to women’s mobility, providing opportunities for both men and women to work in including the appropriateness of women and girls riding bicycles, driv- after-sales service, and being sensitive to local gender norms. ing cars, or traveling alone outside their villages. Many of these norms are rooted in conceptions about female virginity, “honor,” and women’s In community contexts where male service providers are capacity to operate heavy machinery. Many modes of transportation are prohibited from entering a home where women are alone, expensive, inconvenient for individuals traveling with children or elderly women consumers can be trained in how to maintain and family members, and/or expose women and girls to sexual harassment. 4. The examples documented by Gold Standard (2016) include Bolivia’s repair their own stoves or other women can be trained to Center for Development with Solar Energy, which promotes clean cook- provide such services (ESMAP 2021). ing through its innovative leaders program and India’s Sakhi Unique Rural Enterprise, a last-mile distribution company that engages women entre- The engagement of women community members in preneurs in sales and after-sales service. after-sales service has, in some cases, reduced associated 30 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps References Kariuki, Phyllis, and Patrick Balla. 2012. “GVEP’S Experiences with Working with Women Entrepreneurs in East Africa.” GVEP International in East Africa. London: Energy4Impact. https://www.energy4impact.org/ ASTAE (Asia Sustainable and Alternative Energy Program). 2010. Cambodia file/1716/download?token=Gq71yjaq. Supporting Self-Sustaining Commercial Markets for Improved Cook- stoves and Household Biodigesters. 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Lloyd Morgan, Patricia Energy Entrepreneurs in Kenya.” Journal of Health Communication 20: Gichinga, and Julie Ipe. 2020. “The Shamba Chef Educational Entertain- 67–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2014.1002959. ment Program to Promote Modern Cookstoves in Kenya: Outcomes and Dose–Response Analysis.” International Journal of Environmen- SNV. n.d. “New Skills, New Opportunities Empowering Women as Agents tal Research and Public Health 17 (1): 162. https://doi.org/10.3390/ of Change--Vietnam: New Roles for Women in the Biogas Supply ijerph17010162. Chain.” http://www.snv.org/public/cms/sites/default/files/explore/ download/harnessing-climate-change-initiatives-to-benefit-wom- GACC and ICRW (Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and International en-adb-reta7914.pdf. Center for Research on Women). 2016. Measuring Social Impact in the Clean and Efficient Cooking Sector: A How-to Guide. Washington, DC: Tuntivate, Voravate. 2017. “Review of Gender-Specific Impacts and Oppor- Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. https://www.cleancookingalli- tunities on Efficient, Clean Cooking and Heating Projects Financed by ance.org/binary-data/RESOURCE/file/000/000/489-1.pdf. the World Bank.” Unpublished draft, April 27. Gold Standard. 2016. “Gold Standard Improved Cookstove Activities UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). 2011. Towards an Guidebook: Increasing Commitments to Clean-Cooking Initiatives.” ‘Energy Plus’ Approach for the Poor: A Review of Good Practices and https://www.goldstandard.org/sites/default/files/documents/gs_ics_ Lessons Learned from Asia and the Pacific. Bangkok: United Nations report.pdf. Development Programme, Asia-Pacific Regional Centre. Hammond, A., I. Schomer, A. Ngom, A. Seck, and V. Lopes Janik. UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund). 2020. 2015. “Improving Gender Equality and Rural Livelihoods in Senegal “Gender and Education,” February. https://data.unicef.org/topic/gender/ through Sustainable and Participatory Energy Management: Senegal’s gender-disparities-in-education/. PROGEDE II Project.” Live Wire 2015/40. World Bank, Washington, DC. Uteng, Tanu Priya. 2011. “Gendered Bargains of Daily Mobility: Citing Cases https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/22111. from Both Urban and Rural Settings.” Background Paper to the 2012 Hart, Corinne, and Genevieve Smith. 2013. “Scaling Adoption of Clean World Development Report. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/ Cooking Solutions through Women’s Empowerment.” Resources, Sep- bitstream/handle/10986/9111/WDR2012-0010.pdf?sequence=1&isAl- tember 25. http://cleancookstoves.org/resources/223.html. lowed=y. Haselip, James, Denis Desgain, Gordon A. Mackenzie, and Climate and Wilson, D.L., M. Monga, A. Saksena, A. Kumar, and A. Gadgil. 2018. ”Effects Sustainable Development UNEP Risø Centre on Energy. 2013. Energy of USB Port Access on Advanced Cookstove Adoption.” Development SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Outcomes, Barriers and Prospects in Engineering 3: 209–17. Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania and Zambia. Roskilde, Denmark: UNEP Risø World Bank. 2015. Stoves, Fuels, and Cooking Practices on Sumba Centre. http://orbit.dtu.dk/files/56433833/Energy_SMEsin_Sub_Saha- Island, Indonesia: Findings and Recommendations of Qualitative Field ran_Africa_full_report_May_2013.pdf. Research. East Asia and Pacific (EAP) Gender Facility and Clean Stove Hystra. 2013. “Marketing Innovative Devices for the BOP.” Paris: Hystra. Initiative (CSI). Washington, DC: World Bank. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/51bef39fe4b010d205f84a92/ World Bank. 2018. Incentivizing a Sustainable Clean Cooking Market: t/57d014976a49630231034279/1473254596574/Marketing+Innova- Lessons from a Results-Based Financing Pilot in Indonesia. Washington, tive+Devices+for+the+BOP_Full+report.pdf. DC: World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/han- Kammen. Daniel M. 1995. “Cookstoves for the Developing World.” dle/10986/30181/128162-WP-P144213-PUBLIC-WBIndonesiaRBFWEB. Scientific American, 273 (1): 72–75. pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. Integrating Gender across the Value Chain | 31 Digital finance helps poor families in remote areas of Sub-Saharan Africa to access new clean-cooking technologies. This mother holds her daughter while using a por- table biomass stove that has virtually eliminated pollution-related health risks. © Alison Wright/FINCA International. Used with the permission of Alison Wright/FINCA International. Further permission required for reuse. 4 Financing Most clean cooking programs target lower-income popula- The drawbacks of traditional microfinance may include high tions, who generally require some form of financial intervention interest rates, short loan tenors, and maximum loan amounts to enable their transition to clean stove-and-fuel technologies. that preclude supporting more growth-oriented, small- and Even where the incomes of beneficiary households are rela- medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Raising the awareness and tively high, supporting measures are likely needed to create and capacity of MFIs to effectively build loan portfolios in the sector sustain product demand, ensure supply reliability, and over- can sometimes require significant effort. come high upfront costs. Some of the most common forms of financing include microfinance schemes, informal or semi-for- In-House Options mal savings groups, employer loans, and pay-as-you-go (PAYG) Integrating in-house financing into project design can reduce (photo 4.1). Impact-driven forms of financing, including results- women’s initial need for equity or securing third-party debt. based financing (RBF) and social impact investing, are quickly One popular option is the micro-consignment model (MCM), gaining ground as ways to pay for the anticipated environmen- which has been used in a variety of developing-country con- tal and social benefits from interventions. texts to increase women’s inclusion in clean cookstove distri- bution and retailing (e.g., Solar Sisters in Tanzania and Nigeria, Kopernik in Indonesia, Soluciones Comunitarias [SolCom] in Supplier-Side Models Guatemala, Dharma Life in India, and LivelyHoods in Kenya). The MCM finances women’s, as well as men’s, businesses by Traditional Microfinance providing inventory in lieu of capital, which is repaid as the Microfinance is one mode of supply-side financing that often stoves are sold. This feature can reduce risks if the business suf- favors women who are new entrants to the stoves market. Typ- fers a setback (e.g., illness) since companies will usually accept ically, women’s stove enterprises operate at a relatively small inventory back in lieu of cash payment. scale (e.g., village-level retail or artisanal production). Securing a Supplier credit need not be limited to the micro level. Where loan from a microfinance institution (MFI) is a relatively straight- security is sufficient to transact (in the form of social trust or forward process, though lead times and requirements vary by other bonds), 60-, 90-, or 120-day supplier credit may pro- institution. In Kenya, K-REP Development Agency (KDA) has vide a woman-led medium-sized business selling moderately successfully developed and institutionalized microfinance prod- priced equipment the bulk of liquidity needed to operate. ucts that enable low-income customers to acquire a variety of clean and improved cookstoves (e.g., BURN Jiko Koa, EcoZoom Commercial Banks Jet and Dura, Wisdom Innovations, and Jiko Smart), as well as Unlike social capital and microfinance, commercial banks tend solar lanterns and water filters. KDA also assists village banks and to rely on conventional risk assessment and mitigation tools agricultural businesses in developing appropriate financial prod- (e.g., credit ratings, formal lending histories, audited financial ucts for the purchase of biogas stoves by tailoring customers’ statements, and high levels of collateralization), which can dis- repayment periods to their income source (GACC 2015). Financing | 33 PHOTO 4.1  Shamba Shape-Up staff and women’s savings group discuss payment method for the electric pressure cooker. © The Mediae Company. Used with permission of The Mediae Company. Further permission required for reuse. advantage women borrowers (box 4.1). However, the devel- ing women-inclusive companies through the pipeline.1 As part opment and increasing availability of psychometric screening of its eligibility criteria for results-based financing (RBF), the tools show promise for closing gender gaps in commercial World Bank–hosted Clean Cooking Fund (CCF) requires partic- bank lending. Using its psychometric tool in a pilot program ipating companies to have least 10 percent female employees. comprising six commercial banks, Harvard University’s Entre- preneurial Finance Lab demonstrated that approval rates for male and female applicants were equal, with nearly identical Consumer-Side Models terms applied to the resulting loans. In fact, the percentage of women-owned SMEs receiving bank loans increased by over Financing for modern energy cooking and heating options is 70 percent (Klinger, Khwaja, and del Carpio 2013). vital, even at the lower end of the market range and increases in importance for products higher up the access tiers of Modern Empowerment Mechanisms Energy Cooking Services (MECS). For MFIs and development Women-targeted funding is designed to support women-led partners, consumer financing can be an attractive proposition clean cooking and heating enterprises through relevant activ- because it can leverage an already existing client base to cross- ities. For example, the Women’s Empowerment Fund, estab- sell into a large, untapped market and build a brand around lished by the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA), scales effective fulfilling social objectives. The main channels of consumer business models for women energy entrepreneurs by provid- finance and repayment models are described below.2 ing working capital, networking, and training. Microfinance Integration of gender targets into standard investment win- The channels of consumer microfinance range from banks, dows and portfolios—either commercial, grant-based, or MFIs, and industry cooperatives to community-level savings blended—is an approach for closing gender employment gaps and credit groups (either existing or project-established). Sav- in the energy sector. In corporate settings, loan origination offi- ings and credit groups go by a variety of names (e.g., rotating cers and underwriters can equip themselves with knowledge savings groups, self-help groups, village savings and loans, and about the business case for women’s increased participation in savings and credit cooperatives). Such groups, many of which the sector and practical techniques for identifying and advanc- are community-based and women-led, have flexible loan 34 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps BOX 4.1 Financing’s role in breaking barriers to women’s empowerment Women entrepreneurs need access to the broad range of (e.g., having fewer initial assets, lower financial literacy, or available financial products and services to facilitate their fewer inroads to professional business and investment net- participation in larger, capital-intensive stove businesses works). Capital provision, combined with business devel- and more profitable subsectors (e.g., factory manufactur- opment support, is