Monday 3 June
The Power of Us: Opening of the Women Deliver 2019 Conference
Let us join together and kick-off the Women Deliver 2019 Conference. Enjoy an indigenous welcoming ceremony, a high-powered plenary discussion, as well as some good beats. The Power of Us opening will explore the frame of WD2019 “Power. Progress. Change.”…
Katja Iversen
Katja Iversen is the President/CEO of Women Deliver – a leading global advocate for investment in gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women, with a specific focus on maternal, sexual and reproductive health and rights. Iversen, an internationally recognized expert on development, advocacy and communications, has more than 25 years of experience working in NGOs, corporates and United Nation agencies. Previously, she held the position as Chief of Strategic Communication and Public Advocacy with UNICEF, a position she came to after almost six years of leading the team responsible for advocacy and communication on reproductive health with UNFPA. She holds a master’s degree in communications, bachelor’s degree in public administration and certificates in management, conflict resolution, and international development. Iversen has worked in global development for more than 20 years and has an extensive network within the UN, development communities, and global media. She has counseled and trained multiple Fortune 500 executives on cross cultural management and cross cultural communication. She is a member of President Macron’s G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, the Unilever Sustainability Advisory Council, the MIT Women & Technology Solve Leadership Group, and an International Gender Champion. Iversen was recently named 2018 Dane of the Year and included in the top 10 of Apolitical’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy. She is also a sought lecturer and speaker.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Justin Trudeau is Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister. He also serves as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Youth. Trudeau’s vision of Canada is a country where everyone has a real and fair chance to succeed. His experiences as a teacher, father, leader, and advocate for youth have shaped his dedication to Canadians – and his commitment to make Canada a place where everyone has the opportunities they need to thrive.
Before entering politics, Trudeau spent several years teaching French, math, and other subjects in Vancouver. Teaching allowed him to make a positive impact in the lives of young people. He remains committed to hearing the voices of young Canadians, from the classroom to Parliament Hill.
Trudeau entered politics to make change that would better serve all Canadians. In 2007, he built a community-based, grassroots campaign to win the Liberal Party nomination in the Montréal riding of Papineau. He was elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2011 and 2015. Justin was elected Leader of the Liberal Party in April 2013. His leadership campaign focused on building a new, truly national movement of progressive Canadians, bringing hundreds of thousands of Canadians into politics, most for the first time. He worked closely with his team to build a plan to create jobs, grow the economy, and strengthen the middle class. With Trudeau’s leadership, the Liberal plan emphasized fair economic opportunity for everyone, respect for and promotion of freedom and diversity, and a more democratic government that truly represents Canadians.
As Prime Minister, Trudeau leads a government that works hard every day to build an economy that works for the middle class and people working hard to join it. His team is focused on creating new jobs, fostering strength out of Canada’s rich diversity, fighting climate change, and achieving reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. A strong feminist, Trudeau appointed Canada’s first gender balanced Cabinet.
Trudeau is husband to Sophie Grégoire, a former Quebec TV and radio host. They married in 2005 and are the proud parents of Xavier, Ella-Grace, and Hadrien.
Lyse Doucet
Lyse Doucet is the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent who is deployed to present special news coverage and report across the BBC’s domestic and global outlets.
Lyse spent 15 years as a BBC foreign correspondent with postings in Jerusalem, Amman, Islamabad, Tehran, Kabul and Abidjan.
She was nominated to the Order of Canada in 2018 and received an OBE in the Queen’s Honours list in 2014 for services to broadcasting. Other recent awards include the 2018 Trailblazer Award from the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, a 2016 Columbia School of Journalism Award for exceptional journalist achievement, and an Emmy award in 2014 for her team’s reporting from Syria.
Born in eastern Canada, Lyse has honorary doctorates from leading British and Canadian Universities. She has a Master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Toronto, and a BA Hons from Queen’s University in Kingston.
Lyse is a trustee of Inter Mediate, an honorary patron of Canadian Crossroads International, and a member of Friends of Aschiana UK which supports working street children in Afghanistan. She is a founding member of the Marie Colvin Journalists’ Network and a Senior Fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto. She is a Trustee of the Frontline Club for Journalists and a member of the Canadian Journalism Forum on Violence and Trauma.
Her Excellency President Sahle-Work Zewde
Sahle-Work Zewde was elected as the fourth and first woman President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia on 25 October 2018.
She spent her first professional years in the Ministry of Education. She later joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1988 and started her long diplomatic carrier as ambassador to Senegal with accreditation to Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and the Gambia. She served in Djibouti and IGAD- Inter Governmental Authority on Development for 10 years before moving as ambassador of Ethiopia to France, Tunisia and Morocco and Permanent Representative to UNESCO. After her return to Ethiopia she was appointed Permanent Representative to the African Union and Director-General for African Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia.
