SARIC Rising Tide

INTRODUCTION WHAT DE F I NE S U S I n truth, women face far more barriers than men, especially when it comes to achievements in science, technology, engineering, andmathematics (STEM). This isn’t restricted by geography; the accomplishments of many female inventors and scientists around the world have largely been obscured by history. It’s a roll call that, in the west, includes names like actress Hedy Lamarr, who invented the spread-spectrum technology that underpins the WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth systems we use today. The UNDP reports considerable disparities when it comes to women in STEM in the Asia Pacific Region. There are also challenges unique to the region around childhood, education, and careers, with research reflecting a declining entry into the workforce. It is an imbalance that organizations like WePOWER are redressing. W hen we look around the world today, how much attention do we pay to the forces that can make or break accomplishments? 7 6 In 2023 alone, the network completed 3,064 activities that reached 67,852 girls and women. Since their launch in 2019 , they have worked with partners to implement over 5,736 activities that have impacted more than 136,644 female beneficiaries including students, interns, young professionals, engineers and returning mothers in South Asia . 1 Recognising and addressing these issues requires a focus and overarching vision 2 , something Australia takes seriously. For many years, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has worked with international partners and other countries to tackle global challenges, increase trade and investment opportunities, and protect international rules. SARIC, the South Asia Regional Infrastructure Connectivity Framework, is one such initiative with $32 million allocated toward planned transport and energy projects viewed as vital to connecting the growing economies of the South Asia region. This work is an enormous lift - the Asian Development Bank (ADB) reported in 2017 that the region lagged behind other parts of Asia in infrastructure investment as measured by access to electricity and sanitation, road and rail density and mobile connectivity. Critical to the success of an initiative of this magnitude are short-course training programs and networking opportunities that build and support the technical capacity of mid-career engineering and technical professionals in the energy sector. Delivered under SARIC, in 2022 – 2023 101 women attendees worked their way through a rigorous curriculum developed by AIT, the Asian Institute of Technology, with support from a regional working group of energy sector leaders across South Asia and Australia. You might call it an educational grid that stretches from DFAT to women engineers at the forefront of genuine change. It’s a solution that is helping bridge the gap between what these engineers know today and the powerful solutions they will bring to bear on tomorrow as a result. In this book, we tell the story of 12 of those women engineers, part of a 100-strong cohort fromBhutan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, who successfully completed an extensive 8-month training program culminating in a capstone week in Bangkok, Thailand. Drawn from different backgrounds and levels of expertise, each managed the rigours of a virtual training program and additional stresses that included full- time jobs, young families, and cultural barriers. The training was intended to help them become part of the decision-making processes in their respective countries—helping them lead rapid and ongoing transitions to newer, more sustainable energy. A welcome addition was the fostering of a professional network between these nations, enabling cross-border sharing of knowledge and lessons learned. For every single one of these women engineers, they’ve reckoned with the invisible forces that can make or break their own accomplishments. Now, they shape their own future. 1 https://collaboration.worldbank.org/content/sites/collaboration-for-development/en/groups/the-wepowernetwork/ documents.entry.html/2024/04/14/wepower_progressreport2023-BdfE.html 2 https://www.dfat.gov.au/ a rising tide : women , voices , and power what defines us