Interested HEDON members are welcome to participate in a technical and programmatic workshop on Household Energy Interventions in Humanitarian Settings in Geneva on 5 December 2007. Display tables/demonstration areas will be available for participants. The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children is pleased to announce an upcoming participatory workshop on technical and policy interventions for household energy initiatives in humanitarian settings. The workshop will be held on Wednesday, 5 December 2007 in Room B of the Centre International de Conférences de Genève - Varembé (CCCV), 17 Rue de Varembé, near UNHCR headquarters, from 9am – 1pm.
Background The collection, supply and use of firewood and alternative energies in humanitarian settings has been associated with a variety of harmful consequences, including rape, environmental degradation, and respiratory illnesses. These consequences span traditional humanitarian response sectors and rarely fit neatly into the existing mandates of humanitarian agencies. As a result, household energy-related initiatives are often ad hoc and do not take into account the lessons learned in other sectors or regions. Compounding this problem is the fact that many potentially useful technical interventions are developed by actors outside of the traditional humanitarian response system, and the energy-related options available to the humanitarian community therefore remain limited.
The Women’s Commission is currently leading two major global initiatives aimed at addressing these problems: the IASC Task Force on Safe Access to Firewood and alternative Energy in Humanitarian Settings (IASC Task Force SAFE), and the new International Network on Household Energy in Humanitarian Settings.
What is the purpose of the workshop? The workshop will bring together actors from a variety of background, interests, and areas of expertise to discuss both technical and programming options for responding to household energy needs in humanitarian settings. Recent experiences from the field will be shared, and agencies that promote or support specific household energy-related interventions -- such as fuel-efficient stoves, solar cookers, non wood-based fuels, etc. – are invited to present their work.
The workshop will also provide a platform for discussing the objectives and methodology of the new International Network on Household Energy in Humanitarian Settings, links with the IASC Task Force SAFE, and the development of a global technical website on household energy-related interventions for use in humanitarian settings.
Who should attend? NGOs, UN agencies, research institutes, technical or environmental groups or any other agencies undertaking or supporting household energy-related interventions in humanitarian settings, development and/or rural contexts; or agencies with an interest in becoming involved in the search for solutions to household energy-related concerns in humanitarian settings. All members of the new International Network on Household Energy in Humanitarian Settings are also specifically encouraged to attend.
If you have any questions, please contact Erin Patrick, consultant to the Women’s Commission’s Fuel and Firewood Initiative, at erinp@... or by telephone at +1 212 865 2567. Please also kindly RSVP to Erin by no later than 30 November 2007.
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