User’s notes
For quite a long time, non-governmental organisations wanted to collaborate with government departments
to plan for, and implement energy programmes. This has been a challenge to many organisations in the
East African region. The case study is an example of women’s groups which, through a collaborative effort
between NGOs and the government, mobilised themselves and managed t o work as models to initiate
formation of other groups and eventually were able to gain government support for supervision and
capacity-building in energy technologies.
The major gender-related issues in this case study include:
• Organisations need to consider the gender division of labour in the household in order to know how
and what implications the intervention will have on different people in the household.
• Group mobilisation works as a social mechanism for disadvantaged groups and those who seek
common ground, in order to seek a collective voice for policy influence
• Gender-focused programmes can be supported by the stage.
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