AIUB has become the first educational institution to join "South Asia Women in Power Sector Professional Network (WePOWER)" as an institutional member.
WePOWER is a vibrant voluntary women’s professional network in Energy and Power Sector in South Asia that supports women’s participation in energy projects and institutions and promotes normative change regarding women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education. WePOWER is a dynamic and voluntary regional network comprising 50 public and private utilities in the energy and power sector across eight South Asian countries. WePOWER was established in 2019 by The World Bank’s South Asia Gender and Energy Facility (SAGE) based on a limited baseline study in 2018-19 in collaboration with Asian Development Bank (ADB), utilities, institutions, and companies from the South Asia region.
The objectives of WePOWER are to support workforce participation of women in the energy and power sector and promote normative change regarding women in STEM. WePOWER follows five pillar framework (STEM Education, Recruitment, Professional Development, Retention, and Policy and Institutional Change) where each pillar has its own goals and activities to help close the employment gap for women in the South Asian power sector.
In Bangladesh, WePOWER is currently working with ten partners, of them, American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB) is the only educational institution who has become the successful institutional partner of WePOWER from July, 2024. Not only that, as per the requirement of WePOWER, AIUB has developed an incremental gender activities agreement with targets/goals under the five pillars of WePOWER which is known as the List of Activities (LoA) document. Furthermore, in order to strengthen the collaborative partnership among national institutional and strategic partners and foster the exchange of ideas, facilitate lateral learning and open communications, WePOWER has launched the WePOWER Bangladesh National Chapter (BNC) on June 10, 2024 where AIUB was a valued invited institution. Moreover, for accomplishing the targets of WePOWER, AIUB has formed a 10-member committee comprising both male and female faculties. Besides that, AIUB in collaboration with WePOWER Bangladesh Chapter has successfully organized seminar titled- “Female Students Career-Building Opportunities in Power Sector” on September 23, 2024. Through this partnership with WePOWER, AIUB strengthens its commitment to promoting gender equality and empowering women in the energy and power sectors, while creating educational and professional opportunities to help close the gender gap in STEM fields.
Partnerships
