Association Burkinabè de Fundraising

The Climate Investment Platform (CIP) has launched a call for proposals to support women energy entrepreneurs and organisations supporting women's economic empowerment.

The EmPower Her Call for Proposals invites clean energy projects in the early stages of development that enable productive uses of electricity and allow communities to escape multidimensional poverty. Selected projects will receive technical assistance to develop a project concept, elaborate the business plan and support subsequent investor outreach.

The Climate Investment Platform (CIP) - a partnership of UNDP, IRENA, SEforALL, in coordination with the GCF - intends, with the EmPower Her Call for Proposals, to fill the financing gap for early-stage clean energy projects in the least developed markets, ensuring that they can quickly replicate, and eventually scale up, their efforts on the ground.

Under this call for proposals, the CIP will support proposals that present technical innovations, submitted by (mostly) women-led organisations or organisations whose main objective is women's empowerment, that directly improve the productivity of renewable energy users on the demand side or provide a combination of added value and renewable energy production in one tool.

Preferably, innovations should show potential for increasing productive capacity for those economic niches that are mainly occupied by women.

The CIP seeks to transform the project idea into a quality project concept note, including for example initial pre-feasibility studies and potential financial structures and models. In addition, the CIP will actively seek to engage with public and private sector funding partners, international financial institutions and donors who can provide funding for project development.

Information on funding for women entrepreneurs in the energy sector

Successful project promoters receive up to 40,000 $ (USD) to accelerate the preparation of investment readiness, such as business planning, feasibility testing, legal and technical requirements, and then support subsequent investor outreach.

Eligibility criteria for women entrepreneurs in the energy field

• Applicants from countries that are LDCs and that fall into one of the 3 categories can apply:
  • Private sector developers
  • NGO
  • Universities and research centres
• The best applicants will be able to submit project proposals that :
  • Demonstrable influence on increased productivity of women-owned businesses, women entrepreneurs or other employment transitions and/or access to energy for women
  • Operating with the intention of being financially self-sufficient
  • Have the potential to be scaled up and replicated

For more information, please visit CIP .