Women In Solidarity for Energy

Summary

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In September 2024, the two-year Women in Solidarity for Energy (WISE) project started with funding from the EU Citizens, Equality, Rights and Value program. It is a consortium project between nine NGOs and academic institutions from seven EU countries (NL, FR, BU, CR, GR, IT and HU) that researches and draws attention to the right to energy, energy poverty in Europe, and participation to the energy transition among women in Europe, with a special focus on women living alone. We focus, among other things, on the right to energy of students, older women, single mothers and refugee women.

Single women are among the most marginalized groups in Europe, especially when it comes to the just, clean energy transition. These women often have little say over living situations and energy-consuming appliances. With meager resources, they struggle to meet the basic needs of their families. Many factors undermine their right to a life of dignity, adequate services, healthcare and housing, as enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFREU) and the EU Pillar of Social Rights.

WISE Women in Solidarity for Energy is a European-funded project in which 75inQ, together with the University of Groningen, provides implementation and coordination in the Netherlands. In the WISE project we focus on ‘single women’, including 1. older women, 2. single mothers, 3. Female entrepreneurs and 4. women (both elderly and single mothers) of migrant and refugee status. 

The aims of WISE are to:

1. Raise awareness about energy justice and the precarious position of many single women in energy poverty.
2. Increase knowledge and action perspectives of single women to reduce vulnerability to energy poverty.
3. Empower women in energy poverty to make their voices heard in the energy poverty debate 
4. and contribute to sustainable interventions. 

To achieve these goals, WISE will develop the following activities, including:

1. Organizing film evenings around the theme of energy poverty and the voice of women in this
2. Training women to tackle energy poverty 
3. Initiating Energy Solidarity Days, including help with energy contracts and energy saving advice
4. Translating relevant information about energy poverty into Dutch and other languages 
5. Creating a Sounding board group (WISE Collective) with representatives from governments, social organizations, businesses, knowledge institutions and women vulnerable to energy poverty.

Objectives WISE Consortium

To facilitate local and EU-level collaboration in the complex challenge of ensuring the clean energy transition addresses injustices currently experienced by single mothers, WISE will first organise planning meetings at local/national level, with the aim to establish a “WISE Collective” in each partner country.

This Collective in each partner country should reflect the range of stakeholders/actors that need to be involved in developing coherent, rights-based solutions to alleviate energy poverty for the target group. This includes, for example: gender-based / migrant CSOs, CSOs focused on energy poverty, energy experts, municipalities, social housing authorities, refugee/immigration support office(r)s. Critically, women from the target group will be invited to participate as ‘lived experience experts’.

Each Collective should carry out a preliminary assessment of the target group’s understanding of energy, their energy and languages required to carry out the project. It should also create a short report that outlines effective policies and identifies policy gaps, good practices already being applied, and an inventory of communications materials useful to the project. It should also recruit volunteers who speak the languages needed.

Local Representatives The Netherlands

Agenda

In October 2024 the first local meeting will be hosted In Den Haag to form the Dutch WISE collective.

This meeting and collective is invitation only, please contact the local representatives to receive an invitation.

Consortium