The political economy of gender mainstreaming in energy access in Sierra Leone

In 2017, the Economic Community of West African States launched its Policy for Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access with each member state tasked to create a National Action Plan (NAP). This study explores the case of Sierra Leone to understand how stakeholders have influenced the NAP process, and what that might mean for implementation. Using the Actors, Objectives, Context framework with interview data from key gender and energy actors, we find elements that make Sierra Leone’s NAP unique, such as addressing systematic barriers, explicitly promoting solar energy and heavily relying on civil society for implementation. The study finds that a policy focus on gender reflects both a push from international donor organisations and the national efforts of civil society. Sierra Leone’s NAP reflects the tension between the high priority of gender politics at the national and international level and more immediate interest from the Ministry of Energy and government actors on economic development. It affirms the uneasy co-existence of the liberal and liberating view of women in international development with some evidence that the liberal view prevails. Still, despite the government’s focus on economic development, poor engagement with the private sector and cultural barriers are likely to hamper the inclusion of women into the energy industry.