necessary for launching women-led ing or large-scale distribution of technologies). However, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), but it is not in many developing countries, women experience limited enough. Breaking barriers to women’s empowerment also access to business financing. The causes may stem from requires interventions that can shift mindsets, address psy- social norms, regulatory conditions (e.g., legal capacity and chological barriers, and cultivate leadership qualities. property rights), or variables correlated with being female Sources: Burjorje, El-Zoghbi, and Meyers 2017; Siba 2019. BOX 4.2 Women’s savings groups in Kenya provide flexibility that formal institutions lack In Kenya, K-Rep Development Agency (KDA) and its subsid- Daily household savings, which average KSH 50, are iary, K-Rep, support Kiandutu youth (“green” entrepreneurs) placed in a lockable home “bank” developed by KDA. To in selling a range of cookstoves through savings groups motivate others, the bank is regularly opened at group on a commission basis. KDA allows consumers to make a meetings (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly). Once the loan deposit equal to 10 percent of the stove cost and encour- is paid in full, the realized savings are invested in a project ages weekly repayments based on the energy cost savings. or product of the saver’s choosing. KDA sells a variety of Younger women, who typically cannot qualify for loans, are improved wood and charcoal cookstoves (in the US$16–49 especially attracted to this consumer financing model. price range), as well as biodigesters (costing over US$1,000). Source: GACC 2015. conditions that can be adapted to members’ needs and tech- requirements in their accounts. Loans for modern cooking or nologies considered for purchase (box 4.2). Such groups have heating products would have to be sufficiently large to justify facilitated an increase in women’s access to cleaner cooking the administrative cost of underwriting; alternatively, a bank solutions in such countries as Cambodia, Kenya, Laos, Malawi, customer could use a general credit line for the purchase. More and Uganda, among many others. In the Siaya region of west- research is needed on whether or to what extent women may ern Kenya, some 1,200 cookstove-focused village savings and be disadvantaged in having access to these forms of finance. loans associations (VSLAs) developed by Myclimate resulted in the installation of 36,300 cookstoves. In-House Options In-house financing refers to a company that offers a combina- Retail Alternatives tion of product and financing services. This convenient, one- For clientele that purchase high-end cookstoves, larger house- stop-shop model can reduce hassles related to onboarding hold heating technologies (e.g., boilers, furnaces, and water third-party financial service providers, who may be unfamiliar heaters), and commercial cooking and heating equipment and with modern cooking or heating solutions. One initial draw- retrofits, retail finance provided by commercial banks is appro- back is that the company may have little prior experience in priate. It is likely that such borrowers are formally employed, managing complex cash flows and receivables. In Bangla- have some type of collateral, or can meet relatively high deposit desh, Grameen Shakti uses in-house financing, building off the Financing | 35 PHOTO 4.2  Faster cooking with LPG has enabled Chikuru BOX 4.3 Bwinika Gracia to scale her business in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. Grameen Shakti tailors payment plans to stove technologies Grameen Shakti—with World Bank funding and in partnership with the Infrastructure Development Company Limited (IDCOL), a government-led finan- cial intermediary—leverages the Grameen Bank’s net- work of clients, educates them about clean cooking, and offers in-house microfinance for the products it offers, which has enabled the sale of 25,000 biogas plants and 600,000 improved cookstoves. Household cookstoves require a 50 percent down payment with the remainder payable on installation. Commercial cooking products also require a 50 percent down payment, with the other half payable over six months at a flat-rate service charge of 6 percent. For biodi- gesters, which are more expensive, a 15 percent down payment is required, with the remainder payable over 24 months at a flat-rate service charge of 8 percent. Such payment plans—compared to cash and carry— are especially attractive to women, who in Bangladesh tend to have fewer assets and lower incomes com- pared to men. Source: GACC 2015. © Philippe Nyirimihigo/Bboxx Capital RDC. Used with the permission of Philippe Nyirimihigo/ Bboxx Capital RDC. Further permission required for reuse. know-how, track record, and expertise of its sister organiza- women and men. For example, the maturity dates of micro- tion, Grameen Bank (box 4.3). In-house financing is also used finance loans that bundle stove products with agricultural by many pay-as-you-go (PAYG) companies that are active in inputs could vary by sex of the borrower since the harvesting the sector, including KopaGas in Tanzania (utilizing LPG smart of male- and female-dominated crops can differ by season. meters) and KOKO Networks in Kenya (utilizing ethanol smart Mobile payment services have significantly reduced trans- canisters). Bidhaa Sasa extends credit directly to its rural cus- action costs for consumers who purchase cooking and heat- tomers in Kenya, but uses a group methodology similar to that ing technologies on credit. Mobile payment models can also of an MFI, making it possible to reach its predominantly female be used to address women’s constraints (e.g., time poverty or customers who otherwise would not qualify for traditional limited mobility); however, male-female differences in own- microloans (ICRW n.d.). ership of the devices and accounts should be noted. Mobile payment can be used to match fuel-expenditure patterns Repayment Modes with household income receipts. Many PAYG models allow In any consumer-financing context, it is important to consider customers to make very small, near-daily fuel purchases. whether the household member who decides to purchase the In Tanzania, KopaGas uses a mobile-enabled smart meter modern cooking or heating product has access to the financial attached to the gas regulator to allow customers to smooth service (e.g., an account and line of credit), has funds to repay their fuel purchases over time. They use mobile money to the obligation within the specified period, and will undertake pay only for the gas they need rather than the full upfront the physical task of repayment (photo 4.2). Models that closely cost of a cylinder refill. PAYG financing could come from the mimic consumer cash flow and reduce transaction costs are technology provider (on-balance sheet) or a third party (off- encouraged and can make financing more accessible to both balance sheet). 36 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps Impact-Driven Models tion). This financing modality places more emphasis on the anticipated social outcomes of the intervention rather than This section highlights some impact-driven models that have its financial returns, which may be modest or even negative. been applied in the clean cooking sector. If creatively designed, Common forms of social impact investing include equity or they can contribute to bridging the gender gaps in access to debt financing (at preferential, submarket rates) for producers finance. or suppliers, based on the expected social benefits for end- user consumers. Results-Based Financing Under a results-based financing (RBF) modality, funds are dis- bursed by an investor or donor to a recipient on achievement Notes of a pre-agreed set of results, subject to independent verifi- 1. Bloomberg and Morgan Stanley have developed quantitative frame- cation. In the context of clean cooking programs, RBF usually works for assessing companies’ gender diversity; based on the results of their empirical investigations, gender diversity is incorporated into their entails contractual agreements with private-sector companies respective product offerings and investment philosophies. to manufacture and deliver cookstoves to a pre-agreed tar- 2. Microfinance, retail finance, and in-house financing are the three pri- get population. Once the stoves have been sold to end users mary channels through which consumers interact to make purchases, but much more can occur behind the scenes. This includes the issu- and the transaction has been verified through phone calls and ance of results-based payments or incentives that provide either a cap- physical inspections by an independent verification team, the ital or interest rate subsidy that eventually reaches the consumer, credit guarantees to reduce lenders’ risk premiums, refinance schemes that payment is transferred to the company. The World Bank–sup- transfer debt (and risk) to a third party and allow the primary lender to ported East Asia Clean Stove Initiative (CSI) in Indonesia fea- exit and deploy its capital anew, or receivables assignment (in the case tured a two-step, subsidy delivery process for private-sector of PAYG). players, utilizing a designated independent verification team. The first subsidy was delivered after verification of the consum- References er’s purchase of the qualified stove and the second after verifi- cation of its actual use (ASTAE 2013). ASTAE (Asia Sustainable and Alternative Energy Program). 2013. Indone- sia: Toward Universal Access to Clean Cooking. East Asia and Pacific The World Bank has also tested opportunities for applying Clean Stove Initiative Series. Washington, DC: World Bank. http:// the RBF instrument at the impact level. Under the Lao PDR CSI, documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/105441468044144806/ pdf/792790ESW0P1290ox0377371B00PUBLIC00.pdf. studies applied RBF to (i) averted disability-adjusted life years Burjorjee, D., M. El-Zoghbi, and L. Meyers. 2017. Social Norms Change for (ADALYs) from cleaner household air resulting from the cook- Women’s Financial Inclusion. Washington, DC: Consultative Group to stove intervention (Dave and Balasundaram 2016) and (ii) emis- Assist the Poor (CGAP). sions reduction, whereby the private-sector investor supplied Dave, Rutu, and Rema Balasundaram. 2016. “The Lao Cookstove Experi- ence: Redefining Health through Cleaner Energy Solutions.” Live Wire the capital used to purchase stoves and, through an Emissions 2016/63. World Bank, Washington, DC. https://openknowledge.world- Reduction Purchase Agreement (ERPA) with the government, bank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/24256/The0Lao0cookst0ner0ener- gy0solutions.pdf?sequence=5&isAllowed=y. recouped its investment through the sale of carbon credits. ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program). 2020. Quantify- Currently, the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management ing and Measuring Climate, Health, and Gender Co-Benefits from Clean Assistance Progrma (ESMAP) is exploring whether impact- Cooking Interventions: Methodologies Review. Washington, DC: World Bank. targeted funds could be deployed to pay for the verified GACC (Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves). 2015. “Consumer Finance impact-level results from clean cooking interventions for Models for Clean Cookstoves: Global Mapping.” https://www.clean- cookingalliance.org/binary-data/RESOURCE/file/000/000/421-1.pdf health, climate, and gender (ESMAP 2020; Tuntivate 2017). Such ICRW (International Center for Research on Women). n.d. “Gender-Smart payments would be an innovative way to (i) attract funds that Investing: Off-Grid Energy Case Study, Bidhaa Sasa.” https://www.icrw. target these public-good benefits; (ii) develop the clean cook- org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ICRW_Bidhaa-Sasa_CaseStudy.pdf. ing market by catalyzing private-sector investment, innovation, Klinger, B., A. I. Khwaja, and C. del Carpio. 2013. “Enterprising Psychomet- rics and Poverty Reduction.” Entrepreneurial Finance Lab. Cambridge, and risk-taking; and (iii) over time, mainstream approaches that MA: Harvard University. https://epod.cid.harvard.edu/sites/default/ quantify the benefits of clean cooking into national policies and files/2018-04/eflpaper2013.pdf. Siba, E. 2019. “Empowering Women Entrepreneurs in Developing Coun- budgetary allocations. tries: Why Current Programs Fall Short.” Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings Policy Brief, February. Washington, DC. Brookings Institution. Social Impact Investing https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Empower- ing-women-entreprenuers-in-developing-countries-190215.pdf. Increasingly, social impact investing is gaining ground as a way Tuntivate, Voravate. 2017. “Review of Gender-Specific Impacts and Oppor- for corporations, foundations, or individuals to invest in the tunities on Efficient, Clean Cooking and Heating Projects Financed by public goods generated by clean cooking and heating inter- the World Bank.” Unpublished draft, April 27. ventions (e.g., gender equality, better health, or poverty reduc- Financing | 37 Julienne Murebwayire, who works as a maid in Rwanda, has been cooking for most of her life—first using firewood and later charcoal, the most difficult part of which was starting the fire. Nowadays, she appreciates the fast-cooking and smokeless features of the wood-pellet cookstove purchased by her employer in 2014, and no longer uses traditional fuels. © Vincent Tremeau/Ci-Dev, World Bank. Further permission required for reuse. 