In the bid to promote inclusive clean energy access and empower rural women to rise out of poverty, a special training and skill acquisition workshop will hold in Abuja from Tuesday, 25 to Friday, 28 August 2015. It is the Maiden Edition of the Rural Women Energy Security (RUWES) Initiative Capacity Enhancement Workshop. It has “Unveiling the Potential of the Rural Women” as its theme.
Targeted at RUWES member organisations and internally displaced women and girls, the workshop will also serve as an avenue to further strengthen the RUWES Network as a ‘Self-Help Forum’ where women and key stakeholders come together to discuss experiences, overcome challenges and grow, says an official of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which is supporting the scheme.
“The RUWES Initiative aims to eradicate energy poverty among rural women and ensure that women are more energy efficient and less dependent on fossil fuels for cooking, heating and lighting using green energy alternatives. In the long term, the use of clean energy will improve health; drastically reduce deforestation and other negative environmental outcomes as a result of indiscriminate felling of trees for use as fuels,” he states, adding:
“In addition to Gender Empowerment and Climate Action, the RUWES Strategy will inform and contribute to the Post-2015 Development Agenda, potentially saving millions of lives every year currently lost to air pollution related illnesses, and avoiding more than 10 million tons of annual crop losses. We very much appreciate taking on this challenge with you.”
