International Women's Day - Contribution of TaTEDO-SESO Efforts to Women.

Katarina Aloyce, Sustainable Energy Coordinator from TaTEDO-SESO, educating women on clean cooking energy using the SESCOM Electric Pressure Cooker.

International Women's Day (March 8) is an important day to celebrate women's social, economic, cultural, and political achievements and call for gender equality.  The theme of Women's Day for 2025 is Accelerate Action.

Accelerate Action involves taking steps together to shape a brighter future rather than passively waiting for change. It's about channeling our energy in various ways to make progress. On this International Women’s Day, it is important to keep in mind the millions of girls and women living in energy poverty, risking their lives to cook food for their families every day with polluting fuels.  Women work long hours to secure the firewood their households need and cook their families’ meals.  Some women have reported working fourteen hours (14 hours) for domestic chores and even sleeping overnight at the firewood collection area. Additionally, while cooking, women are exposed to deadly smoke that kills more than 33,000 people every year in Tanzania and contributes to a range of acute and chronic respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as cataracts and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

TaTEDO-SESO, under the theme "Accelerate Action," recognizes the urgent need to break down barriers, foster inclusion, and create opportunities for women to thrive. By empowering women through market development, knowledge-sharing, capacity building, awareness creation, and fostering an enabling environment, we can fast-track the transition to clean cooking energy for all and reduce the challenges women face in their daily household chores. In the effort to reduce the time for domestic activities, TaTEDO-SESO is striving to build capacity for women to adopt electric cooking solutions. The electric pressure cooker is one of the solutions that may help women in households to reduce cooking time, enhance energy saving, ensure safety and cleanliness.  This clean cooking appliance will contribute to the reduction of women who are exposed to deadly smoke in households.  The use of an electric pressure cooker often results in significant time savings compared to traditional cooking methods while potentially retaining more nutrients in the food, making it a valuable tool for busy individuals and households seeking to streamline meal preparation. 

TaTEDO-SESO, in collaboration with different stakeholders, has been promoting efficient, improved woodfuel cookstoves to scale up their adoption in the community.  The TaTEDO-SESO has also been promoting rural electrification through mini-grid systems and stand-alone solar PV systems.  The mini-grids have previously been installed in several sites.  Solar PV systems have been installed in several households, institutions, and SMEs in Tanzania.  Although gender refers to the relationship between men and women in performing their day-to-day activities, women are inadequately represented not only in decision-making but also in the social division of labor.  TaTEDO-SESO strives to create awareness of gender-based barriers and cultural traditions that hinder the adoption of energy technologies.  Awareness of sustainable energy technologies and access to better energy services will reduce gender-based barriers and improve the social and economic status of women at different levels of the community.  Through these efforts, TaTEDO-SESO aims to contribute to its vision and mission of increasing access to sustainable energy services for all in Tanzania.