Energy Access in Humanitarian Settings
New York
Most of the world's 60 million refugees and internally displaced people rely on traditional solid fuels — wood, coal, animal dung, and agricultural waste — to meet their household needs for cooking, lighting, heating, and powering. Women walk up to 5 hours per day to collect firewood to cook their families’ meals, exposing them to the risk of physical and sexual assault, only to cook over open fires with fuels that increase the risk of respiratory illness. Lack of lighting increases protection risks and prevents children from studying and safely navigating communal areas at night, while lack of power limits communication and impedes livelihoods and innovation. In places like Jordan and Lebanon, energy is needed to heat refugee homes during winter. Institutional energy needs are also a challenge in humanitarian settings. Consistent energy access is required in clinics to preserve vaccines and store blood, and to provide light for nighttime emergency operations and births. Improved institutional cookstoves and fuel are needed to cook meals in large quantities for school feeding programs and nutrition programs.
This IASC briefing will discuss the challenges around energy access in humanitarian settings, and will provide recommendations on how to fill this major gap in humanitarian response. It will also introduce participants to the Safe Access to Fuel and Energy (SAFE) Humanitarian Working Group, a consortium of UN agencies, humanitarian NGOs, private sector energy companies, and energy non-profits that are working together to facilitate a more coordinated, predictable, timely, and effective response to the fuel and energy needs of crisis-affected populations.
Speakers:
Paul Quigley, Senior Energy Officer,
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Megan Gerrard, Senior Program Officer, Gender-based Violence Prevention
Women's Refugee Commission
Katherine Arnold, Senior Program Associate, Humanitarian
Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
United Nations Foundation
Please see the speakers bios attached to this email.