Sierra Leone trains government staff to implement ECOWAS Gender and Energy Policy

With support from ECREEE, the government of Sierra Leone organized a five-day training to equip its staff to implement the National Action Plan for Implementing the ECOWAS Policy for Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access.

The five-day training held from 9 to 13 May 2022 at Atlantic Beach Hotel, Free Town, Sierra Leone. In total, 14 participants (eight men and six women) from 8 different organizations participated in the training. The organizations that participated were Ministry of Energy (MoE), Electricity Generation & Transmission Company (EGTC), Electricity Distribution & Supply Authority (EDSA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Petroleum Regulatory Agency (PRA), Electricity & Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC), including local non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The training included various topics such as gender in Sierra Leone’s National Action Plan; needs and gaps for developing a gender-aware action plan in organizations; social and gender issues in the power and petroleum sector; assessment of the capacity of energy sector organizations to mainstream and implement the national action plan; the ECOWAS Directive on Gender Assessment in Energy Projects, among others.

At the end of the training, feedback was collected from the participants regarding the training content and to evaluate the trainer. A rating scale comprising of five scales (Strongly agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree and Strongly disagree) was used to evaluate various aspects of the training and trainer. In summary, participants found the training to be educative, informative, and helpful in improving their capacity to implement the National Action Plan.

The Director of Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency of the Ministry of Energy, Mr. Robin F. Mansaray, led the closing ceremony of the training with a note of thanks to ECREEE and other partners.