5 Enabling Policies and Market Support Apart from intervening directly in value-chain transactions issues in national energy policies, strategy papers, and master through providing capital to entrepreneurs or subsidizing plans reflect the will and priorities of both men and women, products, clean cooking and heating initiatives can foster the as well as the importance of cooking and heating in total final healthy functioning of market ecosystems by defining and energy consumption. enforcing clear regulatory regimes, enabling groups to lobby National-level policy language helps to organize the activ- their governments, supplying actors with market information, ities of government institutions and funding partners. Refer- and raising public awareness. These activities can also take ence to gender-related clean cooking and heating issues in gender nuances into consideration to maximize their impact official policy documents can help unlock financing for rel- and the fairness with which they effect change. evant efforts. One should ask the following: Does the policy use the terms “gender,” “women and men,” or other equivalent language? Does it recognize women as both beneficiaries and Policies, Regulations, and Standards Development agents of change? Does it point out specific gender gaps and propose linked actions to address them? Does it acknowledge Clean stoves markets are embedded in complex sociopolitical the need for gender dissegragated data and provide relevant contexts. Decisions in these spheres can have gender implica- indicators on closing gender gaps? tions that reverberate throughout countries. Women and men alike are impacted by the prices they pay for stove fuels and Regulatory Questions technologies, their quality and robustness, and the level of pri- Regulation, sometimes enacted by legislative bodies but often oritization accorded the sector by the national government. As exercised by statutory authorities, directly impacts the function- advocates for change, women have a role to play in lobbying ing of markets by defining the rules of participation and penal- their government. The subsections below highlight questions ties for not following them. Examples of how regulation impacts one should consider when dealing with relevant policy and the clean cooking and heating sectors include tariff-setting for regulatory issues. district heating companies, restrictions on exploiting forests for wood and charcoal production, import tariffs on stove equip- Policy-Related Questions ment, and LPG fuel subsidies, among others. Historically, energy policies have tended to favor the electric- Studies assessing a proposed or existing regulation should ity and petroleum sectors with little attention paid to cooking document whether and how the regulation poses gender-un- and heating, especially biomass-based cooking. The evolution equal burdens or benefits for the relevant populations.1 Key of international norms and adoption of the Sustainable Devel- gender-balanced questions include the following: Are both opment Goals (SDGs) have helped to address this imbalance women and men substantially involved in the design and cre- somewhat, although cooking remains a lower priority. The key ation of the regulation, including during public commenting question is whether the elevation of clean cooking and heating phases? Are the stakeholder consultations and public com- Enabling Policies and Market Support | 39 BOX 5.1 RISE to benchmark progress in closing gender gaps in clean cooking Policies and regulations are critical for countries seeking those of regional and global peers. RISE utilizes more than to attract new investment and grow toward a sustainable 30 indicators and covers 138 countries (98 percent of the energy sector in line with Sustainable Development Goal world’s population). The 2020 edition of the RISE report 7 (SDG 7). ESMAP’s Regulatory Indicators for Sustainable includes a full pillar on clean cooking with gender-specific Energy (RISE)  is a tool that policy makers can use to bench- indicators, making it possible to benchmark policy prog- mark their sector policy and regulatory framework against ress on closing gender gaps. Source: ESMAP 2020a. ments documented in a way that captures the sex of each Research, Advocacy, and Market Intelligence contributor? Is input from men and women incorporated in equitable measure into the final rollout? (box 5.1). The engines of research, advocacy, and market intelligence have helped to advance gender equality in the clean cook- Standards Development ing and heating space for development- and private-sector Clean cooking and heating technologies have required the players alike, yet much work remains. Public-purpose knowl- development of objective and quantifiable performance and edge is needed to deepen the understanding of sex-specific design criteria. This was accomplished in 2018 when the first impacts (e.g., on time savings and intra-household savings and ISO standards on clean cookstoves and clean cooking solu- expenditures), provide men and women with actionable busi- tions were published. Implementation of the standards would ness insights, and channel new knowledge into public-policy entail incorporating them into regulations (e.g., prohibiting spheres. inferior products from being sold in the market) or labeling Through ESMAP, the World Bank has become a global leader schemes as a way of informing consumers about product in generating knowledge support for the sector. ESMAP’s work, quality. The following questions would be relevant in trying to including the Global Platform for Knowledge, Innovation, and determine if the standards are contributing to closing the gen- Policy Coordination under the Clean Cooking Fund (CCF), is der gaps or widening them: Do the standards favor one gender aligned with the World Bank Group’s Gender Strategy 2016–23 of producer? Is there an established link between the sex of (box O.1). Organizations like the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA) the producer/supplier and stoves that fail to meet the perfor- are also working across research, advocacy, and market intel- mance thresholds? If so, does the existence of new standards ligence. The CCA funds, consolidates, and publishes research diminish those producers’/suppliers’ businesses? Are support from its partners on performance, user adoption, impacts, and measures then put in place to aid them in improving the quality market trends around the globe. It also supports awareness of their product? Is there balanced representation in the stan- campaigns targeting consumers, as well as advocacy within dards-setting committee? policy-making spheres. In addition, it has a clearly articulated One should also inquire whether the facility used to test the gender strategy, which is currently being updated. clean stove technology is equally available to male and female producers in terms of both cost and geography. In addition, Research and Advocacy one needs to ask whether the bureaucratic process of obtain- Historical advances in clean cooking and heating technology ing a standards certification is designed with both women and appropriate to developing country contexts have been spurred, men in mind. in part, by research on the adverse impacts of traditional cooking and heating on health (particularly women’s pollu- tion exposure) and the environment (deforestation and black carbon). For over 40 years, groups like Aprovecho Research Centre and Berkeley Air Monitoring Group have applied a strict research mindset for improving on stove designs. Over time, 40 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps funding of such scientific research has led to better quantifica- increased participation in the sector, which can incentivize tion of the levels of technical performance that correlate with development agencies and the private sector to seek out more the desired health and environmental benefits. Global prac- inclusive business and implementation models. Two exam- titioners have long sought to embed technical performance ples illustrate how women leaders can be strong advocates for within real-world, user-centered contexts, as opposed to con- clean cooking (boxes 5.2 and 5.3). trolled laboratory environments; but the sheer variety of tech- nology options and cultural practices means that much more Market Intelligence needs to be learned and documented. In the cooking context, Without market intelligence, it is difficult to establish a success- user-centered studies require working in close conjunction ful business. Market mapping—studying various market condi- with cooks, who are predominantly female. tions to identify and understand trends in products, consumer Publicly funded research and advocacy have also been preferences, and financing options—is vital for identifying important for establishing the business case for women’s the opportunities and challenges a business might encoun- BOX 5.2 Ghana’s Second Lady uses her platform to promote adoption of clean cooking solutions Women in leadership positions are emerging as effective her efforts, Ghana is among the few African countries that advocates for clean cooking. Among them is Ghana’s Sec- have prioritized clean cooking in their policies. Recently, ond Lady, Her Excellency Mrs. Hadjia Samira Bawumia. Her Excellency was honored by Sustainable Energy for All As an ambassador for the Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA), (SEforALL) as one of seven global climate heroes—Seven she has used her political platform to raise the profile of for 7—working in energy and health. clean cooking in Ghana, as well as globally. As a result of Source: CCA 2019. BOX 5.3 Testing hypotheses about female entrepreneurs’ effectiveness A recent study commissioned by the Clean Cooking Alli- Using a randomized trial that assigned men and women ance (CCA) examined the impact of engaging women as to separate training groups and monitored their sales entrepreneurs in the clean-cooking value chain on sales and customer follow-up for eight months, the research- and adoption of improved cookstoves (ICS). The study was ers found that women outsold men by a three-to-one a collaborative effort of the Center for Global Clean Air at margin. The findings also showed that individuals who the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, received the empowerment training were more likely to ESVAK Kenya, and Envirofit International. persist in their businesses and were three times more likely The study’s threefold objectives were to determine (i) to be higher sellers. In addition, customers who purchased if female entrepreneurs are as effective as male entrepre- their ICS from women entrepreneurs expressed greater neurs in selling ICS in rural and urban sites in Kenya; (ii) satisfaction with their purchase,a were more likely to use if an agency-based empowerment training improves the the stove consistently, and were generally better able to effectiveness of ICS entrepreneurs when compared with explain how the stove should be used. standard entrepreneurial training; and (iii) if reported ICS usage and satisfaction differ by gender of the sales agent. Source: Shankar, Onyura, and Alderman 2015. a. Women reported the benefits of their ICS, compared to their traditional cookstoves, as being “very easy” (63 percent versus 45 percent), “very safe” (55 percent versus 26 percent), and “much better” (74 percent versus 62 percent). Enabling Policies and Market Support | 41 ter. However, for many owners of small- and medium-sized informed these upstream actors about preferences and trends enterprises (SMEs), conducting such studies is often poorly in the last-mile market segment. Insights on how women-led understood or too expensive. Women entrepreneurs may businesses operate and succeed are also valuable to upstream face specific barriers to obtaining accurate market informa- actors considering integrating more women into their busi- tion. Owing to lower literacy levels or poor access, they may nesses (e.g., salesforce) (box 5.4). be unaware that such services exist. Also, SME experts may not target women’s enterprises because of their size and sec- tor. According to a report of the Organisation for Economic Awareness Raising to Stimulate Behavior Change Co-operation and Development (OECD n.d.), women are less and Uptake likely to seek counseling and expert advice on starting up and developing their businesses, one of the many barriers associ- Cooking or space heating with polluting traditional stove- ated with the higher failure rate of women’s businesses. and-fuel combinations is routinized behavior for about half of However, commissioned consulting studies can benefit the global population (ESMAP 2020b). Developing sustainable women-led SMEs through information shared at university and markets for modern energy solutions requires that women graduate-student seminars and workshops; industry-spon- and men change their mindsets about adoption and use. sored workshops with key stakeholders (e.g., suppliers, Reluctance toward making the switch to clean