Transitioning To Modern Energy For Cooking: Engaging Women, A Game Changer

The session would be conducted virtually and is being organized by the Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) Programme, through its In-country partner - India, Finovista with an aim to identify, discuss and explore avenues to address the specific challenges in the global clean cooking sector.

About the 10th Talk Session

Globally 2.6 billion people lack access to clean cooking solutions, contributing to more than 4 million premature deaths each year. The primary cooking responsibility is largely held by women globally and thus, women bear a disproportionate share of the impact in the form of poor health and safety, as well as lost productivity and well-being. Every day, millions of women around the world breathe in toxic smoke while cooking and spend hours walking far distances to procure firewood etc. The regular use of unclean fuels leads to adverse impacts on their health like pulmonary, and heart diseases, as well as economic impacts.

Engaging women in enabling the Transition to Modern Energy based clean cooking can be a game-changer! Active engagement of women across the value chain can significantly advance the transition to the use of cleaner energy for cooking and would result in Gender Equality, Economic empowerment, health & well-being for women and can also lead to user-centric innovations, knowledge sharing and learning support.

The session will focus on the critical role of women in achieving universal access to clean cooking and the importance of engaging them in establishing an inclusive sector with an enabling and user-centric environment to support a robust and sustainable clean cooking industry. Further, the session will explore, successful models of engaging women in the clean cooking and energy access sectors, prevalent gaps and challenges.