Webinars facts
America/New_York
In achieving its unique mandate in accelerating Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Development, UNIDO recognizes access to sustainable energy for productive uses as a key catalyst for inclusive and sustainable economic development. In particular, UNIDO focuses on the role of women as agents in the promotion and use of climate technologies and renewable energy solutions – recognizing that women can take the initiative and play a key role in driving innovative actions to abate greenhouse gas emissions and reduce the risks posed by climate change. But also, UN Women recognizes that climate mitigation and adaptation technologies, especially in the field of renewable energy, can be a catalyst of opportunities for women economic empowerment and the promotion of gender equality.
During this webinar hosted by EmpowerWomen.org and organized by UNIDO in cooperation with the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN), UN Women and ENERGIA, on 6 May at 8:30 am (EDT), experts and entrepreneurs in the field of sustainable energy invite us to REThink the role of climate technologies for women’s empowerment. To facilitate discussion and knowledge exchange on the nexus between mutually reinforcing linkages of gender, climate technologies, sustainable energy, and inclusive and sustainable industrial development, we bring together prominent experts in the field of gender and sustainable energy.
Experts include Joy Clancy from the University of Twente, as well as Wandee Khunchornyakong who runs Solar Power Company Group, the largest solar power generation company in Thailand, Monica Christy, Senior Program Officer representing Kopernik’s Ibu Inspirasi initiative, and Ondina da Barca Vieira, from UN Women in Mozambique. Innovative solutions for successful transfer of climate technologies engaging women as key actors will be discussed, as well as enabling conditions for empowering women as agents of change in driving innovative climate actions, and the role of climate technologies in accelerating women’s economic empowerment.
About the speakers
Alois Mhlanga, Industrial Development Officer, UNIDO, Vienna
Alois Mhlanga is Industrial Development Officer in the Energy Branch at UNIDO Headquarter in Vienna, with profound experience in developing and implementing energy and climate change projects in Africa and Asia. Having a background in Physics, Renewable Energy Technologies, Financing and Climate Change he began his career as research engineer with the Southern Centre for Energy and Environment in Zimbabwe in 1999. He worked on energy and climate change projects financed by international organizations that include World Bank, UNDP, UNIDO, UNEP, UNFCCC etc. In 2002, he became a part-time lecturer for the Masters of Renewable Energy course at the University of Zimbabwe. In 2004, he joined the African Development Bank working on energy projects with a particular focus on renewable energy. In the Bank he helped develop the strategies on renewable energy and climate change that include the Clean Energy Investment Framework. During his tenure with the African Development Bank, Alois was also actively involved in mainstreaming gender into the Bank’s projects. In 2007, he joined UNIDO working on renewable energy and climate change projects in Africa and Asia. Among others, he was responsible for the creation of ECREEE. Mr. Mhlanga is a member of the UNIDO’s Gender Mainstreaming Committee which is responsible for mainstreaming gender into UNIDO’s projects and programmes.
For more information on the work of UNIDO related to gender, click here
Ondina da Barca Vieira, Programme Manager, UN Women, Mozambique
Ondina da Barca Vieira is Programme Manager wokring for UN Women in Mozambique. There, Mrs Barca Vieira has been contributing to the formulation and implementation of most of the gender equality policies, national plans and related legislation in the country. She has also supported the development and implementation of sector strategies including the National Strategy and Action Plan on Gender, Environment and Climate Change, and supported mainstreaming of gender issues into national strategies and through gender responsive planning and budgeting.
Mrs Barca Vieira has been working in socio economic development programmes as manager, trainer, policy advisor among others for close to 26 years. After serving as a public servant in Mozambique, she worked with UNDP in Angola in 1997, followed by UNDP Mozambique from 2000. She joined UN Women in 2007. She holds a Master’s on Gender, Democracy and Public Polices, Post Graduate Diplomas on Gender and Economics and Gender and Health by the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences - Argentina, a certificate on policy advisory by UNDP and the University of Columbia, and an Honours Degree in International Relations and Diplomacy by the High Institute of International Relations – Mozambique. At 48, she is a very proud feminist and gender equality and women’s rights activist.
For more information on the work of UN Women in Mozambique, click here
Dr. Joy Clancy, Associate Professor in Technology Transfer, University of Twente, Netherlands
Joy Clancy is an Associate Professor in Technology Transfer at University of Twente, The Netherlands. Dr. Clancy is a founding member of ENERGIA, the international network on gender and sustainable energy for whom she currently the Principal Investigator in a 5 year research project Building the Evidence Base for Improving Energy Investments Effectiveness by Taking a Gendered Approach.
Joy’s research has focused, for 30 years, on small scale energy systems for developing countries, including the technology transfer process and the role that energy plays as an input for small businesses and the potential it offers entrepreneurs through the provision of a new infrastructure service. Her PhD is in engineering, but social, in particular gender, and environmental issues gained ground and that is where her interest now lies. Joy has developed gender analytical tools for use in the energy sector and has run a number of capacity building courses for bi- and multi-lateral agencies. From 2009 to 2013 Joy was a Gender and Energy Advisor to the World Bank AFREA Gender and Energy Program (AFTEG/ESMAP).
For more information on the International Network on Gender and Sustainable Energy, click here
Wandee Khunchornyakong, Chairwomen and CEO of the Solar Power Company Group (SPCG), Thailand
Wandee Khunchornyakong is currently Chairwomen and CEO of the Solar Power Company Group (SPCG) and Managing Director of Solar Roof Company Limited. To date, SPCG is the largest solar power generation company in Thailand with solar investments attracting more than USD 800 million. By providing clean energy jobs for women, Solar Power Company Group is directly empowering the next generation of Southeast Asian businesswomen and entrepreneurs who will continue to catalyze renewable energy projects in the developing world.
Ms. Khunchomyakong was a pioneer in her field and has over 30 years of experience in the solar industry. In 2013, Ms. Khunchornyakong was named Women Entrepreneur of the Year by the Asia Pacific Entrepreneurship Awards. Nowadays, she is a figured person of the solar energy business as a producer of 36 solar farm projects, totaling capacity of 260 MW and the top of solar farm commercial scale in Thailand and ASEAN. UNFCCC has awarded her to be a Leading women-powered solar energy transformation under the Momentum for Change, 2014 reducing 200,000 tons of CO2 and she has been invited to be a speaker in international forum and universities. She holds BA in Laws and MSc in Renewable Energy and Marketing.
For more information about Solar Power Company Group, click here
Monica Christy, Senior Program Officer, Kopernik, Indonesia
Monica Christy is Senior Program officer at Kopernik, running the Ibu Inspirasi initiative – an initiative bringing low-carbon technologies to remote rural communities across Indonesia. Working with local women’s groups to provide rural women with the skills and tools to become green technology agents and to sell small technologies that make a big difference, Kopernik works with simple innovations that are affordable, durable, easy to use and maintain, eco-friendly, money-saving, and life-changing for families in the last mile.
After graduating from an Australian university in Malaysia with a degree in communication and media management, Monica volunteered with a Balinese microfinance institution before joining Kopernik. In 2014, Monica, alongside two of Kopernik's 'Ibu Inspirasi', represented the organisation to receive an award from Momentum for Change, an initiative under UNFCCC, for the Ibu Inspirasi initiative (Wonder Women Indonesia Program) in Lima, Peru. When she isn't visiting villages throughout Indonesia to set up our technology reseller network, she volunteers as a secretary for Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) for the Bali region.
For more information about Kopernik, click here