BURKINA: TOWARDS THE ADOPTION OF A GENDER MAINSTREAMING POLICY IN ENERGY ACCESS

The Ministry of Energy plans to ensure equal access to energy resources. To this end, a workshop to validate the action plan for gender mainstreaming in energy access in Burkina Faso was organized. It was this Wednesday, February 5, 2020 in Ouagadougou.

Burkina Faso faces a high demand for energy due in particular to the development of economic activities and demographic growth. Thus, access to electricity remains low with a national electrification rate of 19.2% in 2017. Also, large disparities between women, men and particularly the vulnerable are noted.

To encourage the promotion of access to energy services for all, ECOWAS has adopted an energy gender policy. Following the adoption of this policy in 2017, recommendations were made. Among other things, it involves each member state developing a national action plan for gender mainstreaming in energy access.

The main objective of this policy is to guarantee gender equality in the energy sector through gender mainstreaming in energy policies and initiatives. It is in this sense that a meeting is organized to validate and adopt a national action plan for the integration of the gender dimension in access to energy in Burkina Faso. It was this Wednesday, February 5, 2020 in Ouagadougou.

The Secretary General of the Ministry of Energy, Jean Paul Yanogo, recalled that it was in October 2019 that Burkina Faso launched the process of drawing up the action plan. The plan aims to ensure equal access to energy resources and enable women to contribute to the decision-making process in the energy sector.

Bourahima Nabi, director general of sector studies and sector statistics, Bourahima Nabi, said the action plan is to encourage and motivate women in the energy trades.

“In the employment aspect, women are not really representative. These are questions that must be looked at in the action plan so that young girls in high schools and colleges can be more motivated to take an interest in the energy trades. The action plan will revolve around training and motivation for young girls in the energy trades. Also actions to help women access energy, "he said.

 He also added that the national budget is gender sensitive. "From now on, any action that we carry out, we must take account of the parity", concluded Bourahima Nabi.