President Sahle-Work Zewde joined the United Nations in 2009 and served as Special Representative of United Nations Secretary-General/SRSG/ and Head of the United Nations Integrated Peace-building Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA) thus becoming the first African woman to become an SRSG.
In 2011, she was appointed as the first dedicated Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) at the level of Under-Secretary-General. In June 2018, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed Ms. Zewde as his Special Representative to the African Union and Head of the United Nations Office to the African Union (UNOAU. She was the first woman to hold these three positions at the United Nations.
Ms Zewde is a mother of two boys. She speaks Amharic, French and English fluently.
- Organization
- Commander-in-Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces
His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta
President Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s fourth, was sworn in for his second term and final term on 28 November 2017, following that year’s second presidential election.
Born on 26th October 1961, he is the first son of Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s founding father and first President. Uhuru was educated at St Mary’s in Nairobi and Amherst in Massachusetts, taking a degree in Political Science and Economics from the latter in 1985.
He is married to Margaret Kenyatta, Kenya’s First Lady. Her Beyond Zero campaign, which raises funds and awareness for maternal and child health initiatives in Kenya, has attracted global attention. They have three children: Jomo, Ngina and Muhoho Kenyatta.
After Amherst, Kenyatta came home and turned his hand to entrepreneurship. He ran his own business, which exported produce, while playing roles in other, established, firms.
He went into politics in 1997, entering Parliament as a nominated member in 1999, and Cabinet as Minister for local government in October 2001.
In 2002, as KANU, then the ruling party, prepared for that year’s general election, he was elected one of its four national vice-chairs. Later that year, Kenyatta emerged as KANU’s candidate in the December 2002 presidential election, but lost to the opposition’s Mwai Kibaki, though he was elected MP for his native Gatundu South. He entered Parliament, and served as Leader of the Opposition.
In 2007, he backed President Kibaki’s bid for a second term, and returned to Cabinet in January 2008, after Kibaki won. He would go on to serve as Minister for Finance and Deputy Prime Minister until 2012, before he led the Jubilee alliance to victory in the general election the following year.
Since he took office in 2013, President Kenyatta has pursued a number of policy initiatives. The Big Four, President Kenyatta’s administration’s priority since 2017, has emphasised universal healthcare, housing, industrialization, and agriculture.
Infrastructure has been a second central theme of the presidency. The Northern Corridor, connecting Mombasa with Kampala, Kigali, Bujumbura, and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has been revitalised. The inauguration of LAPSSET — under which Kenya is forging partnerships with investors to build a highway, an oil pipeline, a railway line and a seaport in Lamu, connecting South Sudan and Ethiopia — is a measure of the administration’s ambition. Yet another key infrastructure venture is the Standard Gauge Railway, which reached Nairobi in 2017.
On the continent, President Kenyatta’s administration has emerged as a key proponent of the Pan-African agenda, in recognition of which he was voted chair of the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). He has also led regional peace and security initiatives, with a special focus on the situation in the Horn of Africa.
Farwiza Farhan
Farwiza is the leader of Forest, Nature & Environment Aceh (HAkA) a homegrown Acehnese NGO, which is striving to protect the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra. In her work, she seeks to share knowledge, connect and empower the local community to have their participation accounted for in decision making over land in their area. In the past, she has participated in initiating legal challenges against government and companies in order to have Leuser's protection acknowledged and recognized. She focuses her efforts on policy and advocacy element, starting from building grass-roots movements, equipping the local communities with knowledge and connection to the global communities. Farwiza’s impact on community driven conservation was recognized with the 2016 Whitley Award.
Natasha Mwansa
Natasha Chibesa Wang Mwansa is passionate about using the media to empower young people. She is currently a first year student at the University of Zambia pursuing a degree in Mass Communication with a minor in Political Science and Public Administration. Natasha is also a Women Deliver Young Leader (Class of 2018).
Natasha was born and raised in Zambia. As a Junior Reporter, Child Journalist, Child and Women’s Rights Advocate and Activist at the Media Network on Child Rights and Development, she is responsible for gathering and disseminating information and tracking stakeholder progress. Through her work, she was selected to be part of the African Union Commission’s Youth Advisory Board. Additionally, she is the Social Accountability Monitor at Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Dissemination Service and a youth representative for the United Nations Population Fund. As an advocate, Natasha is proud of being in the process of starting an initiative that will foster young people to take radical action and foster positive change.
- Date
- Monday 3 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 4:30 pm - 6:00 pm PST
- Speakers
- Katja Iversen
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
- Lyse Doucet
- Her Excellency President Sahle-Work Zewde
- His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta
- Farwiza Farhan
- Natasha Mwansa
- President of Ghana His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo
- Dr. Alaa Murabit
- Erica Armah-Bra Bulu Tandoh
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of Us: Opening of the Women Deliver 2019 Conference
Let us join together and kick-off the Women Deliver 2019 Conference. Enjoy an indigenous welcoming ceremony, a high-powered plenary discussion, as well as some good beats. The Power of Us opening will explore the frame of WD2019 “Power. Progress. Change.” with heads of state, advocates, and young people. We will together generate new ideas, inspiration, and excitement for what lays ahead in the conference.
