Can water, energy, and food policies in support of solar irrigation enable gender transformative changes? Evidence from policy analysis in Bangladesh and Nepal

Solar irrigation pumps (SIPs) are emerging as a popular technology to address water, energy, and climate change challenges in South Asia while enhancing livelihoods and food security. SIPs are deemed to be a women-friendly renewable energy technology (RET) due to their design, operating system, and...

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Main Authors: Khadka, Manohara, Uprety, Labisha, Shrestha, Gitta, Shakya, Shristi, Mitra, Archisman, Mukherji, Aditi
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Frontiers Media 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/138740
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author Khadka, Manohara
Uprety, Labisha
Shrestha, Gitta
Shakya, Shristi
Mitra, Archisman
Mukherji, Aditi
author_browse Khadka, Manohara
Mitra, Archisman
Mukherji, Aditi
Shakya, Shristi
Shrestha, Gitta
Uprety, Labisha
author_facet Khadka, Manohara
Uprety, Labisha
Shrestha, Gitta
Shakya, Shristi
Mitra, Archisman
Mukherji, Aditi
author_sort Khadka, Manohara
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Solar irrigation pumps (SIPs) are emerging as a popular technology to address water, energy, and climate change challenges in South Asia while enhancing livelihoods and food security. SIPs are deemed to be a women-friendly renewable energy technology (RET) due to their design, operating system, and safety. While the gender dimensions of natural resources are well documented, the extent to which the water, energy, and food (WEF) policies—including policies to promote SIP technologies in the countries of South Asia—conceptualize and operationalize gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) is not well understood. Therefore, in this study, we reviewed 39 WEF sectoral policies of Bangladesh and Nepal by adopting a gender-transformative analysis approach to rank the policies on a continuum ranging from a scale of 0–3 (denoting gender-unaware, gender-aware, gender-responsive, and gendertransformative). We found that the governments in both countries commit to gender equality and women’s advancement in their WEF sector policies, institutions, and decision-making by ensuring gender and justice principles in their constitutions and national development frameworks. However, these higher-level aspirational principles are not always operationalized in the WEF sector policies. We found that the WEF policies are aware of the need to include GESI and social equity in sectoral programming, yet operational rules for their implementation often fail to challenge structural barriers. Such barriers hinder women and marginalized groups from participating in and benefiting from WEF policies, including the deployment of SIP technologies. This calls for a transformation not only in project implementation but also in the policymaking processes of WEF sectors in the South Asian region.
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publishDate 2024
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spelling CGSpace1387402025-12-08T10:29:22Z Can water, energy, and food policies in support of solar irrigation enable gender transformative changes? Evidence from policy analysis in Bangladesh and Nepal Khadka, Manohara Uprety, Labisha Shrestha, Gitta Shakya, Shristi Mitra, Archisman Mukherji, Aditi gender solar powered irrigation systems water policies Solar irrigation pumps (SIPs) are emerging as a popular technology to address water, energy, and climate change challenges in South Asia while enhancing livelihoods and food security. SIPs are deemed to be a women-friendly renewable energy technology (RET) due to their design, operating system, and safety. While the gender dimensions of natural resources are well documented, the extent to which the water, energy, and food (WEF) policies—including policies to promote SIP technologies in the countries of South Asia—conceptualize and operationalize gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) is not well understood. Therefore, in this study, we reviewed 39 WEF sectoral policies of Bangladesh and Nepal by adopting a gender-transformative analysis approach to rank the policies on a continuum ranging from a scale of 0–3 (denoting gender-unaware, gender-aware, gender-responsive, and gendertransformative). We found that the governments in both countries commit to gender equality and women’s advancement in their WEF sector policies, institutions, and decision-making by ensuring gender and justice principles in their constitutions and national development frameworks. However, these higher-level aspirational principles are not always operationalized in the WEF sector policies. We found that the WEF policies are aware of the need to include GESI and social equity in sectoral programming, yet operational rules for their implementation often fail to challenge structural barriers. Such barriers hinder women and marginalized groups from participating in and benefiting from WEF policies, including the deployment of SIP technologies. This calls for a transformation not only in project implementation but also in the policymaking processes of WEF sectors in the South Asian region. 2024-01-25 2024-01-31T22:12:52Z 2024-01-31T22:12:52Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/138740 en Open Access Frontiers Media Khadka, Manohara; Uprety, Labisha; Shrestha, Gitta; Shakya, Shristi; Mitra, Archisman; Mukherji, Aditi. 2024. Can water, energy, and food policies in support of solar irrigation enable gender transformative changes? Evidence from policy analysis in Bangladesh and Nepal. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7:1159867. Doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1159867
spellingShingle gender
solar powered irrigation systems
water policies
Khadka, Manohara
Uprety, Labisha
Shrestha, Gitta
Shakya, Shristi
Mitra, Archisman
Mukherji, Aditi
Can water, energy, and food policies in support of solar irrigation enable gender transformative changes? Evidence from policy analysis in Bangladesh and Nepal
title Can water, energy, and food policies in support of solar irrigation enable gender transformative changes? Evidence from policy analysis in Bangladesh and Nepal
title_full Can water, energy, and food policies in support of solar irrigation enable gender transformative changes? Evidence from policy analysis in Bangladesh and Nepal
title_fullStr Can water, energy, and food policies in support of solar irrigation enable gender transformative changes? Evidence from policy analysis in Bangladesh and Nepal
title_full_unstemmed Can water, energy, and food policies in support of solar irrigation enable gender transformative changes? Evidence from policy analysis in Bangladesh and Nepal
title_short Can water, energy, and food policies in support of solar irrigation enable gender transformative changes? Evidence from policy analysis in Bangladesh and Nepal
title_sort can water energy and food policies in support of solar irrigation enable gender transformative changes evidence from policy analysis in bangladesh and nepal
topic gender
solar powered irrigation systems
water policies
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/138740
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