cooking and financiers, and researchers); and study tours on clean-stove heating technologies can result from low consumer aware- technology applications in dynamic markets. These types of ness or misperception about product benefits, long ingrained activities usually require financial support and coordination traditions and habits, and suspicion of new technologies. In from governments or development partners. cases where potential consumers are aware of the benefits, Owing to their financial and social interests, some cook- they might not know where to buy the new technologies or stove manufacturers and wholesalers have long shared mar- remain unconvinced that the problems associated with tradi- ket intelligence and opportunities with women engaged in tional cooking and heating could be solved by the available their sales networks. Importantly, sales agents’ feedback has products. BOX 5.4 Actionable business insights from working with female micro-entrepreneurs Kopernik, a company specializing in last-mile technol- to win a motorbike) saw a US$5.8 return on each US$1 ogy distribution, has rigorous data collection and analysis invested, compared to US$2.6 return for each US$1 invested protocols in place for the programs it implements. One in newspaper advertising. Financing was important for con- such program, Wonder Women, empowers individuals in sumers across all product price points; one-third paid in marketing water filtration, solar PV, and cooking technol- installments for products in the US$7–15 range, rising to ogies in last-mile communities of Indonesia. Survey results two-thirds for products costing more than US$60. from Wonder Women participants found that women who Interviews with 66 Wonder Women entrepreneurs remained active in the program, compared to those who found that spousal involvement was correlated with sales exited, invested about twice the amount of time in business success, but only up to a point, after which performance activities but realized nearly five times the sales. The most- dipped again. Among the 140 entrepreneurs surveyed, cited reason for leaving the program was lack of time. Most representation in the high-performing agent category recruits had pre-existing businesses, so the side business was greater among those with work experience in social was given up when returns did not equal the opportunity services (e.g., as teachers, public servants, and employ- cost of the time invested. An extra two hours per week was ees of nongovernmental organizations [NGOs]), versus the average threshold at which returns became significant those with prior business experience, possibly because enough that women were encouraged to stay. of their wider social networks. Women with access to In A/B testing of sales strategies, the one that provided motorbikes realized twice the number of sales as those female agents incentives (commissions, plus a chance without such access. Source: Kopernik 2021. 42 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps PHOTO 5.1  Consumer’s Choice sales team leaders and public officials discuss for unlocking sources of private cap- Tanzania’s new ethanol stove-and-fuel program. ital and ensuring entrepreneurs have the required soft skills for continued growth. Lenders and investors will not participate in transactions until assured that the entrepreneur has a reasonable chance of success. Women’s disadvan- tage in access to finance due to lower initial asset levels could be offset by having received high-quality capacity building and business development. In Côte d’Ivoire, for example, the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), supported by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), trained women SMEs in preparing and maintaining financial statements and other soft skills to better position them for accessing institutional financing (World Bank and IFC 2018). © Mohammed Kadhi/Consumer’s Choice, Ltd Used with the permission of Mohammed Kadhi/Consumer’s Choice, Ltd. Further permission required for reuse.. Most contexts feature male-fe- male differences in business readi- Publicly funded awareness-raising and promotion cam- ness, whether judged by education, previous entrepreneurial paigns, in combination with other tools, can be an effective way experience, or personal beliefs and confidence in one’s ability to promote market-based development by laying the founda- to succeed. In education, for example, men may be overrepre- tion for behavioral change in household cooking and heating sented in technical studies, or women may be overrepresented (photo 5.1). Public awareness-raising and promotion cam- in business administration programs. Before launching any paigns are subject to the same considerations as marketing and support program, such potential differences must be consid- retailing (chapter 3). A study funded by the UK Department for ered in the context of the local setting. While training women International Development (DFID) (since renamed the Foreign, on the various aspects of the clean cooking or heating sup- Commonwealth & Development Office) on behavior-change ply chain (technical, business, and financial) can increase their communication campaigns to promote modern stove pur- chances of success, the specific nature of that training matters. chase and use found that gender, as well as media, influence Capacity-building and training initiatives are more successful product preferences (Evans et al. 2018). To achieve the desired overall when they account for women’s starting psychological demographic targeting, care must be taken in deciding (i) which and social constraints and address those in combination with channels are most likely to reach women and men (e.g., televi- providing general entrepreneurship support (Siba 2019). sion or radio; social media; public events, talks, presentations, or demonstrations; printed materials [posters and leaflets]; and Agency-Based Empowerment/Leadership Training word-of-mouth); (ii) which messages are most likely to per- A powerful tool for boosting clean stoves sales is agen- suade them; (iii) who will most likely be making the purchasing cy-based empowerment. Adapted from the health sec- decision; and (iv) who will most likely be the primary technol- tor by ENERGIA and its partners, this training methodology ogy adopter. enhances an individual’s cognitive capacity to focus on and realize his or her goals and leadership skills (Smith and Shan- kar 2015). In Bolivia, agency-based empowerment and lead- Training, Capacity Strengthening, and Business ership training helped women find new ways of selling and Development promoting stoves, thereby enhancing demand. In Kenya, training in agency-based empowerment and leadership was Beyond start-up cash and a basic inventory, training, capac- shown to boost stove sales, especially among women entre- ity strengthening, and business development are important preneurs (box 5.3). Enabling Policies and Market Support | 43 Mentorship toward commercialization and establishing brand credibility. Mentorship programs offer another avenue through which In stove retailing, anchor customers are often professional women can gain from skills transfer and networks to advance workers clustered in specific locations (e.g., estates and mines, their business and career opportunities in the clean cooking schools, and health clinics) with steady incomes but poor sector. Examples include the CCA’s Women in Clean Cooking access to clean cooking and heating technologies. Cluster- Mentorship Program, Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), ing lowers the cost of reaching such customers, while their and the Global Women’s Network for the Energy Transition employment relationship make the new technologies more (GWNET). Such programs match mentees with experienced affordable and supports financing schemes. mentors who support them in their professional career Because of historical gender gaps in business knowledge, growth while offering networking and knowledge-transfer women entrepreneurs are likely to lack (i) resources with opportunities. which to identify anchor customers; (ii) networks and capacity to negotiate terms with them; and in some cases (iii) capacity Business Development Services to deliver at the required scale and on schedule. Supporting The IFC defines business development services as non-finan- women in identifying and negotiating with anchor customers cial products and services offered to entrepreneurs at various is an emerging best practice (box 5.5). stages of their business needs, primarily aimed at skills transfer or business advice (IFC 2006). Business development services Technical Skills Training can include marketing support (advertising, market linkages, Technical skills training in clean cooking and heating solu- and branding), consulting services, support for improved tions theoretically runs the gamut from mud stove construc- access to business information or technology, infrastructure tion, ceramics, and artisanal metalworking to fuel processing support (warehousing or transport of goods), advocacy, finan- (e.g., ethanol and briquettes), factory-line set-up and oper- cial matchmaking, support for networking and increased busi- ations, and boiler installation and repair. Clean cooking pro- ness visibility, and mentoring. grams commonly provide women-targeted training, especially when the technology being promoted is locally produced or Identification of Anchor Customers installed. Anchor customers are critical to business viability as they pro- Technical training initiatives may be “gender-aware,” mean- vide substantial, consistent orders that advance the business ing that they help women’s entry into jobs traditionally con- BOX 5.5 Combining agency-based empowerment, business development services, and anchor-customer identification in Kenya Women in Energy Enterprises in Kenya (WEEK)—a proj- ages. Also, their satisfaction with the type and level of ect implemented by Practical Action in Eastern Africa and services received was reported on and monitored. Sustainable Community Development Services (SCODE), WEEK negotiated for Chinga Tea Factory, which a local Kenyan nongovernmental organization (NGO)— employs thousands of laborers, to become an anchor provided a package of business development services to customer. Through this factory, the women sold thou- support women’s engagement in three renewable energy sands of cookstoves, with one woman selling as many markets: (i) improved cookstoves (ICS), (ii) solar products, as 3,500 stoves to fellow tea farmers. In addition, WEEK and (iii) biomass briquettes. The project trained more than engaged with Savings and Credit Cooperatives (SAC- 1,900 entrepreneurs, a portion of whom went on to sell COs). In addition to helping finance the women trained by over 100,000 stoves within the three-year project period. SCODE, SACCOs acted as a marketing point for delivery of The women entrepreneurs were provided training, tech- ICS and biodigesters to hundreds of members, with signif- nology support, business mentoring, and financing link- icant cost savings. Sources: ENERGIA 2016; Hart and Smith 2013; Ruggles 2017. 44 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program). 2020b. The State BOX 5.6 of Access to Modern Energy Cooking Services. Washington, DC: World Bank Group. Evans, William Douglas, Michael Johnson, Kirstie Jagoe, Dana Charron, The value of training women in Bonnie N. Young, A. S. M. Mashiur Rahman, Daniel Omolloh, and Julie Ipe. 2018. “Evaluation of Behavior Change Communication Campaigns technical stove skills to Promote Modern Cookstove Purchase and Use in Lower Middle Income Countries.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Appropriate Energy Saving Technologies (AEST) Ltd., a Public Health 15 (1): 11. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15010011. company selling charcoal briquettes and cookstoves Hart, Corinne, and Genevieve Smith. 2013. “Scaling Adoption of Clean Cooking Solutions through Women’s Empowerment.” Resources, Sep- in Uganda, trained all of the women and men on its tember 25. http://cleancookstoves.org/resources/223.html. production teams on each piece of equipment. When ICRW (International Center for Research on Women). n.d. “Gender-Smart the men went on strike to protest the women receiv- Investing: Off-Grid Energy Case Study, Appropriate Energy Saving Tech- nologies (AEST). https://www.icrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/ ing equal wages, the women were able to continue ICRW_AEST_CaseStudy.pdf. operating the machines in the men’s absence, and IFC (International Finance Corporation). 2006. Diagnostic Study on Access the strike was ultimately ineffective. The founder and to Finance for Women Entrepreneurs in South Africa, 52–77. Washing- ton, DC: International Finance Corporation. CEO did not want men to be the “sole holders of spe- Kitson, Lucy, Laura Merrill, Christopher Beaton, Shruti Sharma, and Andrew cialized knowledge” because of the risks this posed to McCarthy. 2016. Gender and Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform: Current Status of Research. Global Subsidies Initiative (GSI) Report. Geneva: Interna- management. tional Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). https://www.iisd.org/ sites/default/files/publications/gender-fossil-fuel-subsidy-reform-cur- Source: ICRW n.d. rent-status-research.pdf. Kopernik. 