Presenter: DR SOHASINI SUDTHARALINGAM

1. Women and their role in Smart villages
DR SOHASINI SUDTHARALINGAM
8TH MARCH 2017

2. Content
Contribution of women to the economy
Smart village: What does it look like?
Innovations that make villages ‘smart-er’ and the role that women can and should play
What needs to change?
Pathway of change
Discussions and Q&A
UN High Level Panel on Women’s Economic Empowerment’s
LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND paper
“Urges government to provide adequate support to enable women to work productively by investing in
quality public care services, decent care jobs, social protection and provide safe access to economic
opportunities”

3. Contribution of women to the economy
• In the next decade nearly 1
billion women are likely to
enter the global labour
force.
• Increasing female
employment would
increase GDP significantly
in countries like India and
Egypt, where female
labour-participation rates
are below 30%.
Source: The Economist

4. Smart village: What does it look like?
•Meeting basic needs - energy, water, food, access to good quality health services and education
•Connectivity and access - physical infrastructure and ICT for access to information and markets
•High value economic activities and job opportunities - producing high-value added agricultural and rural
industry products
•Collective decision and action - well managed resources, by pooling together production, i.e. bigger distributed
generation, combined agricultural efforts will allow better access to financing, improved efficiency and reduction in unit
cost of production, and better health (through displaced use of coal fired cooking stove)
•Sustainable development – managing the environment for current and future generations
Outcome: Highly productive villages  sufficient job opportunities  better standard of living 
reducing migration to cities.

5. Energy sector – role of women? (1 of 3)
Role of women in the ENERGY sector: Entrepreneurs
and providers of sustainable energy solutions at the
community level and acting as agents of change, whilst
economically empowering themselves.
Example: M-KOPA (East Africa)
M-KOPE "pay-as-you-go" energy for off-grid customers.
M-KOPA has connected more than 200,000 homes in
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda to solar power, and is now
adding over 500 new homes each day. M-KOPA employs
over 650 full time staff. Women play an important role in
dissemination of sustainable energy solutions given their
network across villages.
Energy is a catalyst for the
development of multiple sectors
•Productive activities (agriculture,
industry, small and medium businesses)
•Basic services (education, health, water)
•Usage of ‘smart-er’ infrastructure
(transport, ICT)

6. Water and sanitation– role of women? (2 of 3)
Role of women in the WATER and SANITATION
sector: Entrepreneurs selling clean/treated water
in the community and investing the funds in
health and children’s education.
Example: WaterSHED’s (Cambodia)
WaterSHED builds the market for water,
sanitation and hygiene products to give
consumers easy access to clean water, toilets and
a place to wash their hands. Water, sanitation
and hygiene products can be “marketed by
women, to women” and will adapt marketing
tools to be more appealing to female consumers.
WaterSHED has already recruited more than 175
rural Cambodian women.
Water and sanitation are basic
needs and essential for health
and productivity
•One estimate suggests that some 40
billion hours a year, are spent collecting
water in sub-Saharan Africa – equal to a
year’s labour for the entire workforce of
France (UNDP, 2006).
•Water and sanitation sector can
contribute to redressing inequality and
can impact positively on the social,
political and economic position of
women.

7. Agriculture – role of women?(3 of 3)
Role of women in the AGRICULTURE: Women
farmers empowered with knowledge and
information to make effective business decisions.
Example: CEAPRED (Nepal)
CEAPRED piloted climate smart villages to
educate smallholder farmers, especially women,
about climate-smart farming techniques and help
them access weather and vegetable price
information using mobile phones.
“I am already saving money by switching from
chemical to homemade pesticide and using waste
water from cleaning on vegetables planted in my
backyard” – Female farmer
Climate smart agriculture
could drive productivity
•Women - especially in developing
countries — are often more exposed to
the risks of extreme weather than men,
because they can be less mobile and lack
access to traditional means
of communication according to the UN’s
World Meteorological Organization
(WMO).
•Climate-smart farming techniques and
help them access weather and vegetable
price information using mobile phones.

8. Sectoral innovation ns that will create
disruption
New energy models
•Rooftop solar (Pay As You
Go): will offer solar panels
and build digitally linked
resources
•Anchor tenant (Pay As
You Go): A major
customer funds the
microgrid and excess
power is available for
surrounding community
•Fully integrate both
models: Fully integrated
'digital' microgrids -
Algorithms learn to match
supply and demand and
integrate battery storage
Financing/payment
•Enabling payments
through mobile phones
•Smart metering: Better
access to data and
improvement in payment
(utility, services)
•Smart models of
banking/micro-finances
for small businesses
Improvement in data
collection/ information
transfer
•New mapping approaches
make consumers locatable
including those in the Last
Mile
•Usage of drones to
transport blood supplies
to remote areas (Rwanda)
•Usage of drones to collect
data in inaccessible areas
•Mobile health services
(need to be supported by
sufficiently skilled labour
force)
Education/ skills
improvement
•Digital/ICT skills to be
improved
•Satellite internet in rural
areas to provide access to
knowledge
•Skilled labour force
(engineers, teachers,
healthcare professionals)

9. What needs to change?
ACCESS To:
• Education and knowledge
(suitable/practical know-hows)
• Energy as an enabler
• Finances, digital and property assets
• Mentors/role models
ENABLING ENVIRONMENT
• Perception of the role of women in
family and society (social norms)
• Better laws and legal protection for
access to assets, access to jobs and to
hinder harmful traditions
• Businesses unbiased in hiring women
• Recognition of unpaid household work

10. Pathway of change
Meeting basic
needs:
Needs and
Vulnerabilities
Going beyond basic:
Assets, Capabilities
and Opportunities
Structural
Transformation
Includes the assessment of and
action to meet practical needs
and vulnerabilities of
marginalised groups. This is
likely to involved consultation
with groups and an inclusive
approach to ensure that
everyone’s voice is heard
Addresses strategic gender and
inclusion issues beyond
practical needs, so that
individuals are empowered to
make active choices, and build
their assets, capabilities and
opportunities.
Addresses broader structural
relations and power structures,
often through collective action
and influencing the enabling
environment. This often gets at
the root cause of inequality, and
may address norms and systems
that exacerbate this

11. Discussions and Q&A
 Barriers to involving women and marginalised community in economic activities
Entry points for women and marginalised community to support the creation of inclusive smart
villages
 Simple steps that we can take in the short term (current visible opportunities) and medium
term

12. Thank you (Kòrp-kOOn)!
Dr Sohasini Sudtharalingam
International Development Consultant, UK
sohasini@gmail.com