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Employment Generation in Emerging

Clean Energy Industries:


How Can Women Break Through Traditional Barriers?
South Asia
Brajesh Panth
Technical Advisor (Education)
Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department (SDCC)
Asian Development Bank

Outline of the Presentation


Energy sector in South Asia - trends in
access to energy
Implications on households and industry
Energy and Women Empowerment

Employment and training opportunities

Trends in energy sector in South Asia:


Consumption: Energy usage in most South Asian countries have more or less
doubled in the last couple of decades
Production and import: Demand has outstripped production leading to imports
(except for Bhutan and the Maldives)
Electricity consumption: Per capita electricity consumption has surged (ranging
from two to six times) along with household electrification
A large population still does not have access to electricity
There is a crisis in the energy sector
There is still high dependence on traditional biomass mainly for cooking and
heating
a refers to 2008 data for Bhutan and the Maldives; ... = data not available at cutoff date
Source: Asian Development Bank (ADB), Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2015. http://www.adb.org/publications/key-indicators-asia-and-pacific-2015

Trends in energy sector in South Asia: A focus on India


Indias growing energy needs are particularly huge
Indias primary energy demand by fuel type

Change in energy demand in selected regions,


2014-2040

Sources: For graph on the left: World Energy Outlook, Special Report Energy and Climate Change. OECD/IEA 2015, Paris. p.55; for graph on the right: World Energy
Outlook 2015 presentation, International Energy Agency, http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org/pressmedia/recentpresentations/151110_WEO2015_presentation.pdf

Trends in energy sector in South Asia: Renewable energy


Consumption of solar, wind and other renewables is growing

Source: Regional Trends Report on Energy for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific 2015, United Nations ESCAP, Bangkok. P.28.

Implications on households and industry


Rapid economic growth is accelerating upward social mobility
which will continue to trigger increased demand for energy
Strategic investment in human capital is critical to sustain
expansion of renewable energy source, its effective
management and its impact on economic opportunities
Opportunities are expanding due to growing access to energy
In energy sector
In other sectors due to increased access to energy

Energy and Women Empowerment


Implications on women:
High dependence on traditional sources of energy has
negative impact on female family members who do most of
household work
Access to energy is creating new opportunities
Access to energy eases household works, reduces time
burden, improves basic conditions and creates opportunities
for higher-income jobs and entrepreneurial activities
Expands opportunities for next generation

Employment and Training Opportunities:

Employment and Training Opportunities:


Energy sector, subsectors and general value chain

Source: UK Commission for Employment and Skills. March 2015. Sector insights: skills and performance challenges in the energy sector, Evidence Report 90. p.5.

Employment and Training Opportunities


Four Major elements in Renewable Energys Value Chain:

training, occupational health and safety, policy making, and financing

Employment and Training Opportunities:


Renewable energy occupations defined as Difficult to Fill

Example: India
Number of unskilled, semi skilled, skilled workers and executives
in Indias energy sector

Source: Power Sector Skills Council, a proposal. Draft, unpublished.

Examples of Women Training for Jobs in Energy Sector


Bangladesh: Training youth and women as solar technicians and repair and
maintenance specialists in Bangladesh to complement a programme of
microloans to install home solar systems by Grameen Shakti.

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri


Lanka: South Asia Women in Energy (SAWIE) Network to promote access of
women to renewable energy technologies (with special focus on solar energy)
through empowerment of rural women. The launching of South Asia Womens
Institute for Sustainable Energy Research (WISER), the Center of Excellence for
SAWIE, which is a first of its kind to serve as a training hub.
Utilities companies in all countries: In all countries, utilities companies are
providing a range of training.
Project based

Employment and Training Opportunities:

Employment and Training Opportunities:


Enhancing employment and training opportunities for women
Conduct skills-gap analysis to ascertain emerging skills needs in energy and
complementary sectors
Mobilize marketing campaign to showcase emerging opportunities and
success stories
Incentivize/catalyze partnership between utility companies and training
providers
Expand and improve training infrastructure/facilities including centers of
excellence in partnership with training institutions and employers/industry
Promote integrated package by focusing on entrepreneurship, value chain
analysis, ICT and connectivity, and access to credit in partnership with
successful catalyst institutions

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