2021. K-Insights. https://kopernik.info/en/insights-reports/kin- sights? type=technologydistribution&subtype= wonder women. sidered acceptable for females (e.g., ceramics) or “gender- OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). n.d. “Small Businesses, Job Creation and Growth: Facts, Obstacles and Best transformative,” helping women to enter traditionally male Practices.” Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, occupations (e.g., metalworking) (box 5.6). A vast array of tech- Paris. https://www.oecd.org/cfe/smes/2090740.pdf. nical skills could be in demand, but the key is making sure Ruggles, Melissa. 2017. “NGOs and Tea Factories Team Up with Coop- eratives and Women Farmers to Increase Access to Clean Cooking in trainees are well-linked to employment or entrepreneurship Kenya.” Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL) (blog), October 26. https:// opportunities on program completion. www.seforall.org/content/ngos-factories-cooperatives-women-farm- ers-increase-access-clean-cooking. Shankar, Anita, Mary Alice Onyura, and Jessica Alderman. 2015. “Agen- Note cy-Based Empowerment Training Enhances Sales Capacity of Female Energy Entrepreneurs in Kenya.” Journal of Health Communication 20: 1. Kitson et al. (2016) provides a useful review of the gendered impacts of 67–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2014.1002959. fossil-fuel subsidy reform. Siba, E. 2019. “Empowering Women Entrepreneurs in Developing Coun- tries: Why Current Programs Fall Short.” Africa Growth Initiative at Brookings Policy Brief, February. Washington, DC. Brookings Institution. References https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Empower- ing-women- entreprenuers-in-developing-countries-190215.pdf. CCA (Clean Cooking Alliance). 2019. “Second Lady of Ghana and Clean Cooking Champion Samira Bawumia Announced as SEforAll #Seven- Smith, Genevieve, and Anita Shankar. 2015. Empowered Entrepreneur For7 Honoree.” Alliance News, September 19. https://www.clean Training Handbook. Washington, DC: Global Alliance for Clean Cook- cookingalliance.org/about/news/09-19-2019-second-lady-of-ghana- stoves. http://cleancookstoves.org/resources/342.html. and-clean-cooking-champion-samira-bawumia-announced-as-se- World Bank and IFC (International Finance Corporation). 2018. “Women forall-sevenfor7-honoree.html. Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi): Creating Finance and Markets ENERGIA. 2016. “Practical Action: Women in Energy Enterprises in Kenya.” for All.” https://we-fi.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Joint-World- February 16. https://www.energia.org/practical-action-women-in-en- Bank-Group-We-Fi-Public-Proposal-1.pdf ergy-enterprises-in-kenya/. ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program). 2020a. Regula- tory Indicators for Sustainable Energy (RISE): Sustaining the Momentum. Washington, DC: World Bank. Enabling Policies and Market Support | 45 Elizabeth Eunice cooks dinner for her family in Kisumu West, Kenya with her new rocket stove. It uses less firewood than her previous stove, allowing her to have more time to care for her baby and other activities. © Peter Kapuscinski/World Bank. Further permission required for reuse. PART 3 How to Design Gender- Responsive Projects 6.  Practical Guidance for Task Teams 7.  Closing the Gaps Digital finance is helping Uganda’s youth to access next-generation cooking technology to build a brighter future. This portable biomass stove cuts fuelwood use by half, eliminates nearly all toxic emissions, and leverages thermoelectrics to charge mobile devices. © Alison Wright/FINCA International. Used with the permission of Alison Wright/ FINCA International. Further permission required for reuse. 48 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps 6 Practical Guidance for Task Teams Gender considerations can be integrated into clean cooking how to conduct stakeholder consultations and who to consult; and heating programs through two key pathways: (i) sustained who the main beneficiaries are and how best to optimize their adoption and use of the intervention stove technologies and benefits; the existing rights, participation, or representation fuels and (ii) women’s engagement across the value chain. The opportunities for women; and the project design or technol- former pathway contributes to enhancing women’s endow- ogy that would best narrow gender gaps. ments in health and economic opportunities, while the latter In addition to background information, analysis should contributes to increasing women’s economic opportunities include the issues covered in the previous chapters of this and, to some extent, women’s agency. report (box 6.1). Overarching themes are how to address gen- To assess the gender-differentiated impacts of projects and der disparities and how a deeper understanding of gender gaps potential opportunities to bridge gaps, task teams can con- can lead to a more vibrant supply and wider adoption of the sider interventions for the following phases: (i) analysis; (ii) modern cooking or heating technology. stakeholder consultations; (iii) safeguard screening; (iv) project A review of analytical studies in other sectors can offer design; (v) monitoring, verification, and evaluation (MV&E); and insights on other relevant gender gaps that clean cooking and (vi) budget issues and human resources. For each phase, poten- heating programs can address. Various organizations, including tial entry points for closing gaps between men and women can the International Monetary Fund (IMF), generate analyses on a be identified. One should note that entry-point activities are not range of gender issues (box 6.2). executed in a linear fashion; rather, they run concurrently with To effectively conduct analysis, primary and secondary data and inform one another. This chapter is particularly useful for (both qualitative and quantitative) must be sex-disaggregated. those seeking to measure progress via the Gender Tag (box O.1). To identify the gaps that need to be addressed, the data is pro- cessed and analyzed, and the identified gaps are fully integrated into the project design documents (for World Bank projects this Analysis includes the project concept note [PCN] and project appraisal document [PAD]). The factors discussed in Parts 1 and 2 of this Analysis lays the foundation for identifying relevant gender report—on consumers, supply-chain actors, and the enabling gaps in women’s and men’s roles at project identification and environment—could serve as a starting point for listing issues conceptualization and exploring how to narrow them. Among to be investigated during the process of conducting the analy- other things, analysis involves examining the relations between sis. In addition, maintaining an open mind can help in identify- women and men; their respective levels of access to and con- ing novel or unanticipated issues that may arise. trol of resources; their division of labor and daily/seasonal Gender specialists should support the task team members activity routines; their involvement in socioeconomic and responsible for project identification, design, and prepara- political activities; and sex-specific behaviors, norms, and val- tion, preferably from an early stage. Analysis is an ongoing ues. Various outcomes from initial analyses can help task teams responsibility that must be tightly inscribed within the other decide what direction the project should take. These include phases of project prepration (stakeholder consultations, Practical Guidance for Task Teams | 49 BOX 6.1 Checklist for integrating analysis issues into clean cooking and heating projects End-User Level: Women and Men ✓ Norms and roles concerning appliance purchases, fuel procurement, and utilizing stoves for cooking or heating (including productive uses) ✓ Differences in product/service preference and design considerations ✓ Differences in awareness about issues related to clean cooking or heating and the availability of specific technologies ✓ Differences in anticipated costs and benefits of switching to modern cooking or heating solutions ✓ Differences in responses to marketing and sales strategies ✓ Differences in responses to strategies aimed at sustaining uptake (e.g., after-sales service and use incentives) Value Chain ✓ Differences in current rates of participation by value-chain segment and job type ✓ Barriers faced by women and men in becoming more active/successful in the value chain (e.g., access to capital and skills) ✓ Degree to which product suppliers, service providers, and financiers are reaching both male and female customers and in the right proportions Enabling Policy and Regulatory Environment ✓ Differences in how regulations and policies pertaining to clean cooking and heating affect men and women ✓ Degree to which sector-relevant, supporting ecosystems (education, training, finance, market intelligence, and pro- fessional and government services) are equally available to men and women and designed with both in mind ✓ Differences in women’s and men’s participation in governance and policy decision-making related to clean cooking and heating BOX 6.2 Analytical work by the IMF highlights key areas for narrowing gender gaps Since 2015, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has the boost in productivity and growth from closing gender integrated analysis of gender equality into its regular con- gaps in Niger and Pakistan; and the improved competi- sultations with member country authorities. More than 40 tiveness from women’s financial inclusion and economic reports with a specific focus on gender issues have been empowerment in India and Pakistan. Additional examlpes completed. The types of analyses conducted by the IMF include the impact of policy measures to reduce gender are wide-ranging. Examples include the impacts that wage inequality (e.g., child-care provision in Egypt and cash gaps in women’s labor-force participation have had on transfers targeting girls’ education in Nigeria) and “gender growth and inclusiveness in India, Morocco, and Rwanda; budgeting” in Morocco and Rwanda.a Source: IMF n.d. According to the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE 2021), gender budgeting is a strategy to achieve equality between women and men by a.  focusing on how public resources are collected and spent. 50 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps PHOTO 6.1  In Chongwe, Zambia, this grandmother cooks outdoors during her family’s farming activities. © Jason Mulikita/Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership. Used with the permission of Jason Mulikita/Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership. Further permission required for reuse. project design, and MV&E), as together they form a highly women), groups, and associations with knowledge of similar interdependent and iterative set of processes. In some cases, projects, technologies, and gender issues in the country. These analysis focused on women and men may be a core activity stakeholders are important as they may have macro-level data of the project (photo 6.1, box 6.3). and information critical to the project design, as well as rele- vant insights on what does or does not work in the particular project setting. Stakeholder Consultations The starting point for inclusive consultations and engage- ment is conducting a stakeholder mapping exercise, leverag- At the project identification stage, stakeholder consultations ing gender and clean stoves experts, to identify those who will and engagement help in developing well-informed projects be consulted. An initial shortlist can be used in a snowballing that are targeted and coherent, and that can address social, manner to identify networks of relevant stakeholders, includ- economic, and cultural barriers to adopting modern cooking ing women and men in target communities, gender experts, or heating solutions. Throughout the project cycle, such con- organizations working on gender issues, private-sector actors sultations solicit important insights while driving participation, (especially those in energy and finance), government policy consensus, and buy-in. makers (including energy ministries and the so-called gender Multilayer consultation—that is, consulting multiple types machineries [e.g., gender observatories and ministries]). At this of stakeholders on a range of issues using a variety of tech- stage, it can be helpful to set targets for the participation of niques—is considered a best practice (box 6.4). This approach women or other stakeholder groups. not only captures the views of those affected by the project Appropriate methods should be used to connect with the (e.g., consumers, businesses, financiers, and policy makers). various stakeholders. For example, workshops held in large cit- It also allows for capturing the views of individuals (men and ies may be suitable for consultations with policy makers, project Practical Guidance for Task Teams | 51 BOX 6.3 Gender analysis is not limited to the project design phase The World Bank Group’s East Asia and Pacific Gender • Does promotion of modern cooking technologies Innovation Lab (EAP GIL) plans to conduct a rigorous affect intra-household bargaining? impact evaluation (IE) under the Lao PDR Clean Stove Ini- • How does access