Achieving gender equality in low carbon technology supply chains

SNV was contracted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to start the implementation of the "Harnessing Climate Change Mitigation Initiatives to Benefit Women" project in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam (RETA 7914).

The project is focused on gender mainstreaming in climate change initiatives both at the policy level and implementation level through pilots focused on empowering women to engage in the supply chain of low carbon technologies. These pilots will then in turn provide lessons learned on gender mainstreaming at the local level to influence policy makers in their climate change related policy development and project planning. An additional focus is put on climate finance opportunities and how women can benefit from them.

The pilot project in Cambodia will focus on gender equity activities to strengthen the role of women in the supply chain for advanced biomass stoves, primarily as sales agents and promoters. This is done in cooperation with SNV’s Advanced Clean Cooking Solutions (ACCS) project and four private distribution companies.

In Lao PDR, the focus will be on the already very successful Improved Cookstove programme funded by the European Union and implemented by SNV and local NGO, ARMI, and will develop a production centre for handicapped women who will produce various stove components such as  buckets and stove grates.

In Vietnam the program will focus on the Domestic Biogas Sector with a special emphasis on the supply chain (currently less than 1% of the biogas enterprises are female led) as well as on the end users - as it was identified that end-user training often doesn't reach the actual end-users.