The Sunday Mail
Women and the girl child continue to suffer the brunt of energy poverty as access to modern energy remains low in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Energy poverty refers to a situation n which the well-being of large numbers of people, mostly in developing countries, is negatively affected by very low consumption of energy.
The use of dirty or polluting fuels and spending excessive time collecting fuel to meet basic needs are some of the key features of energy poverty.
Reliance on traditional sources of energy and the lack of energy services is interlinked with many other elements of poverty such as poor education, poor health care, unemployment and limited income opportunities.
Women and the girl child are most affected by energy poverty.
Of the three billion people in the world who are living in poverty, 70 percent are women.
Women are mostly in charge of household energy needs and are largely responsible for gathering firewood and cooking.
Experts in energy issues called upon stakeholders in the energy sector to address gender issues.
Commenting of the gender dimension in the energy sector, Sandra Mujokoro Gobvu, a journalist and trainer in issues related to gender and energy, spoke at length about the challenges and gender disparities that are faced by women in issues related to clean, reliable energy.
According to Gobvu, Zimbabwe remains traditionally gender stratified, with males having more access to resources and opportunities.
This, she said, creates imbalances in social relationships and decision-making.
“How much status is accorded to completion of tasks and abilities of gender are shaped by historical process, transmitted through culture and reinforced by social institutions and legislation. This can affect women’s access to clean energy, working in clean energy and having a voice in the energy discourse,” Gobvu said.
Women, according to Gobvu, are not well represented when it comes to policy making on energy issues.
According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), about two million people, mostly women, die annually due to exposure to hazardous smoke and soot resulting from use of firewood, dung and charcoal.
Apart from the health risk associated with carrying heavy loads of firewood, women are also exposed to such diseases as pneumonia, lung infections and cancers, among others.
Energy poverty and the lack of basic sanitary provisions and clean water in rural areas can, in a way, aid rural-urban migration.
Rural girls are often employed as lowly-paid domestic workers in urban homes.
Gobvu also noted that communities that are not energy poor have recorded declines in rape and theft cases.
In these communities, women no longer travel to secluded forests to fetch firewood, where rapists might pounce on them.
The availability of better lighting around homesteads has resulted in cases of theft scaling down.
It was also noted that in areas where electricity is available, girls and women are no longer spending much time looking for firewood.
Instead, they are afforded more time to do other things like studying.
The availability of clean energy sources improves access to information that generally women would be excluded from.
In some of the remote areas, women spend time sourcing firewood whilst men will be listening to radios at shopping centres.
Instead of irrigating and curing tobacco using solar-powered energy, women often spend a lot of time watering gardens and fetching firewood to cure the tobacco.
The main sources of energy used in Zimbabwe comprise fuelwood, electricity, petroleum fuels, coal bed methane, coal and solar.
Zimbabwe’s energy requirements are met through a combination of biomass (51 percent of the total energy supply), liquid fuels (12 percent), electricity (13 percent, coal (19 percent) and solar (five percent).
Presenting a paper on the energy supply situation in Zimbabwe, Mr Munyaradzi Kaundikiza of the Environment Education Association of Southern Africa, said the country has a national electrification rate of 41,5 percent.
Electricity has reached 83 percent of the urban households, whilst rural electrification is still below 19 percent.
“Only 32 percent of the population have access to modern cooking fuel, whilst the annual average solar radiation is 3000 hours. As for woodfuel, there is an annual yield of an estimated 4,6 million tonnes,” Mr Kaundikiza said. Furthermore, an estimated 1,5 million tonnes of bagasse are produced annually from sugar production waste in the Lowveld at Triangle and Hippo Valley Estates.
Wind-based power-generation technologies are not, however, widely used.
Zimbabwe is blessed with coal and uranium deposits.
Hydropower is concentrated mostly along the Zambezi River, with many mini-hydro sites in the Eastern Highlands
Inland dams and rivers, among them Pungwe, Tokwe Mukosi, Kondo and Gairezi are also capable of generating electricity.
Geothermal energy resources are abundant in Binga and other areas.
Despite the availability of the natural resources, energy poverty continue to stalk the country.
“High installation costs for most of the technologies, a lack of funding and a lack of awareness on available technology options are some of the factors that are contributing to clean energy uptake,” Mr Kaundikiza said.
Energy stakeholders called upon Government to provide an enabling environment for the proliferation of IPPs in the energy sector and to encourage Built, Operate and Transfer deals and joint ventures.
Calls were also made for the speedy development of the Batoka Gorge Project, and the promotion of biogas technology, especially in rural areas in order to reduce pressure on the natural forests.