to modern cooking technologies tiative (CSI), which will measure the impact of access to change household consumption patterns and well- modern cooking technology on women’s time use, labor being? market activities, bargaining power, and household con- sumption patterns. The IE team will utilize a randomized controlled trial (RCT) The IE seeks to answer the following questions: at two levels. At the village level, it will randomize the share of eligible households that will receive a stove. This will • How does access to modern cooking technologies enable the EAP GIL to explore research questions related impact the domestic burden in the household? How to the broader community impacts and measure the pro- does it affect women’s time use? gram’s potential spillover effects. Within each village, the • To what extent does it reduce the time needed for team will identify eligible households according to prede- cooking, collecting fuel, and cleaning utensils? termined eligibility criteria and randomly select those that • In response to a decrease in the domestic labor burden, will receive a subsidized stove for their personal use. The do women spend additional time on productive activ- team will also randomly select some ineligible households ities or change the types of productive activities they to include in the data collection in order to capture spill- engage in? over effects on the community. The data for this IE will be drawn from three household surveys conducted at base- • Does a shift in the domestic labor burden affect wom- line, midline, and endline. en’s time spent on rest or leisure activities or reduce their overall labor burden? Does it promote an improved sense of well-being or life satisfaction? implementers, and certain private-sector actors. For engaging • Choose dates, times, and locations for FGDs or meet- women and men in the project-affected communities, focus ings that are convenient, possibly piggy-backing off other group discussions (FGDs) and field visits with one-to-one and events, and avoiding times when women and men have key informant interviews are useful (boxes 6.5 and 6.6). competing obligations. To ensure meaningful participation in consultations, task • Conduct separate female-only consultations in cases where teams should consider the following: women would be discouraged from speaking in mixed • Tailor communication materials about the project or groups or where women’s and men’s schedules would pre- planned consultation activities to both women and men, vent them from assembling at the same time and place. noting their literacy levels and preferred channels for receiv- • Explore the option of providing childcare at meetings to ing information (e.g., word-of-mouth, announcement from encourage women’s attendance and participation. a trusted organization, radio, or pamphlet). • Provide travel stipends to women and economically disad- • Employ both male and female community liaisons, focus vantaged participants when appropriate so that cost is not a group moderators, interviewers, and enumerators to barrier to attendance. encourage the participation of both men and women and provide individuals the opportunity to speak with someone • Establish conventions/practices during meetings to ensure of either gender if doing so is the norm. no one group dominates the conversation. This could include using “talking sticks,” participatory exercises where everyone submits their input on questions, or turn-taking. 52 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps BOX 6.4 Multilayer consultations in Pakistan The Pakistan Domestic Biogas Programme (2009–13) was presented at a multi-stakeholder workshop, which aimed to facilitate the construction of 14,000 house- included representatives of government agencies, non- hold-level biogas plants across central Punjab to increase governmental organizations (NGOs), biogas construction rural access to sustainable energy and reduce demand companies, activists, and biogas users. To understand for subsidized fossil fuels. As end users, women were the the gender issues affecting biogas users and project main program beneficiaries; however, few women in the implementers, community-level consultations were held program area owned biogas plants. For example, a feasi- through field visits, informal and key informant interviews, bility study in Faisalabad found that only 1 out of 18 bio- and focus group discussions (FGDs). gas plants was woman-owned. Thus, it was decided that A final evaluation of the PDBP showed that, as a result of a new project should be launched to increase awareness the GAP and consultations, project management, staff, and of gender-specific concerns and maximize project bene- biogas construction companies had better attitudes about fits. Under the new project, Gender Mainstreaming in the and knowledge of gender issues. The literature on gender PDBP, three levels of stakeholder consultations were held, developed under the project has been used in successive supported by gender experts from Winrock International, donor proposals. Before the multi-stakeholder workshop SNV, and ENERGIA. and development of the GAP, user trainings focused on First, national-level consultations were held with men only. Afterwards, trainings were offered to at least one head-office leadership of the Rural Support Programmes man and one woman per user household. Also, to address Network (RSPN). These were followed by district-level women’s needs, a separate space was allocated for mar- consultations, after which a gender action plan (GAP) ried females to come with their babies and nannies. Source: RSPN 2011. BOX 6.5 Stakeholder consultations identifying women’s needs spur a successful advocacy movement in Sudan In 2003, following an assessment of living conditions in The WDAN successfully lobbied the Greater Nile Petro- the Wau Nour neighborhood of Kassala, Sudan, the Inter- leum company to provide 5-kg LPG canisters, in addition mediate Technology Development Group (now Practical to the standard 12.5-kg ones. The need among female cli- Action) conducted a trial with 30 households promot- entele and nomadic families for smaller canisters, which ing their switch from biomass to liquefied petroleum gas are cheaper and more portable, was identified through (LPG). Subsequently, it started working with the Women’s stakeholder consultations. The WDAN played a key role in Development Association Networks (WDAN) to scale up (i) identifying consumer preferences, (ii) aggregating con- biomass-to-LPG switching in Kassala and El Fashir, North sumer voices (50,000 members), and (iii) effectively com- Darfur. As the country’s first registered Clean Development municating their preferences to relevant stakeholders and Mechanism (CDM) project, the Low Smoke Stoves Project advocating for change. Expanding the range of available is now in its third phase (2018–21). canister sizes has contributed to the project’s success, with nearly 12,000 households now using LPG for cooking. Sources: Practical Action n.d. Practical Guidance for Task Teams | 53 BOX 6.6 Setting and tracking targets for inclusive consultations: The first step in achieving balance Expanding district heating in Mongolia’s capital city is a key the women and men were documented and integrated objective of the Asian Development Bank’s support to the into infrastructure designs. Sex-disaggregated data was Ulaanbatar Urban Services and Ger Areas Development collected for all participants in all consultations and is Investment Programme. The program component aims to reported on in quarterly and semi-annual project imple- reduce air pollution in Ulaanbatar by constructing 21 km mentation reports; these ensure that gender gaps (and of district heating network, 2.4 km of heating service con- progress in narrowing them) remain relevant and are mon- nections, and five heating facilities. itored throughout the life of the project. Between 2015 As part of a strategy to reduce gender gaps between and April 2017, 95 community consultations were held women and men, a gender action plan (GAP) was devel- with 2,652 persons, of whom 56 percent were women. oped. Although the gaps to be addressed were not Project design consultations (9 meetings) engaged 242 specified, the GAP included best practices in inclusive con- individuals (117 women and 125 men), 6 percent of whom sultation by (i) setting a women’s participation target of 50 represented female-headed households. percent in all consultations and (ii) mandating that details A summary of design consultations noted that wom- of the final project proposal be confirmed by women and en’s contributions focused more on the proposed design men, as well as the elderly, affected households, and per- of roads and service centers than on technical specifica- sons with disabilities. tions.a It was also noted that both women and men pre- Community-level focus group discussions (FGDs), ferred district heating over coal and wood; however, more which specifically targeted women and vulnerable per- women than men preferred district heating over natural sons, included 65 community members of whom 65 per- gas due to safety concerns about stove explosions. cent were female. The needs identified and prioritized by Sources: ADB 2017; EBRD and CIF 2016. This observation is consistent with those in Ukraine and Kazakhstan, where women’s participation in district heating meetings related more to payments, a.  reflecting their traditional role in family budgeting. • Record feedback and inputs by gender of the contribu- ronmental and Social Standards (ESS) used to screen projects. tor and follow up to see whose comments were actually Among these, ESS10 offers detailed guidance on stakeholder addressed or led to some form of concrete action. engagement. Thus, the items discussed in the previous section will play a role in gathering information and insights to inform • Establish Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC). Although safeguard screening. In turn, safeguard screening will partially most often used in conjunction with large infrastructure inform monitoring, verification, and evaluation (MV&E) activ- projects and Indigenous Peoples, several FPIC tenets can ities. Any domain of significant concern identified during the be applied to projects focused on clean cooking or heating screening process should lead to the creation of an indicator solutions.1 to capture and track its outcomes. • Conduct local language consultations to reduce ambiguity Owing to the special emphasis placed on safeguard con- and enable women and men with lower literacy levels to cerns by the World Bank and the contextual nature of those participate effectively. issues, this report does not include specific guidance on safe- guards, and only highlights potential areas that may be of rel- evance to clean cooking and heating programs. Task teams Safeguard Screening should refer to the World Bank’s safeguard policies and work in close consultation with Safeguard Specialists to ensure that the On October 1, 2018, the World Bank operationalized the Envi- measures developed have accounted for gender-differentiated ronmental and Social Framework (ESF) with a set of 10 Envi- impacts. In addition to stakeholder consultations, discussed 54 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps above, the safeguards cover issues that require gender analysis produced a number of Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA)–funded to ensure that the mitigation measures taken do not shift the case studies that document progressive company-level prac- risk burden unequally between women and men. These issues tices in the sector. These serve as a useful starting point when include, but are not limited to, the following: thinking about what actions to incorporate into the design of future programs. Suggested recommendations on gender • Labor and working conditions. Projects should provide entry points and related activities are as follows: appropriate measures of protection and assistance to address the vulnerabilities of project workers, including • Engage men since they are often the key decision-makers specific worker groups (e.g., women, people with disabili- in their households and communities. Their understand- ties, migrant workers, and children of working age). ing and support can be critical to the sustained adoption of modern cooking and heating solutions and female rel- • Resource efficiency and pollution prevention and manage- atives’ entry into the value chain and future success. Men ment. Projects should not have adverse effects on human must understand and embrace the program’s objectives and health and environment. During their design, construction, believe that they too have a stake in the outcomes. and operation, projects should consider technically and financially feasible and cost-effective options that avoid or • Actively recruit women since this may positively affect minimize harmful emissions. productivity and/or lead to real political change. Envirofit, Atmosfair (Lesotho), The Paradigm Project (East Africa), • Community health and safety. Projects should be designed, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) (India), and Qori constructed, operated, and decommissioned in accor- Q’oncha (Peru) are among the improved cookstoves (ICS) dance with national legal requirements; Environmental, initiatives