Renewable energy sources and women: a national women´s organisation´s perspective on domestic device

Since its inception in 1927, the premier nongovernmental organisation (NGO) for women, the All India Women´s Conference (AIWC), has been working for the upliftment and emancipation of women, and one important activity is centred on meeting the needs of women for energy, particularly for cooking and other household needs, especially where commercial energy cannot be made available to them or the price for the same is beyond their reach. For nearly two decades, AIWC has been implementing various schemes for meeting their daily energy needs both in rural and urban areas, by using renewable sources of energy, including solar power, biogas and improved woodstoves. The results of these programmes conducted consistently all over India through their large network of branches have shown highly beneficial results for rural and urban women, minimising their drudgery and saving them from smoke related diseases. In addition, they also serve to empower women through the income generation component of the programmes along with an improvement in their overall quality of life. AIWC´s experience has shown that more emphasis should be given on users´ training and awareness and also to strengthen the capacity building of the NGO´s implementing these programmes.