THE Board Chairman of Energy Commission, Professor John Gatsi, has said the Commission’s strategic focus on gender equality is meant to enhance performance, innovation and inclusiveness.
“Our gender action plan will lead to improve energy efficiency, better renewable energy practices and overall performance. The commission, which includes human resource, project, estate and procurement should be affected by these changes,” he explained.
He added “The national gender policy bind all institution and the Commission’s mandate is to ensure we all adhere to it. We will mainstream the national gender policy to address specific issues within the energy sector.”
Prof. Gatsi stated this on Friday at a stakeholder awareness and sensitisation workshop organised by the Energy Commission in Takoradi in Western Region, to review its gender policy document and action plan.
He said the goal of the programme was to integrate the national policy into the Commission’s operations without imposing it as an external requirement.
The Board Chairman assured that the gender action plan which sought to promote energy and regulation would be done in an innovative manner to achieve inclusiveness and high performance outcomes.
Prof. Gatsi said “Our regulation turnaround time, energy efficiency and renewable energy will be improved. Other forms of energy that we regulate will be done in more innovative way.”
He explained that the Energy Commission’s mandate was not only about energy in the “purest sense” but also the structure including management, the board, human resource, projects, estate and procurement, adding “all these things will have a reflection on the way things are done.”
Currently, Prof. Gatsi said, there were two ladies on the Commission’s board while the human resource, legal, procurement, finance and the executive secretary positions were occupied by women, and assured there were no problem adopting and implementing their gender policy.
The Director-General of the National Development Commission (NDPC), Dr Audrey Smock Amoah, spoke about gaps in terms of men and women in the energy sector and believed that the policy action plan would address the issues.
The Coordinator of the programme, Ms Catherine Achuliwor, also said the programme would examine the opportunities and inequalities within the energy sector, saying “It’s not about women trying to take over the whole space.”
The energy sector, she reported, was predominantly new, with so inevitable structural inequalities, but believed there was a need to address unconscious biases and promote gender mainstreaming.
“The Energy Commission recognises that energy policy and regulation are not gender neutral. Indeed, gender is the first priority for sustainable development and the guiding principles include equality, participation, transparency, accountability, social inclusion, non-discrimination, gender balance and ethical leadership within the Energy Commission,” Ms Achuliwor stated.
The Executive Director, Abantu for Development and consultant on the project, Dr Rose Mensah Kutin, described the Energy Commission’s draft policy as a marvellous and responsive intervention to improve the 2.2 per cent annual growth for women in the energy sector, and suggested there should not be any gender “blind” perspective on the discussions.
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, TAKORADI
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