that purposefully recruit women as stove retailers Health, and Safety Guidelines (EHSGs); and other Good as this strategy has a positive impact on sales (box 6.7). International Industry Practice (GIIP), taking into consider- ation safety risks to third parties and affected communities. BOX 6.7 • Biodiversity conservation and sustainable management of living natural resources. Projects involving primary produc- tion and harvesting of living natural resources are required Corporate policies in Cambodian to assess the overall sustainability of such activities, as well briquette business create an as their potential impacts on local, nearby, or ecologically inclusive work environment for linked habitats, biodiversity, and communities, including both women and men Indigenous Peoples. The Sustainable Green Fuel Enterprise (SGFE), a social • Indigenous Peoples/Sub-Saharan African Historically enterprise in Cambodia that produces char-briquettes Underserved Traditional Local Communities. The ESS rec- from coconut shells and other waste materials, ognizes that the roles of men and women in indigenous makes a conscious effort to employ women. One- cultures often differ from those in mainstream groups, and third of its staff and management are women, drawn that women and children, who frequently have been mar- mostly from a community of waste-pickers. SGFE’s ginalized both within their own communities and as a result policies foster equality and an inclusive work environ- of external development, may have specific needs. Projects ment. For example, they require that all employees’ are thus required to obtain FPIC in circumstances where the children remain in school, and issue fines for rude project would have significant impacts on cultural heritage. behavior. They also offer benefits that are uncom- mon by Cambodian standards (e.g., marriage and maternity leave, health insurance, paid vacation, and Project Design a thirteenth month salary). SGFE’s director expressed interest in investing in materials handling equipment In conceptualizing and designing clean cooking and heating that would make jobs less physically demanding for projects, project concept notes (PCNs) and project appraisal both women and men and would allow for greater documents (PADs) should strive to reflect balanced male-fe- female participation. male participation in all activities—especially those with tech- Source: ENERGIA 2014. nical components or that are traditionally closed off to women. The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) has Practical Guidance for Task Teams | 55 PHOTO 6.2  Customers at a selling location for charcoal and firewood in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia © Chris Adam. Used with the permission of Chris Adam. Further permission required for reuse. • Encourage the use of voluntary targets in hiring, procure- ect outset. Once women have the necessary skills and a ment, and portfolio lending or, in countries where permit- business plan, it is important that no time is lost search- ted, use preferential systems, such as quotas or non-price ing for sources of capital for them to start or grow their factor scoring,2 to increase the number of women in jobs enterprises. where they are most severely underrepresented. For exam- • Plan for the future, plan for growth. Putting the necessary ple, SNV included preferential hiring in its funding agree- support in place will ensure that women-led businesses ment in Nepal for the Improved Cookstove Project with will not be stranded in isolated markets that have become Carbon Finance, resulting in women filling 16 percent of saturated over the course of the project. A percentage of jobs, an important achievement where women rarely work women aided by the project will succeed and be poised for outside the home. In Lesotho, a Stove80 distribution project follow-on support and investment, possibly before the proj- mandated a 50/50 gender mix, opening many new jobs for ect has terminated. women (Gold Standard 2016). • Train governments and implementing partners on the • Provide capacity building and training services so that business case for gender inclusion and gender diversity in women and men develop the skills and confidence required the workforce and share with them some of the practical to engage in opportunities across the value chains, and are approaches highlighted in this report. One approach found not limited to working in micro- and small-scale businesses. to be particularly effective is bringing together groups of • Pair capacity building with capital input. Capacity building implementing organizations from various geographies to that targets business owners should be complemented by learn from each other about strategies.3 access to seed funding or working capital from the proj- 56 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps • Don’t overlook productive-use opportunities that could be petroleum gas (LPG) in several countries (WLPGA 2014), and added to the program at a minor incremental cost. Many even successfully lobbied gas companies to provide LPG in women are involved in commercial food preparation, smaller, more portable cylinders that were more affordable heat-intensive agro-industrial processing, and restauration; (Practical Action n.d.). thus, an existing program’s soft infrastructure (e.g., staff, networks, and training facilities) might be leveraged to tack on additional technologies and business models to serve Monitoring, Verification, and Evaluation such productive-use needs in addition to domestic ones. Tracking the progress and performance of clean cooking and • Determine early on whether cooking-focused projects also heating projects is required to understand whether the inter- have heating-related issues. If so, act quickly to incorpo- ventions are having the desired outcomes and impacts. Indi- rate heating and a focus on gender gaps into all phases of cators provide data that can be measured to develop new the project development cycle and design since developing research insights and formulate hypotheses. For programs that countries may lack an understanding of combined cook- take a results-based financing (RBF) approach, indicator data ing-heating technology use and gender. Extra effort and trigger payments (figure 6.1). Thus, monitoring, verification, and special experts may be needed to mainstream gender into evaluation (MV&E) must be built into projects that receive the this component (photo 6.2). financing (box 6.8). In addition, the level at which measure- ments are taken must be carefully decided to ensure a balance • Explore opportunities to leverage women’s groups to between MV&E costs and investor interests. effect political change. Partners and networks participating The variables captured by the monitoring frameworks should in the project may also benefit from development-partner be informative, useful for making course corrections, and con- support in organizing and mobilizing to lobby governments, tribute to improving the effectiveness of subsequent projects. private-sector actors, development partners, and other Suggested actions for ensuring this occurs are as follows: decision-makers concerning their most pressing issues. For example, women have been instrumental in changing sub- • Develop a robust project baseline. Environmental and sidy policies and government support programs for liquefied Social Impact Assessments (ESIAs) and the analysis con- FIGURE 6.1 Illustrative metrics spectrum for MV&E Outcome Impact Input/activities Output • Materials and equipment • Number of stoves • Black carbon: • Black carbon: • Operational (marketing) sold PM/SLCP reduction Carbon equivalent activities performed • Level of household usage • Health: PM exposure emissions reduction by fundng recipients of stoves reduction • Health: DALYs averted • Gender: Reduction in • Gender: Reduced time spent collecting drudgery and time forewood/cooking poverty for women/girls Less relevant More relevant to impact to impact Harder and more Easier and less costly to measure costly to measure Practical Guidance for Task Teams | 57 BOX 6.8 MV&E: A design component of Clean Cooking Fund–financed projects The World Bank–hosted Clean Cooking Fund (CCF) treats sure and averted disability-adjusted life years (ADALYs); (ii) monitoring, verification, and evaluation (MV&E) as a com- gender equality, measured as reduced time women and ponent of all the projects it supports. At a project’s output girls spend collecting firewood and cooking and reduced level, monitoring and verification measures the amount drudgery and time poverty for women and girls; and (iii) of investments mobilized and the number of households climate, measured as reduced black carbon (BC) and other that adopt and use the clean stoves. At its outcome and short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), including their car- impact levels, results are measured against improvements bon equivalent emissions (figure 6.1).a in three areas: (i) health, measured as reduced PM2.5 expo- Other greenhouse gases (GHGs), including their tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), will continue to be quantified and purchased by the World Bank a.  through the Climate Change Group. The CCF will ensure that its activities complement these funds and initiatives ducted at project preparation and appraisal stages can be have extensive experience in health baseline and outcome used to produce the sex-disaggregated data needed for a measurements. As in the case of social impact measure- baseline. The baseline should clearly showcase the status of ments, the guidance of a gender expert would be required women in relation to men prior to the intervention and can to ensure that emissions and health baselines are fully use both qualitative and quantitative measures. Collecting sex-disaggregated. data only on women’s situation is often inadequate as it does not allow for post-intervention comparisons to deter- • Use appropriate tools for measuring and tracking gender mine whether the project is closing, exacerbating, or having outcomes. At project preparation, the results framework no effect on gender gaps. The baseline can be at the level can be developed, along with indicators, monitoring meth- of the community (user), supplier, and/or policy. odology, and management information systems that reflect gender issues arising from the project. Guidelines for mea- • Don’t treat all women as a homogeneous group. Socio- suring and tracking gender outcomes have been developed economic status, cross-referenced with sex-disaggregated by such agencies as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), data, will provide more useful information. For example, Gold Standard, ENERGIA, and SNV, among others. Rele- only disaggregating by sex can miss nuances (e.g., caste, vant tools and methods include the World Bank’s Multi-Tier income, or marital status) that accord women and men Framework (MTF), Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), certain gender roles associated with specific barriers. The Gold Standard and Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) meth- Clean Cooking Alliance (CCA) and the International Cen- odologies, ADALYs, Gold Standard Gender Equality Guide- ter for Research on Women (ICRW) have put together lines (2017), and WOCAN/W+ Time Savings Methodology. a detailed guide on social impact measurement, which Currently, the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management includes a sample baseline survey. Assistance Program (ESMAP) is conducting a field study • Consider that each individual component of the baseline to quantify and measure the climate, health, and gender (e.g., separate epidemiological studies) offers an opportu- co-benefits from clean cooking interventions, whose find- nity to collect data. Emissions exposure and health-status ings will directly fit into the Clean Cooking Fund’s MV&E surveys can be built into a project’s objectives, as in the methodologies (ESMAP 2020). For World Bank task teams, case of the Lao PDR Clean Stove Initiative (CSI). Universi- it is important to consult with ESMAP and gender experts ties and research institutes, as well as regional and national assigned to the projects for up-to-date guidance as the stove-testing centers, can be contracted to support taking tools and methods are constantly evolving. such measurements, while medical experts and universities 58 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps • Utilize both quantitative and qualitative indicators to cap- burdens as a result of adopting the new technologies (e.g., ture parts of the project’s results chain. Ideally, these indica- increased water collection or digester-related work for tors should be sex-disaggregated and able to be accurately biogas plants). In addition, women’s increased economic and cost-efficiently measured and reported. Preferably, responsibilities from their new incomes could wipe out the a combination of indicators should be used to track the expected economic and other gains and thus fail to trans- project’s activities (e.g., training or financing women-led late into increased status. Unanticipated positive outcomes cookstove businesses), outcomes (e.g., increased reve- are also possible. nue generated and jobs created, with sex-specific group • Explore the permanence