Capacity-building remains a critical challenge in achieving a just and gender-inclusive energy transition. Developing countries consistently call for institutional capacity that is embedded within organizations and can be sustained and transferred over time. To date, most efforts have focused on individual capacity—such as workshops and training programs—that often lose impact when trained individuals leave their institutions. Without strong institutional and professional capacity in the energy sector, efforts remain fragmented, the implementation of policies like Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans is hindered, and marginalized communities continue to be excluded from meaningful participation in decision-making.
Strengthening capacity for a just and gender-inclusive energy transition, therefore, requires more than technical training, reskilling, and upskilling - it demands the empowerment of women and underrepresented groups, and deeper collaboration among industry, civil society, policymakers, and other key stakeholders. This session aimed to strengthen institutional capacity to accelerate renewable energy and decarbonization, while mainstreaming gender relations and addressing social inequalities. Participants gained actionable strategies, shared insights, and valuable connections that can be adapted to their own work - advancing the Global Mutirão’s mission of collective action for climate justice and sustainable development.
This session strengthened institutional capacity for Just Energy Transitions, including post-mining land restoration and gender mainstreaming. Using games, participatory tools, the triple-helix model, and the Resource Nexus approach, participants rotated in a world café format to explore country experiences, gaining actionable strategies, peer insights, and scalable, inclusive, and replicable transition models.
Objectives
Strengthen institutional capacity for implementing gender-just and inclusive energy transitions by sharing practical tools, frameworks, and peer learning approaches.
Promote co-development of solutions through participatory and interactive methods that foster dialogue among academia, policymakers, civil society, and industry.
Foster cross-country learning and collaboration by exchanging experiences and lessons from diverse regional contexts to identify scalable and replicable institutional approaches.
Empower participants—particularly women, youth, and underrepresented groups—to apply the session’s insights and tools within their own institutions and communities, driving systemic change.
Contribute to the Global Mutirão’s mission by advancing collective, evidence-based, and inclusive capacity-building pathways for a just energy transition, climate justice, and sustainable development.
Agenda
Structure
Time
Segment
Speaker & Affiliation
15:30
Scene-Setting keynote
Prof. Edeltraud Guenther, Director UNU-FLORES
15:40
World cafe tables - rotating four 15-minute sessions
Mario Heredia, ECUADOR, PUCE
Giselle Flores, ECUADOR, Asoclima
Carole Tankeu, CAMEROON, W4SECA
Prof Muyiwa Oyinlola, Circular Economy Powered Renewable Energy Centre (CEPREC)/De Montfort University