Policy Innovation Forum:
Networking towards gender and poverty sensitive energy policies in Asia and the Pacific
Welcome to the homepage of the Policy Innovation Forum on Networking Towards Gender and Poverty Sensitive Energy Policies!! This Forum is a joint initiative by ENERGIA, together with UNESCAP and brings together regional and national policy makers, and leading energy, poverty and gender specialists from government agencies, academia and non-governmental organisations in the region.
The Policy Innovation Forum was officially launched at the conclusion of a two-day meeting entitled High Level Regional Policy Meeting on Networking Towards Gender and Poverty Sensitive Energy Policies, held in Bangkok, Thailand from 3-4 November 2008.
The creation of the Forum is the result of concerns that progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals will be hampered – or even reversed – as a result of lack of energy supply in many rural areas in the region, coupled with the food, fuel and financial crises. The Forum will push forward with new approaches that will lead to pro-poor and pro-women energy policies and programmes.
“The aim is help achieve affordable and equitable access to clean energy services essential to the social and economic integration of the poor and women into the mainstream of development in Asia-Pacific developing countries – and this Forum is a major step in that direction,” said Shigeru Mochida, ESCAP’s Deputy Executive Secretary.
The group of experts and policy makers making up the Forum membership will gradually be expanded to include other important actors at the national and regional levels.
“It will function as a community of practitioners and also serve as a lobbying force to push forward its messages,” said Sheila Oparaocha, ENERGIA’s International Coordinator. “Information will be shared, synergies will be strengthened, and joint projects will be developed.”
The Policy Consultation and activities leading up to it were sponsored by the Directorate General for International Cooperation (DGIS), Netherlands, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and ESCAP.
Participation in this forum is by invitation only.
For further information on the forum, contact Ms. Soma Dutta, or Ms. Ana Rojas.
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