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which responses to climate disasters are based.” Overlooking women’s agency and
their potential to cope pressing issues can become detrimental to future policy decision on climate change and overall energy sustainability (Alston 2014).
8.2.2 Women, Sustainable Energy, and Capacity-Building:
Making the Links
To reverse the impacts of unsustainable energy practices such as indiscriminate use of
natural resources, use of fossil fuels and pollutants, waste production, inadequate
compensation for the loss of livelihood options, and lack of corporate accountability
for adverse environmental impacts, international organizations have promoted a set of
technical assistance programs and community capacity-building initiatives in developing countries (UNDP 1997). These global actions have been the subject of analysis
by scholars from various disciplines such as education, economics, and more recently
sustainable development. Global agencies such as the United Nations (UNDP 2011)
and the scholarly literature (Loza 2004) posit capacity-building as a core area to be
addressed in both developed and developing contexts. Capacity- building initiatives
for women have become a recent subject of debate. It is argued that women, particularly in developing countries, lack education, and therefore stakeholders should boost
their capacities as well as those of the broader community’s (Gylfason 2001).
While the idea of women’s capacity-building as a long-term process is appealing
from a theoretical standpoint, there are major challenges in its real-life application.
Capacity-building initiatives lack continuity due to the absence of a long-term commitment, resources, coordination, and collaboration among stakeholders
(Franco 2014), relationships and dynamics of the community, management of
power and resource imbalances, and development of a community identity (Clifford
and Petrescu 2012). However, the major challenge is that institutional stakeholders
are likely to believe that they know what the impactful areas of women’s capacitybuilding are. Yet, an investigation of the situation shows this is not the case. This
scenario creates confusion and resentment at the local level as institutional perceptions tend to overlook context-based barriers and impactful areas for capacitybuilding in sustainability (Wiek et al. 2012). Instead, the scholarship argues that
community-based initiatives seem to be more effective when facing sustainability
challenges. However, the scholarly literature indicates there are gaps in this area
that need to be explored seriously (Nakata and Viswanathan 2012). On the one
hand, the literature shows that top-down capacity-building, usually implemented by
the international community to achieve sustainable development goals through
education, media, and information-intensive campaigns, can increase awareness but
is not impactful enough to reverse unsustainable energy practices. It is argued that
capacity-building, particularly for women, is perceived by locals as a product to be
sold, is usually poorly designed, and underestimates the barriers women face to
cope with unsustainable energy practices. Moreover, these initiatives fail in paying
attention to the human side of capacity-building and therefore incorporating wom8 SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy
which responses to climate disasters are based.” Overlooking women’s agency and
their potential to cope pressing issues can become detrimental to future policy decision on climate change and overall energy sustainability (Alston 2014).
8.2.2 Women, Sustainable Energy, and Capacity-Building:
Making the Links
To reverse the impacts of unsustainable energy practices such as indiscriminate use of
natural resources, use of fossil fuels and pollutants, waste production, inadequate
compensation for the loss of livelihood options, and lack of corporate accountability
for adverse environmental impacts, international organizations have promoted a set of
technical assistance programs and community capacity-building initiatives in developing countries (UNDP 1997). These global actions have been the subject of analysis
by scholars from various disciplines such as education, economics, and more recently
sustainable development. Global agencies such as the United Nations (UNDP 2011)
and the scholarly literature (Loza 2004) posit capacity-building as a core area to be
addressed in both developed and developing contexts. Capacity- building initiatives
for women have become a recent subject of debate. It is argued that women, particularly in developing countries, lack education, and therefore stakeholders should boost
their capacities as well as those of the broader community’s (Gylfason 2001).
While the idea of women’s capacity-building as a long-term process is appealing
from a theoretical standpoint, there are major challenges in its real-life application.
Capacity-building initiatives lack continuity due to the absence of a long-term commitment, resources, coordination, and collaboration among stakeholders
(Franco 2014), relationships and dynamics of the community, management of
power and resource imbalances, and development of a community identity (Clifford
and Petrescu 2012). However, the major challenge is that institutional stakeholders
are likely to believe that they know what the impactful areas of women’s capacitybuilding are. Yet, an investigation of the situation shows this is not the case. This
scenario creates confusion and resentment at the local level as institutional perceptions tend to overlook context-based barriers and impactful areas for capacitybuilding in sustainability (Wiek et al. 2012). Instead, the scholarship argues that
community-based initiatives seem to be more effective when facing sustainability
challenges. However, the scholarly literature indicates there are gaps in this area
that need to be explored seriously (Nakata and Viswanathan 2012). On the one
hand, the literature shows that top-down capacity-building, usually implemented by
the international community to achieve sustainable development goals through
education, media, and information-intensive campaigns, can increase awareness but
is not impactful enough to reverse unsustainable energy practices. It is argued that
capacity-building, particularly for women, is perceived by locals as a product to be
sold, is usually poorly designed, and underestimates the barriers women face to
cope with unsustainable energy practices. Moreover, these initiatives fail in paying
attention to the human side of capacity-building and therefore incorporating wom8 SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy