GENS | Supporting the development of gender-inclusive energy innovations in informal settlements

Co-design Social inclusion Design tool

Overview

In collaboration with the multidisciplinary team from the UK, Kenya and South Africa, I collected and analysed energy-related issues faced by women and men from informal settlements in sub-Saharan Africa. As the project outcome, I developed a co-design toolkit to help local stakeholders along the energy value chain co-create gender-inclusive energy innovations.

Context

Sub-Saharan Africa

Duration

2020-2022

The Problem

238 million people in sub-Saharan Africa live in informal urban settlements with inadequate or non-existing access to energy. Those energy products and services that are available to low-income households often do not meet the specific needs of their major users - women. This project was initiated to help bring relevant energy innovations to sub-Saharan Africa’s informal settlements by understanding and addressing the real needs of the users.

The Goal

I aimed to develop practical design support for gender-inclusive energy innovations in informal settlements.

Design Research Methods, Qualitative Research, Social Innovation, Service Design, Product Design, Sustainability, User Research, Design Tools, Workshop Facilitation, Gender Equality, Low-income Contexts, BOP.

To meet their energy needs, residents of informal settlements use unreliable energy products and fuels, threatening the health and safety of their major users - women

The Process

Research Question 1: What existing resources supporting the development of gender-inclusive energy innovations are readily available?

Method 1: Desk research: qualitative analysis of 20 existing gender-energy nexus toolkits, handbooks and training manuals issued between 2004 and 2019.

Duration: 4 weeks

Design Research Methods, Qualitative Research, Social Innovation, Service Design, Product Design, Sustainability, User Research, Design Tools, Workshop Facilitation, Gender Equality, Low-income Contexts, BOP.

Informal urban settlements are overlooked in existing gender-energy nexus toolkits, handbooks and training manuals: 19 out of 20 of them focus on rural areas

Research Question 2: How do energy companies based in sub-Saharan Africa develop products and services for low-income urban users? How, if at all, do they consider the needs of different genders?

Method 2: Semi-structured interviews with companies working in sub-Saharan Africa’s energy sector.

Participants: 16 private companies from (mostly) Kenya and South Africa.

Duration: 6 weeks

Design Research Methods, Qualitative Research, Social Innovation, Service Design, Product Design, Sustainability, User Research, Design Tools, Workshop Facilitation, Gender Equality, Low-income Contexts, BOP.

None of the interviewed companies is familiar with existing resources - like “The Empowered Entrepreneur Training Handbook” - addressing gender in the energy sector

Research Question 3: How do women and men use energy in informal settlements? What issues do they face and what are their energy needs? (in collaboration with country teams)

Method 3: Planning and supervision of the remote rapid ethnographic fieldworks in Mathare (Kenya) and Groenheuwel (South Africa) informal settlements.

Participants: Residents from 20 households in Mathare and 20 households in Groenheuwel.

Duration: 8 weeks

Method 4: Visualisation of ethnography findings using personas, user journeys and opportunity maps.

Duration: 2 weeks

Design Research Methods, Qualitative Research, Social Innovation, Service Design, Product Design, Sustainability, User Research, Design Tools, Workshop Facilitation, Gender Equality, Low-income Contexts, BOP.

Because of the Covid-19 travel restrictions, the ethnographic fieldworks have been carried out by local youth who used a bespoke Fieldwork Diary to record data

Research Question 4: Who are the stakeholders involved and what are their roles in supporting the development of gender-inclusive energy innovations? (in collaboration with country teams)

Method 5: Co-implementation of two stakeholder engagement and problem identification workshops.

Participants: Mathare and Groenheuwel community activists, local researchers, policymakers and representatives from local energy companies.

Duration: 2 weeks

Method 6: Three online training sessions on energy issues and design thinking, aiming to build capacity and provide agency to energy users.

Participants: 15 young people from Groenheuwel informal settlement.

Duration: 3 weeks

Design Research Methods, Qualitative Research, Social Innovation, Service Design, Product Design, Sustainability, User Research, Design Tools, Workshop Facilitation, Gender Equality, Low-income Contexts, BOP.

One of the hybrid stakeholder engagement workshops took place in the Mathare community centre at the heart of the informal settlement

Research Question 5: How to build a practical and effective toolkit to support the development of gender-inclusive energy innovations?

Method 7: Analysis and synthesis of the research findings to generate insights for the GENS Co-design Toolkit.

Duration: 3 weeks

Method 8: Development of the first version of the GENS Co-design Toolkit. Co-working sessions with the team to gain feedback.

Duration: 3 weeks

Method 9: Multi-stakeholder idea generation workshops to test the GENS Co-design Toolkit.

Participants: Mathare and Groenheuwel community activists, local researchers, policymakers and representatives from local energy companies.

Duration: 4 weeks

Design Research Methods, Qualitative Research, Social Innovation, Service Design, Product Design, Sustainability, User Research, Design Tools, Workshop Facilitation, Gender Equality, Low-income Contexts, BOP.

The workshop in Nairobi was eye-opening for their participants: policymakers, Mathare community activists, researchers and companies co-created energy solutions

The Outcomes

  • A practical GENS Co-design Toolkit which teaches its users about energy-related issues in informal urban settlements and helps generate ideas for gender-inclusive energy innovations.

  • Established multi-stakeholder partnerships for the co-creation of energy innovations.

  • Capacity building of local communities to identify and address their energy needs.

  • Raised awareness of gender equality and issues faced by the bottom of the pyramid populations.

Design Research Methods, Qualitative Research, Social Innovation, Service Design, Product Design, Sustainability, User Research, Design Tools, Workshop Facilitation, Gender Equality, Low-income Contexts, BOP.

The GENS Co-design Toolkit helps understand energy issues in informal settlements and ideate energy solutions with different gender needs in mind

Credits to the team: Dr Fabrizio Ceschin, Prof Josephine Kaviti Musango, Dr Amollo Ambole, Dr Betty Karimi Mwiti, Christer Anditi, Peris Njoroge, Andrew Earl

Interested in the GENS Co-design Toolkit or the ethnographic Fieldwork Diary ? Drop me a line: aine@petrulaityte.com

Publications