WOMEN ENGAGE FOR A COMMON FUTURE EV

Their core work

WECF is a Germany-based NGO that works at the intersection of gender equality, energy justice, and environmental policy across Europe. They bring gender-sensitive perspectives into energy and climate projects — specifically addressing how energy poverty, renewable energy adoption, and green transitions affect women and marginalized communities differently. Their practical contributions include community-level advocacy, capacity building for women in the energy sector, and ensuring that citizen engagement and social inclusion are embedded into research and policy processes. They serve as a bridge between civil society voices and EU-funded research consortia.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

WECF's early H2020 work (2019-2020) concentrated on tangible, sector-specific challenges: energy poverty among women in Mediterranean households and accelerating women's participation in renewable energy markets. From 2021 onward, their focus broadened significantly toward systemic and governance-level concerns — citizen science, responsible research and innovation (RRI), just transitions, and deliberative democracy in green policy. This shift signals a move from targeted energy-gender interventions toward shaping how the entire Green Deal is designed and governed with social equity in mind.

WECF is moving upstream from project-level gender advocacy to influencing how Europe's green transition policies are designed, making them an increasingly relevant partner for Green Deal and Mission-oriented projects that require genuine social inclusion components.

How they like to work

WECF operates exclusively as a consortium participant, never as coordinator — they join projects to contribute their gender and social justice expertise rather than to manage large consortia. With 70 unique partners across 22 countries from just 5 projects, they participate in large, diverse consortia (averaging 14+ partners per project). This means they are well-networked and accustomed to multi-country collaboration, but prospective partners should expect them as a specialized contributor rather than a project driver.

WECF has built a broad European network of 70 unique partners spanning 22 countries through just 5 projects, indicating involvement in large multi-national consortia. Their geographic footprint is distinctly pan-European with a notable Mediterranean dimension from their energy poverty work.

What sets them apart

WECF occupies a rare niche: they are one of very few organizations that systematically bring gender analysis and women's empowerment into energy, climate, and Green Deal research projects. For consortium builders, this is valuable because gender mainstreaming is increasingly required in Horizon Europe proposals but few partners can deliver it with genuine depth. Their combination of grassroots advocacy experience with formal EU research participation makes them credible both as a civil society voice and as a research partner.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EmpowerMed
  Directly tackled the intersection of gender and energy poverty in Mediterranean coastal communities — a highly specific and policy-relevant problem space.
• SHARED GREEN DEAL
  Largest budget (EUR 248,880) and longest duration (2022-2027), positioning WECF in a flagship project on social equity across the full spectrum of Green Deal topics.
• STEP CHANGE
  Marks WECF's expansion into citizen science and responsible research innovation, demonstrating their evolution beyond energy-specific gender work.