of the effected change at proj- performance compared to the baseline), and impacts ect completion and capture lessons in a way that can be (e.g., sex-disaggregated business longevity, growth and applied to future endeavors. Gender norms usually evolve increased wealth and well-being of the business owner’s slowly and sometimes in unexpected ways; thus, sustaining family, and impact of clean cooking on household health project gains can be challenging. For World Bank projects, and welfare). Thus, use of a logical framework (logframe) the implementation completion report (ICR) should detail for monitoring and assessment is advised. the gender-related outcomes and impacts that the project • Choose other indicators that can be strategically used to has realized, as well as future risks to sustaining them. It is fine-tune the project approach—as opposed to more gen- also desirable that future projects have the opportunity to erally documenting progress—by generating actionable learn from and build on the gender and clean-stove expe- lessons. Kopernik, for example, collected ongoing data on rience base so that lessons can be adapted to other sectors the time female entrepreneurs spent on their businesses, or geographies, as needed. the involvement of their spouses, their previous employ- ment, their access to motorbikes, and much more in order to tease out correlations with business performance (box Budget Issues and Human Resources 5.4). This information was shared with others and used to adapt and improve implementation approaches. These Making clean cooking projects inclusive and fair to both instrumental-type indicators usually arise from some women and men can result in significant performance bene- hypothesis that project designers or implementers want to fits without a significant cost increase. By identifying oppor- test and suspect may be important. Sometimes the useful- tunities for gender inclusion and equality early in the project ness of such “excess” data collected at the project baseline cycle, high-cost, high-value activities can be properly bud- in establishing correlations is discovered only later. How- geted for and no- or low-cost items can be integrated into ever, the monitoring burden on women and men must be planning (box 6.9). Waiting until later can make it quite difficult closely tracked in order to avoid taking too much of indi- to course-correct (e.g., determining halfway through project viduals’ time and ensure appropriate compensation for that implementation that the stove design developed or selected time, coordinating with other studies to reduce redundan- is unattractive to mainly female end users). Also, it is difficult cies where possible. to measure gender-related outcomes without having col- lected the relevant data during the baseline survey. Similarly, it • Keep the monitoring framework open to unintended out- is hard to ensure the inclusion of women-led enterprises in an comes, both positive and negative. This means including RBF program without having started outreach and business certain open-ended questions in follow-up surveys and development efforts well in advance. having a codified way to collect, record, and report on Starting at project inception, planning is needed to ensure surprising or counterintuitive observations (e.g., from staff, that activities are properly resourced and that the right experts participants, and beneficiaries), as oftentimes these insights are on hand. Additional budget allocations are often necessary never make it into formal project documentation. Exam- for analysis (e.g., for single-sex FGDs, participatory exercises, ples of unintended negative impacts include repercussions field visits, and key informant interviews). It is advisable to have from the new technologies that do not cook food or heat a dedicated gender expert work in close consultation with the as expected or cause food to burn; women’s increasing social development and environmental specialists in order to economic power attracting sanctions against them, includ- complete this phase. While hiring a gender expert might appear ing violence, often in the short term (Ferrari and Iyengar to increase a project’s costs compared to having other team 2010); or women finding themselves with increased work Practical Guidance for Task Teams | 59 BOX 6.9 Using technical assistance funds to close gender gaps The Rwanda Energy Access and Quality Improvement • Identifying and analyzing further gender gaps in the Project (EAQIP), a US$20 million project co-financed by sector to provide tailored and targeted measures for the World Bank–hosted Clean Cooking Fund (CCF) and bridging them; the IDA, at US$10 million each, demonstrates how techni- • Providing project staff training in gender mainstream- cal assistance funds can be used to integrate gender con- ing; and siderations into project design. Under the EAQIP’s US$12 million sector-studies component,a a technical assistance • Conducting awareness-raising, behavioral-change, and subcomponent includes the following gender-specific entrepreneurship events to attract female participation activities:b in the program. • Monitoring gender inclusion in the modern-energy The EAQIP’s approach to addressing gender gaps can be access components; replicated in other projects that similarly seek to improve household access to modern-energy cooking solutions. The sector-studies component focuses on improving the efficiency of sector performance and informing appropriate decision-making during and after a.  project implementation (e.g., through conducting economic and non-economic impact evaluation studies). Gender-related technical assistance will also be developed under the EAQIP’s capacity-building subcomponent. b.  members weave gendered analysis throughout their work, the 3. ENERGIA’s Women’s Economic Empowerment program adopted this approach, which yielded considerable lateral learning and spurred inno- alternative can be problematic. For example, task team mem- vation. bers’ scope of work may be expanded without setting aside adequate time to complete it, leading to feelings of ineffec- tiveness or even resentment. Especially since gender may rep- References resent a novel subject area, extra time must be allocated to supporting the learning curve. For these reasons, hiring a ded- ADB (Asian Development Bank). 2017. Asian Development Bank Annual icated gender expert may be well worth the project expense. Report 2017: Sustainable Infrastructure for Future Needs. Manila: Asian Development Bank. That said, it is possible that, with sufficient time and support, EBRD and CIF (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the roles of other project team members could be expanded Climate Investment Funds). 2016. Gender Mainstreaming in District to assume this responsibility. Through ESMAP, World Bank task Heating Projects in the Commonwealth of Independent States: A Toolkit. https://www.climateinvestmentfunds.org/sites/cif_enc/files/knowledge teams can get advice, as well as financial support, for carrying documents/gender_mainstreaming_in_district_heating_projects_-en- out gender analyses as part of project preparation. glish.pdf. EIGE (European Institute for Gender Equality). 2021. “Gender Budgeting: Gender Mainstreaming Tool.” https://eige.europa.eu/gender-main- streaming/methods-tools/gender-budgeting#2. Notes ENERGIA. 2014. “Women’s Entrepreneurship Delivering Sustainable Energy for All.” ENERGIA News 15 (1): 13–14. 1. Namely, that consent is required in addition to consultation; that it be ESMAP (Energy Sector Management Assistance Program). 2020. Quantify- given in the absence of coercion or manipulation; that it occur suffi- ing and Measuring Climate, Health, and Gender Co-Benefits from Clean ciently in advance of planned activities; and that it be based on satisfac- Cooking Interventions: Methodologies Review. Washington, DC: World tory information in an appropriate format, including costs and drawbacks Bank. in addition to anticipated benefits. Ferrari, G., and R. Iyengar. 2010. “Discussion Sessions Coupled with Micro- 2. Set-asides, procurement fulfillment targets, and preferential scoring are financing May Enhance the Roles of Women in Household Decision- not currently permitted under World Bank procurement rules; however, Making in Burundi.” Discussion Paper No. CEPDP1010. London: Cen- tenders may consider value for price. tre for Economic Performance (CEP), London School of Economics and Political Science. http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/publications/abstract. asp?index=3694. 60 | Opening Opportunities, Closing Gaps Gold Standard. 2016. “Gold Standard Improved Cookstove Activities Guide- RSPN (Rural Support Programmes Network). 2011. “Gender Mainstreaming book: Increasing Commitments to Clean-Cooking Initiatives.” https:// in the Pakistan Domestic Biogas Programme (PDBP).” Final Report. http:// www.goldstandard.org/sites/default/files/documents/gs_ics_report.pdf. www.rspn.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/gender-mainstream- IMF (International Monetary Fund). n.d. “Women’s Empowerment and the ing-in-pdbp-final-report-october-2011.pdf. IMF.” International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC. https://www.imf. WLPGA (World LPG Association). 2014. “Cooking with Gas: Why Women org/external/pubs/ft/gender/IMFWomensEmpowerment.pdf. in Developing Countries Want LPG and How They Can Get It.” https:// Practical Action. n.d. “Low Smoke Stoves Project (LPG).” https://practica- www.wlpga.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/2014-cooking-with-lp- laction.org/our-work/projects/clearing-the-air-in-darfur/. gas-women-report.pdf. Practical Guidance for Task Teams | 61 For women in post-conflict El Fasher, Darfur, the installation of LPG stoves under Practical Action’s Low Smoke Stove Project has made cooking safer, cleaner, and less expensive. Over the 10-year life of this women-managed carbon credit project—the first in Sudan—it is expected that switching from charcoal to LPG cooking will cut some 400,000 tons in CO2 emissions. © Olivier Levallois. Used with the permission of Olivier Levallois. Further permission required for reuse. 7 Closing the Gaps Women have long been recognized as primary users of house- When adopting the guidance provided in this report, it hold cooking and heating energy and beneficiaries of projects is important that project task teams engage with relevant focused on clean cooking and heating solutions. However, stakeholders to ensure that project-related gender issues current best practice in bridging gender gaps requires a higher are accurately understood and that processes are adapted ambition that actively seeks and creates entry points for wom- to local contexts and cultures. In addition to recognizing en’s engagement across the value chains. To date, women women as mainstream users, producers, and consumers of have often been clustered in micro- and small-scale opera- cooking energy, teams should consider men as an internal tions, last-mile retail sales, artisanal equipment manufacturing, stakeholder group and not miss opportunities to work with and biomass-based fuel supply. Many examples highlighted in them. this report demonstrate women’s important role in the expan- Equally important are appropriately documenting the sion of cookstove sales, particularly in previously neglected gender outcomes realized as part of clean cooking or heat- market segments. Owing to their knowledge and experience, ing interventions and ensuring that unintended negative con- women’s active engagement can reduce the failed uptake of sequences are avoided. As the application of results-based clean-stove products and services and increase the likelihood financing (RBF) and other impact-driven financing mecha- of their continued use. nisms picks up pace, the need for effective impact verifica- Value-chain positioning, which influences access to tion becomes even more critical. Well-designed programs finance and other key inputs, should be a key consideration that incorporate robust methods for impact measurements of clean cooking or heating programs aiming to integrate could therefore benefit from impact investment funds that greater gender equality. Addressing the stark gender dis- can sustain their operations. parities in economic and political realms requires actively advancing women’s engagement in larger-scale, capital-in- tensive areas across the value chains. At higher levels, where References sales volumes are greatest, women-led enterprises are still Sesan, T., M. Clifford, S. L. Jewitt, and C. Ray. 2019. “We Learnt That Being significantly underrepresented (Sesan et al. 2019). Together Would Give Us a Voice: Gender Perspectives on the East African As traditional managers of household energy, women Improved-Cookstove Value Chain.” Feminist Economics 25 (4): 1–27. doi: can also play a significant role in energy planning and policy 10.1080/13545701.2019.1657924. UN Women. n.d. Women and Sustainable Development Goals. Nairobi: UN making. Currently, women are severely underrepresented in Women Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office. 2322UN Women leadership positions within the industry and at national and Analysis on Women and SDGs.pdf. global policy levels (UN Women n.d.). Closing the Gaps | 63 Practical Guidance for Task Teams | 65