GENDER4POWER - Generating Equity, Nurturing Diversity, Energising Resilience 4 Power Against Energy Poverty

The GENDER4POWER project aims to enhance living conditions and energy efficiency in buildings (and households) affected by energy poverty. It emphasises a holistic gender-responsive, multi-stakeholder, and people-centred approach to renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions, aligning with EU strategies such as the Gender Equality Strategy and the Energy Efficiency Directive.

GENDER4POWER aspires to demonstrate the potential of gender-responsive projects in meeting EU strategies. By incorporating gender mainstreaming and intersectionality and by involving citizens, the project aims to enhance public acceptance and trust, bridge social networks, and ensure active participation of marginalized groups in decision-making processes. GENDER4POWER will achieve its objectives through a set of seven work packages, structured around 6 demonstration sites that aim to reduce energy vulnerability through renovation, specific energy efficiency measures and/or renewable energy production. The project emphasises capacity building and skills enhancement programs to ensure active participation and multi-stakeholder collaboration. It will also provide policy insights and recommendations for both national and European contexts, aiming to scale up and accelerate tested and established schemes.

The project brings together nine partners from six countries across Europe (Slovenia, Lithuania, Austria, Greece, Spain and Germany) with expertise in social sciences, citizen engagement, energy communities, gender equality, renewable energy use, renovation, and policy advocacy. This multidisciplinary expertise helps to implement a comprehensive, cross-cutting gender approach to selected energy poverty solutions, grounded in the needs and experiences of local citizens.

• KPI 1: Number of energy poor and/or vulnerable residential units benefitting from the demonstrators and replication & capacity building activities: 1,139 (project end), 11,000 (5 years after project end).
• KPI 2: Number of multi-apartment buildings renovated: 3 multi-apartment buildings are to be renovated as part of the project activities. Due to the high replicability factor, there may already be more than 30 use cases 5 years after project completion.
• KPI 3: Governance and decision-making structures adapted for multi-apartment buildings: 6 governance and decision-making structures are established (in multi-apartment buildings or energy community). Thanks to the comprehensive and inclusive approach in the project, these offer an extremely high potential for replication throughout the EU.
• KPI 4: Number of coordination structures or support and capacity-building programmes established: The project aims to train 2 Shine on Ambassadors in each of its demonstrator locations. Additionally, we will co-design and implement 9 capacity-building modules, a significant achievement in empowering individuals. Furthermore, 6 Gender Action Plan will be established, marking a notable advancement in gender-responsive organizational development. Complementing these efforts, 6 blueprints on gender-responsive, citizen-led strategies against energy poverty will be created. These blueprints serve as critical guides for addressing and mitigating energy poverty issues beyond the project ensuring gender sensitivity and inclusiveness (Innovation Uptake 1 in Part C). 5 years after project end: 3 per demonstrator (3*6=18).
• KPI 5: Multiple benefits, for vulnerable households, such as improved physical and mental health, comfort and indoor environment, better indoor air quality, improved social inclusion, reduced public health expenditure
• KPI 6: Number of legislative acts, policies or strategies created/adapted on energy poverty and energy vulnerability: The 6 demonstrators in the project will develop 4 strategies per country to reduce energy poverty vulnerability. In addition, 6 policy recommendation briefs are prepared in the 6 target countries and 1 for the EU level. 5 years after project end: 2 policies/strategies created by each demonstrator (6*2=12)
• KPI 7: Number of stakeholders trained with increased skills and competencies on energy issues due to the project: The project will train a total of 546 stakeholders on energy and gender issues.
• KPI 8: Citizens reached during the project: 842,180 people.
• KPI 9: Number of national and EU level outreach to disseminate key lessons learned and policy recommendations: Over the entire project, we will reach 6,480 people through these activities.
• KPI 10: Number of stakeholders reached through replication programme: we will reach 17,990 stakeholders through the replication programme.
• KPI 11: Investments in sustainable energy (energy efficiency and renewables) triggered by the project (cumulative, in million Euro): 8.62 (project end), 69.41 (5 years after project end).
• KPI 12: Number of jobs created through project effects: 65 (project end), 527 (5 years after the project).
• KPI 13: Primary energy savings triggered by the project (in GWh/year): 6.17 GWh/a (project end), 59.60 GWh/a (5 years after project end).
• KPI 14: Final energy savings achieved through project activities: 2.94 GWh/a (project end), 28.38 GWh/a (5 years after project end).
• KPI 15: Total capacity of renewable energy installations initiated or supported (in MW): 2.72 MW (project end), 10.9 MW (5 years after project end).
• KPI 16: Total amount of renewable energy generated annually through project initiatives: 3.48 GWh/a (project end), 13.79 GWh/a (5 years after project end).
• KPI 17: Reduction of greenhouse gases emissions (in tCO2-eq/year): 4341 (project end), 30,852 (5 years after project end).

The partners of the project are:

• WIP Renewable Energies, (coordinator),  Germany
• WECF (Women Engage for a Common Future),  Germany
• FOCUS, Association for Sustainable Development, Slovenia
• Austrian Energy Agency (AEA), Austria
• B-NK GmbH,  Austria
• Engineering Without Borders (ESF), Spain
• Comunitat Energètica La Bordeta (CELB), Spain  
• ELECTRA (ELE), Greece
• A-miestas (Atnaujinkime miesta), Lithuania.

This page was last updated on 11 September 20205. For the most updated information about the project, please visit the project page at the EC funding and portal website.