Deadline: April 8, 2022
The Climate Investment Platform (CIP) has launched a call to support women energy entrepreneurs and organizations supporting women’s economic empowerment. Empower Her, Call for Proposals invites clean energy projects at early stages of development that enable productive uses of electricity and enable communities to escape multidimensional poverty. The selected projects will receive technical assistance to develop a project concept, develop the business plan, and support subsequent investor outreach.
The disproportionate impact of lack of energy affects health, productivity, caregiving, education, unpaid labour employment and overall quality of life of women and girls. Hundreds of millions of women worldwide toil in smoky kitchens and spend more than 40% of their family income on inefficient energy sources. In households that cook with firewood women and girls spend 18 hours a week, on average, gathering fuel instead of spending that time on education, play or income generation. The call for proposal comes at a crucial time as the latest IPCC’s report, released last week, underlined the need for more clean power.
Benefits
- The selected projects will receive up to $40,000 to accelerate investment readiness preparation, such as business planning, feasibility testing, legal and technical requirement, and then support subsequent investor outreach.
Eligibility
Applicants from countries that are LDCs who fall within one of the 3 categories can apply:
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Private sector developers
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NGOs
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Universities and research centers
The best candidates will be able to submit projects proposals that:
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Demonstrable influence on increased productivity for women-owned businesses, women household entrepreneurs, or other employment transition and/or energy access for women
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Operate to be financially self-sustaining
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Have potential for scale-up and replicability