Rooted in Justice, Radiating Power
our story
Born in 2017 from the global divest-invest movement
In 2017, a circle of visionary change-makers from the divest-invest movement came together with a bold, justice-driven vision: to dismantle extractive systems rooted in fossil fuels; and nurture regenerative, community-rooted energy solutions, especially where they were most urgently needed. They understood that the future of energy must be clean, decentralised, and rooted in equity and care for both people and the Earth.
With the solidarity and support of pioneering allies—Sustainable Energy for All, the IKEA Foundation, Green Faith, the Wallace Global Fund, and the Charles Stewart Mott and DOEN Foundations—SHINE was born.
SHINE began as a campaign: a clarion call to reimagine energy through an ecofeminist lens—centering justice, interconnectedness, and the leadership of those closest to the frontlines of energy poverty. Through research, advocacy, and seed funding for grassroots innovators, SHINE helped bring renewable energy to the last mile, where colonial and patriarchal systems had long left communities in the dark.
Over time, SHINE grew from a campaign into a living, breathing movement. By 2023, it had transformed into a catalyst for deep systems change—one that deliberately shifted its focus to resourcing and uplifting community-driven, women-led renewable energy solutions. This evolution was not only about shifting technology; it was about redistributing power, reweaving relationships, and centering care in the transition.
SHINE now pulses at the heart of a growing global ecosystem rooted in Africa. It mobilises resources to seed and scale women-led cooperatives, energy collectives, and climate justice movements that are building resilient, regenerative economies powered by sun, wind, and solidarity. In Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, and beyond, SHINE supports the flourishing of locally-owned, democratised energy systems that honour the wisdom of women, the sovereignty of communities, and the healing of Earth.
The path ahead is vibrant and full of promise. With each community SHINE walks alongside, each cooperative it nourishes, and each policy it helps transform, SHINE continues to illuminate a future where clean energy is not a commodity—but a commons. A right. And a sacred responsibility shared by all.
Our Mission
SHINE resources women-led community organisations and enterprises by providing resources for renewable energy access, improving livelihoods, wellbeing, and climate resilience. We scale successful pilot initiatives across Africa, and the Global South through radical collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and strong partnerships. By amplifying stories and evidence, we advocate for increased funding and policy changes to promote a people-centered, inclusive Just Energy Transition.
Our Vision
SHINE envisions thriving local economies powered by community-controlled decentralised renewable energy systems, where women lead and shape a sustainable, more democratic future rooted in self-determination, care, cooperation, solidarity and well-being for all.
core values
Our Guiding Beliefs
Decentralised, locally governed renewable energy systems reduce dependency on exploitative fossil fuel regimes and restore agency to communities. Energy democracy is fundamental to economic sovereignty and resilience.
Women, especially those in rural, low-income, and marginalised communities, are often primary energy users and stewards of community wellbeing. Their knowledge and leadership must be centred in the design, governance, and implementation of renewable energy systems.
Energy must be treated as a basic human right and a shared common, accessible to all, especially those historically excluded. Women, Indigenous peoples, and frontline communities must shape how energy is owned, produced, and distributed.
Energy systems must be built on principles of care, for people, ecosystems, and future generations. An energy transition must support livelihoods, social reproduction, and ecological restoration, not just decarbonisation.
A just transition requires shifting financial, technical, and political power away from corporate control and toward community-led, women-driven initiatives. This includes reparative investments in historically disinvested regions and populations.
From colonisation to fossil fuel dependency, energy systems have been sites of exploitation. A feminist just transition reckons with this legacy by prioritising healing, reparations, and systemic transformation over green growth or techno-fixes.
Climate-just local economies must be regenerative—nourishing both human and ecological life. Energy access must support agroecology, care work, artisanal production, and other community-rooted livelihoods that restore the Earth and build collective resilience.
Energy systems must honor the rights of future generations. Long-term sustainability, not short-term profit, should guide all energy policy, practice, and investment.
Feminist energy justice must address the intersecting impacts of race, class, gender, disability, and geography. No solution is just unless it is inclusive of all identities and lived realities.
We must challenge dominant narratives of growth, control, and extraction, and uplift stories that celebrate cooperation, regeneration, and community care. A feminist energy transition is also a cultural one.
The Team
Our Partners
