wPOWER (Partnership on Women’s Entrepreneurship in Renewables) is a U.S. Department of State and USAID funded project that works to promote the role of women in clean energy entrepreneurship and in addressing climate change.
As President Obama has noted, women are powerhouse entrepreneurs. Women reinvest income into their families and communities. A woman who runs her own business is more likely to send her kids to school and less likely to become a victim of violence. That is why we support programs like the wPOWER Partnership.
Our mission is to promote the central role that women must play in clean energy entrepreneurship and in addressing climate change. To this end, the wPOWER Partnership has a vision to empower 8,000 women in clean energy entrepreneurship to deliver clean energy access to 3.5 million people globally by 2018.
The mission highlights 3 linked goals:
Since women are the primary users of traditional cooking and lighting methods and heating, resulting in over 4 million deaths a year from smoke inhalation and indoor house pollution, we fundamentally believe that to increase access to clean energy at the household level, the integration of women across the entire value chain must be prioritised.
In honor of “Gender Day” at the annual United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP-19), the United States highlighted its actions to harness the potential of women and women’s networks to increase the use of clean energy technologies, which in turn helps reduce climate change. The Department of State launched the Partnership on Women’s Entrepreneurship in Renewables (“wPOWER”) in January 2013.
To reach this goal, the Department of State and USAID teamed up with founding partners -MacArthur Foundation, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, CARE International, Solar Sister, Swayam Shikshan Prayog and the Wangari Maathai Institute for Peace & Environmental Studies and currently has 34 partners.
To date, the wPOWER Partnership has trained 6,639 youth and women in clean energy technologies resulting in over 3 million people having improved access to clean energy globally.
Women and Youth trained
People with improved access to clean energy technologies
Green House Gas (GHG) reduction (in tonnes)