WOMEN X ENERGY - PROGRAM CLOSING EVENT AS PART OF THE PROJECT ‘SUBSIDIES FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN KOSOVO (SEEK)’
From September 2019 until May 2022, GFA, in partnership with HPC International, successfully implemented a pioneering Women in Energy Efficiency (WEE) intervention activity to support women-owned businesses in the Republic of Kosovo with energy-efficient equipment and appliances. The activity formed part of the project ‘Subsidies for Energy Efficiency in Kosovo (SEEK)’, which is financed by Millennium Foundation Kosovo (MFK) and Millennium Challenge Cooperation (MCC).
MFK’s overall Women in Energy (WE) program was dedicated to bridging the enormous gender gap in the energy sector in Kosovo and ensuring that the energy needs of the women-owned businesses in the country are met. Hundreds of women have been directly impacted by the program, which consisted of an innovative and integrated approach of providing scholarships, internships, and grants for women-owned businesses, ensuring greater participation of female Kosovan entrepreneurs in the energy sector.
As the WE program came to a close, GFA’s managing director, Anja Desai, participated in the final panel discussion of the WOMEN X ENERGY closure event on ‘Women in Energy and in STEM, reinventing the gender inclusion in the new energy and climate landscape’.
Addressing the question of how GFA creates spaces for women's involvement across the portfolio of projects across the world, Desai noted that GFA strives to interest women in STEM and the energy sector by engaging them on different levels and connecting them to the purpose of our work. To encourage women to take up more responsibilities and lead functions both within GFA and in the companies’ projects, Mrs. Desai stressed that GFA offers space to learn and provides possibilities for female personnel and experts to further develop skills, for instance, by promoting high-level positions as key experts and team leaders.
GFA has for several years been committed to a gender-balanced employee structure, with women making up to 60% of all permanent employees. Furthermore, the three-member management team comprises two women, and the second tier is 45% women. In its projects, GFA follows the gender mainstreaming approach by specifically involving gender equality and social inclusion experts in its interventions. The company encourages women to join professional networks, both locally in the project regions and globally. This kind of networking promotes exchanges with their peers and helps women see that they are not alone and that despite STEM being perceived as male-dominated, there are other women in this field.
Throughout their careers, they can be supported to maintain their network with like-minded female colleagues in technical areas, such as within the GFA Junior Professionals Network.
Project in brief
@MCC #Kosovo #EnergyEffinciency #Energy #Womenpower #SEEK
