ASTANA – The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) organized a five-day training program on renewable energy for nearly 100 young women from Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Mongolia from 17 to 21 April in Almaty to empower them to start careers in the sustainable energy sector, reported the OSCE on April 21.
Participants during a site visit at Qapshagai solar power plant 2MW in Kazakhstan. Photo credit: osce.org.
Giulia Manconi, OSCE Senior Energy Security Program Officer, said providing women with access to adequate training and career opportunities in sustainable energy will increase the quantity and quality of the workforce needed for a successful energy transition and the long-term energy security of Central Asia.
The course featured a series of lectures and site visits that helped increase knowledge of the green energy technologies, renewable energy, and energy efficiency, and provided practical insights into the clean energy sector through an onsite visit to the country’s renewable energy facilities, including the Konayev solar power plant with a capacity of two megawatts.
The participants also learned the economic aspects of renewable energy deployment and its gender dimension and had the opportunity to network with industry experts and potential employers.
“Small hydropower plants are planned to be constructed in the Kyrgyz Republic and I would like to be involved in this process,” said Asylbu Kudaibergenova, a participant from the Kyrgyz Republic. “At the training, I learned directly from experts who provided concrete examples of hydropower construction and their potential,” she noted.
The training course is part of the OSCE’s initiative on Empowering Young Central Asian Women in the Energy Transition. The initiative is one of the activities within the OSCE project promoting women’s economic participation in the energy sector for energy security and sustainability in Central Asia, co-funded by Austria, Germany, Italy, Norway and Poland.
