Accelerating the energy transition by empowering women and young entrepreneurs in Senegal

Clean technologies are increasingly affordable and widely available. Despite this, the energy transition is slow to materialize in Senegal due to the many barriers that hinder their adoption. A new project in this country will help accelerate the energy transition by boosting the participation of women and young entrepreneurs in renewable energy value chains.

The project will:

• deepen the understanding, by all stakeholders, of the barriers that compromise gender equality and innovation;
• identify and test mechanisms to stimulate the adoption of clean technologies;
• build the capacity of entrepreneurs, inclusive finance institutions and other key players in the ecosystem to drive the energy transition.

The three-year project will be funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and carried out in collaboration with several organizations in Senegal and Canada, including HEC Montréal's IDEOS Social Impact Hub.

Based on an action-research methodology and supported by a multidisciplinary team, the project draws on recent collaborations between DID and the IDEOS Hub in several countries. It will bring together university researchers specializing in entrepreneurship and renewable energies, Senegalese inclusive finance institutions and other local organizations.

To help scale up the project and maximize its impact, major efforts will be made to ensure ownership of the results by government bodies and local inclusive finance institutions. The project will also be aligned with DID's current project in Senegal to strengthen the economic and social empowerment of women and young people, and will work closely with this project’s team.