54845




                                                                         No. 152 February 2000


              Senegal - The Role of Women in the Traditional Energy Sector:
                          Gender Inclusion in an Energy Project



In many countries of Sub-Saharan Africa energy sector planning has long been something of a
paradoxical exercise in the context of modern as opposed to traditional fuels in the economy.
Although essential to the functioning of society, modern fuels generally account for only 15 to
40 percent of total energy consumption. However, since they are inseparable from modern
methods of energy transformation and use, these modern fuels absorb virtually all investments
in the energy sector. Traditional fuels, on the other hand, although they occupy a dominant
place in the overall energy balance and in the consumption of households, have received little
in the way of planning and policy making attention and investments.

The importance of traditional energy (fuelwood and charcoal) in terms of total energy
consumption is significant. In low-income countries such as Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, the
household sector accounts for more than 80 percent of total energy consumption and
projections call for this rate of consumption to continue into the 21st century. Most traditional
energy is used for household consumption (cooking and heating) and the daily lives of rural
women are greatly influenced by its availability and use.

Traditional energy affects women's lives in several key areas.

Health

More than half of the world's households cook daily with wood, crop residues and untreated
coal, exposing primarily women and children to indoor air pollution. Acute respiratory
infections, chronic obstructive lung diseases, low birth weights, lung cancer and eye problems
are often attributable to this practice. The increased scarcity of fuelwood and the additional
amount of time that rural women (and children) must devote to its collection raises additional
health concerns. For example, changes in food preparation occur when women have less time
for cooking due to an increase in the amount of time spent in fuelwood collection. Women will
cook fewer meals, which means that families will eat cold or reheated leftovers and more
processed foods. This results in a less healthy diet. Also, the daily collection of fuelwood
demands physical exertion for which rural women often lack the caloric intake. The loads of
fuelwood women carry on their backs can weigh between 25 to 35 kilograms and are typically
carried for several miles.

Time/productivity

Generally, while men have greater access than women to cash income activities than women,
women's daily activities revolve around the subsistence economy. Their time is devoted to
fuelwood and water collection, food production and household maintenance. The opportunity
cost of these activities prevents rural women from undertaking income-generating activities,
which deprives poor families of much-needed income. Clearly, there is need for technology
and alternative sources of energy to free up women's time. However, in order to obtain these
labor-savings tools, women must earn income or have access to credit which often means
overcoming gender-specific barriers in accessing financial (credit) services, including lack of
collateral (usually land) and low levels of literary and numeracy.

The RPTES Program

The RPTES program (Review of Policies in the Traditional Energy Sector) began in 1993 with
the help of a trust fund provided by the Directorate General for International Cooperation of
the Netherlands (NEDA) to assist the governments of Sub-Saharan Africa in the planning and
development of the traditional energy sector. A group of five Sahelian countries comprising of
Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Mali, Niger, and Senegal were selected to participate in the first
phase of the Program. Following the work undertaken in that first group of countries the
Program was expanded in late 1996 to provide a mix of policy and operational support to an
additional five countries, namely, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mauritania and
Mozambique. Benin and Togo joined the Program in mid-1997 and Zimbabwe in mid- 1998.

From the outset, RPTES emphasized a "nexus" approach to the sector, recognizing that the
development of the traditional energy sector can lead to tangible improvements in areas such
as environmental sustainability (local and global), desertification mitigation, rural poverty
alleviation, energy and economic efficiency and gender equity. The formation of national
teams comprising of key government officials, NGO leaders and other concerned parties
encouraged a strong sense of country ownership. It was with this approach in mind that the
RPTES team designed the Senegal Sustainable and Participatory Energy Management Project
(SPEMP).

The national RPTES team is presently assisting the government to implement the US $20
million IDA/GEF project ( approved for assistance by the Bank in 1997 ) which will bring
300,000 ha of natural forests under direct community control for the sustainable production of
woodfuels for the urban markets. This operation is based on a rural development concept
which fully integrates forest management for energy production with the management of other
natural resources, and incorporates a series of target activities to support a broader and gender
sensitive economic and social development process in the approximately 250 participating
villages. Specifically, it will meet a significant part of the rapidly growing urban demand for
household fuels, without the loss of forest cover and the ecosystem's carbon sequestration
potential and biodiversity. The project will: (i) implement and monitor environmentally
sustainable community-managed forest resource systems, creating a protection zone around the
Niokolo-Koba National Park; (ii) promote inter-fuel substitution and improved stoves
initiatives; (iii) strengthen the institutions involved in managing the sector, and promote the
participation of the civil society (private sector, academic institutions, and NGOs) in operating
the sector and (iv) continue to support the dissemination of LPG and explore the potential of
kerosene as a substitute fuel for the secondary cities of the country where the consumption of
charcoal is increasing rapidly.

From the project identification stage, a consultative approach was adopted involving key
stakeholders. A series of National and Regional Participatory Project Preparation Workshops
were conducted by the Government of Senegal between December 1995 and April 1996 to
obtain feedback and suggestions from representatives of civil society on the overall project
strategy. Due to their critical role in resource management and development, women, youth
and NGOs were identified as key participants who will play a fundamental role throughout the
life of the project. In line with the participatory nature of the project, a series of participatory
rural appraisals will be conducted to obtain the demographic, socio-economic and cultural
information necessary to prepare, with the local communities, specific management plans.
Special attention will be paid to the identification of relevant women's development issues,
specific training and capacity building needs. Some of the participatory tools to be used in the
appraisals may include semi-structured interviewing, focus groups discussions, preference
ranking, mapping and modeling and seasonal and historical diagramming. These tools will
reveal, among other things, the roles of community members (including gender roles) and
ecological, environmental and agricultural history, culture and practices.

Specific gender elements

A preliminary fact-finding mission to eight villages in the Tambacounda and Kolda regions
was undertaken in June 1998 by a Senegalese sociologist and the author with the objective of
meeting with local women's groups, NGOs and government officials in order to better
understand the needs of rural women and the best methods of implementation. A report was
produced by the local sociologist entitled "A Working Report for Taking Gender into Account
in the Traditional Energy Sector" which will serve to help guide the process of gender analysis
and incorporation of gender into SPEMP.

The situation of women in the project area

The reality of rural women in the areas of Tambacounda and Kolda is particularly in need of
positive interventions. Comprising 50.9 percent of the population, illiteracy stands at 75
percent for women and their presence in local regional councils remains very low, between 10-
15 percent. Despite this lack of human capital and political voice, approximately 29 women's
groups already exist, with varying degrees of success. Very few have been active in the area of
micro-credit, perhaps because of the particularly high level of poverty in these regions.
However, other regions within Senegal have had encouraging results with micro-credit for
women's programs. Regarding their involvement in rural energy, a 1997 survey found that
virtually all the small retailers of charcoal, selling in Tambacounda, Ziguinchor and Kolda as
well as along the roadside are rural women. Men dominate the production side of charcoal and
large-scale retail sales in the urban centers.

The study suggests that the following conditions are required to facilitate the increased
participation of women in the rural energy sector:

    ·   SPEMP project workers need to receive training in gender awareness;
    ·   The establishment of specific baseline targets to monitor results;
    ·   The strengthening of skills of women's' support group members in the areas of management,
        literary and numeracy;
    ·   The establishment of and access to micro-credit facilities; and
    ·   Transportation to allow women to collect and transport to market forest products i.e. fruits,
        traditional medicines, etc.

The recommendations from this report will be used to help formulate technically, socially and
economically sound community management plans which take gender roles into account. In
October 1998, seminars on gender inclusion and traditional energy management took place in
various project sites. The SPEMP is considered to be a landmark in the process of rural
community participatory development and empowerment in Senegal and a best practice in
West Africa and is recognized as good practice by the West Africa Gender Learning Program
(GLP).

For further details please contact the author, Suzanne Roddis, at sroddis@worldbank.org