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Paper short abstract:

This study examines the impact of electricity on gender in Norhtern Uganda, comparing households with and without access and the perspectives of women and men. It reveals gender-specific usage patterns, effects on socio-economic activities and gender norms and informs gender-aware energy policies.

Paper long abstract:

This study examines the interplay between energy access and gender equality in Northern Uganda's mini-grid electrification. Anchored in the Sustainable Development Goals—Affordable and Clean Energy (SDG 7), Gender Equality (SDG 5), and No Poverty (SDG 1)—this research explores the intricate effects of electrification on gender roles and socio-economic relationships.

Adopting a mixed-method approach, this research combines qualitative and quantitative data from 84 households, alongside 32 semi-structured interviews and 8 focus group discussions. The sample is strategically divided between households that have been electrified and those not, due to geographical factors. The distinctiveness of this research lies in its comprehensive approach, including analyses from women’s and men’s perspectives within households. This pluriversal methodology allows for an in-depth exploration of how electricity access reshapes gender roles, socio-economic activity, and technology use. With pending additional funding, we plan to return to the communities for reciprocal knowledge exchange.

Preliminary findings unveil gender-specific usage patterns in varying electricity access models, with mini-grid systems tending towards male dominance and battery-powered systems being more female-inclusive. This dichotomy not only reflects the differentiated impacts of electrification on household dynamics and economic activities but also underscores the nuanced consequences for women post-electrification.

At the core of this study is the examination of how energy access can simultaneously challenge and reinforce existing gender norms. This analysis contributes to the formulation of gender-aware energy policies and projects, emphasizing the importance of differentiating between 'gender' and 'sex' in energy studies and promoting a broader, culturally informed interpretation of gender.

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Paper short abstract:

Global energy access demands North-South collaboration in deploying off-grid technologies in the Global South underserved markets. We reflect on opportunities and limitations of such projects, in particular engaging women, and critically examine power dynamics within these settings

Paper long abstract:

The imperative to ensure affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy for all has been widely acknowledged and highlighted as one of the UN SDGs. To this end, effective cooperation is needed between the Global South and North actors. In the Global South's underserved markets, ensuring access to energy relies on adopting off-grid energy technologies, such as solar lanterns, pico-grids, or clean cookstoves. However, the distribution in last-mile communities proves challenging due to remote locations and specific sociocultural contexts. Hence, a growing involvement of local communities across clean energy value chains can be observed. In particular, engaging women – as primary energy users in households – in energy projects holds promise for women empowerment, local economic development, and effective adaptation of new technologies.

In this paper, first, we describe selected initiatives involving the Global North and South actors to support women engagement in last-mile energy projects. Second, we reflect on opportunities and limitations of such initiatives to co-develop more just energy pathways. Employing postcolonial feminism and politics of representation as analytical lens, we critically reflect on power dynamics in North-South encounters within these settings. Viewing power as ”productive”, we recognize that power constitutes socio-technical reality by determining what is possible. Hence, we ask: How to balance power relations tilted towards orthodox actors or ”white saviours”? How to embed the socio-technical transition process and outcomes in the local context and knowledge? How to avoid imposing Westerns norms and understandings regarding just energy transition, entrepreneurial agency, women empowerment, or gender justice?

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Paper short abstract:

The Just transition is currently a widely used concept, with diverse definitions across actors. We collected primary data from policymakers, citizens and researchers to explore a) the different conceptualizations of just transitions; b) the link between (just) energy transitions and post-growth.

Paper long abstract:

Just transition is a widely used concept and policy framework. At its core, it argues for energy transitions that consider also social justice. Nonetheless, the use of the Just Transition concept has spread, and there are now many diverse definitions and understandings. On one extreme, just transitions can be conceptualized as a technocratic solution to decarbonization, within a continuation of economic growth; on the other extreme they argue for systemic change as decarbonization and justice cannot happen within the current system.

Therefore, given the plethora of definitions, it is unclear what exactly a just transition entails and how it should be concretely realized. To have a better understanding, we collected primary data from policymakers, citizens and researchers. More specifically, we implemented surveys at climate negotiations, academic conferences and through nationally representative in different countries. In such surveys we elicit information and opinions on both a) the conceptualization and the implementation design of just transitions to achieve decarbonization within social justice; and b) on the need and possibility of continuous economic growth (in different contexts) and the potential for a new economic system.

The results (data are currently being analysed) will shed light on how different categories perceive just transitions. Understanding the preferences of different societal groups is critical to address the political economy of energy and climate change policies; this is especially relevant in climate change negotiations where many actors with different priorities have to negotiate. We also explore the links between post-growth and the (just) energy transitions agendas.

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Paper short abstract:

I would like to bring the discourse that alternative (to) development practices in the Global South particularly in the Philippines exhibit a form of degrowth ideals through the lens of the local values of aruga (ethics of care). These are shown through two case studies of zero waste communities.

Paper long abstract:

The current socio-ecological crisis is driving explorations of alternatives to mainstream development thinking. Although degrowth engenders alternative conceptualizations and practices of development, its potentially significant social and cultural dimensions are yet to be fully examined. While research and experiments on degrowth focus on the Global North, similar work is lacking in the Global South. At the same time, civil society and scholars in the Global South are experimenting with parallel approaches that – like degrowth and post-growth – seek to subvert growth-based economies and amplify community-led thinking and practice. At the crux of the politics behind these alternatives to development movements are the tasks of ‘imagining, producing, circulating’ better material flows (Schlosberg and Craven, 2019), with important implications for how we use and manage waste. Building on a four-month period of fieldwork in two zero waste communities in the Philippines, this chapter explores what conditions enable alternatives to capitalism such as degrowth and post-growth to be mobilized in practice in developing countries like the Philippines. The research is informed by a political ecology lens and draws primarily on qualitative methodologies. It explores the underpinnings of community-led zero waste management systems in central Philippines and the movements behind these from the lens of local values of ‘aruga’ (care) and ‘ginhawa’ (well-being). In conclusion, the chapter unpacks lessons that can be learned both for the relevance of degrowth and post-growth in the Philippines, and pathways to navigate our current ‘wasteocene’.