Alliance Highlights Humanitarian, Gender, and Cooking Energy Issues at Asia Clean Energy Forum 2015
For the past eight years, the Asia Clean Energy Forum (ACEF) has held clean energy conferences to connect the policy, technology, and finance communities. ACEF 2015 took place this month in Manila, and Corinne Hart, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves director of gender and humanitarian programs, spoke at several sessions during the conference.
In a panel discussion about cooking issues for the Asia Pacific region, Hart presented on the Alliance’s efforts as co-chair of the Safe Access to Fuel and Energy (SAFE) in the humanitarian settings Steering Committee. She outlined the critical need to ensure access to energy for the most vulnerable populations, highlighting the evidence showing that displaced people’s lives are at risk when they are not able to cook their food, access fuel, or light their homes. To address this danger, the Alliance is working with its partners to ensure 1 million crisis-affected households have access to energy by 2020.
The Alliance was also pleased to have the opportunity to co-host a Sustainable Energy for All consultation for the Asia Pacific region and a deep dive workshop on gender and energy together with ENERGIA and the Asian Development Bank. At both sessions, Hart underscored the Alliance’s work to ensure gender-informed approaches and women’s entrepreneurship are central to the global strategy to scale adoption of clean cooking solutions. As the Alliance has seen, including women in the value chain can increase sales, customer satisfaction, and adoption, as was seen in several research studies commissioned by the Alliance.
ACEF 2015 brought together a wide variety of stakeholders in the region, and the Alliance was excited to share its latest activities and best practices, as well as learn about the latest innovative approaches and best practices from Asian Pacific partners.