The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) has released a new training toolkit designed to strengthen the role of indigenous women in small-scale hydropower development and management. The Women-Centric Toolkit for Small-Scale Hydropower, known as WEco, was co-created with community partners in the Philippines and supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.
The Women-Centric Toolkit is based on field experience from the Lubas community in the Philippines and was developed in collaboration with local practitioner organisation Yamog and indigenous women’s groups. It is intended to support women’s participation across the full micro-hydropower value chain, including project planning and construction, operation and maintenance, productive end-use, and watershed protection .
WEco uses a game-based, participatory learning approach to build technical understanding, leadership skills and confidence. The programme is structured around three modules – NEED, BUILD and SUSTAIN – which guide participants through identifying community priorities, planning and developing micro-hydropower systems, and managing long-term operations, finances and governance.
According to IRENA, the toolkit is designed to be adaptable to different local contexts. Training materials can be printed or recreated using locally available resources, allowing communities with limited access to infrastructure to apply the methodology. The toolkit also includes facilitator guidance and role-model videos that document real project experience from community-led micro-hydropower systems in the Philippines.
IRENA said the initiative responds to evidence that women’s participation improves project sustainability and socio-economic outcomes in decentralised renewable energy systems. By combining technical training with community governance and environmental stewardship, the agency aims to support more inclusive hydropower development models in rural and indigenous settings.
The WEco toolkit is available for public access through IRENA’s education platform and is intended for use by project developers, NGOs, community facilitators and training institutions working on decentralised hydropower and rural electrification programmes worldwide.