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Indigenous Welcoming Ceremony: 3 leaders of Indigenous BC Nations and Heads of State, panelists, Women Deliver Young Leaders and other selected delegates
Video: Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres
Welcome Remarks:
- Katja Iversen, President/CEO, Women Deliver
- The Right Honourable Justin P.J. Trudeau, Prime Minister, Government of Canada
Moderator: Lyse Doucet, Journalist, BBC News
High-Level Panel:
- Her Excellency President Sahle Work-Zewde, Government of Ethiopia
- His Excellency Honourable Uhuru Kenyatta, C.G.H.President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces
- Farwiza Farhan, Environmental Activist, The New Now
- The Right Honourable Justin P.J. Trudeau, Prime Minister, Government of Canada
- Natasha Mwansa, Children’s, Youth, and Women’s Rights Activist/Advocate, Media Network on Child Rights and Development
- President of Ghana His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, African Union Gender and Development leader and HeforShe Champion
- Dr. Alaa Murabit, High-Level Commissioner: Health, Employment & Economic Growth
Call to Action & Closing Remarks:
- Katja Iversen, President/CEO, Women Deliver
- Gapminder survey introduction to attendees
Music & Entertainment: “DJ Switch” Erica Tandoh
Tuesday 4 June
The Power of Now: Taking stock of where we stand and what opportunities and challenges lie ahead
We first need to map where the world stands on gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women before we can chart a path forward. With evidence and data, optimism and realism, The Power of Now will apply a gender lens and explore progress…
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
Justin Trudeau is Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister. He also serves as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of Youth. Trudeau’s vision of Canada is a country where everyone has a real and fair chance to succeed. His experiences as a teacher, father, leader, and advocate for youth have shaped his dedication to Canadians – and his commitment to make Canada a place where everyone has the opportunities they need to thrive.
Before entering politics, Trudeau spent several years teaching French, math, and other subjects in Vancouver. Teaching allowed him to make a positive impact in the lives of young people. He remains committed to hearing the voices of young Canadians, from the classroom to Parliament Hill.
Trudeau entered politics to make change that would better serve all Canadians. In 2007, he built a community-based, grassroots campaign to win the Liberal Party nomination in the Montréal riding of Papineau. He was elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2011 and 2015. Justin was elected Leader of the Liberal Party in April 2013. His leadership campaign focused on building a new, truly national movement of progressive Canadians, bringing hundreds of thousands of Canadians into politics, most for the first time. He worked closely with his team to build a plan to create jobs, grow the economy, and strengthen the middle class. With Trudeau’s leadership, the Liberal plan emphasized fair economic opportunity for everyone, respect for and promotion of freedom and diversity, and a more democratic government that truly represents Canadians.
As Prime Minister, Trudeau leads a government that works hard every day to build an economy that works for the middle class and people working hard to join it. His team is focused on creating new jobs, fostering strength out of Canada’s rich diversity, fighting climate change, and achieving reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples. A strong feminist, Trudeau appointed Canada’s first gender balanced Cabinet.
Trudeau is husband to Sophie Grégoire, a former Quebec TV and radio host. They married in 2005 and are the proud parents of Xavier, Ella-Grace, and Hadrien.
Anna Rosling Rönnlund
Together with Hans Rosling and Ola Rosling, Anna Rosling Rönnlund founded Gapminder in 2005. Gapminder’s mission statement is to fight devastating ignorance with a fact-based world view everyone can understand.
She designed the user-interface of the famous animating bubble-chart tool called Trendalyzer, used by millions of students across the world, to understand global development trends. The tool was acquired by Google, and Anna worked at Google in Mountain View, CA as a Senior Usability Designer 2007 to 2010. At Google Anna improved search results for public data, developed data exploration tools for Public Data and made a bubble tool gadget (Motion chart) in Google Spreadsheets. In 2010 Anna came back to Gapminder to develop new free teaching material. Anna is now Vice President and Head of Design & User Experience at Gapminder. She also sits in the Gapminder Board. Anna holds a Master’s Degree in Sociology and a Bachelor’s Degree in Photography.
Anna founded Dollar Street, the biggest systematic image bank with representative home documentations based on data. At the moment we have almost 30 000 photos and 10 000 video clips, which are free to use under Creative Common license.
Together with Ola and Hans, Anna wrote the Factfulness book, launched in April 2018.
Isha Sesay
Isha Sesay is a multiaward-winning CNN journalist, who has covered every major story of the past 10 years – with a particular focus on stories of social injustice and their impact on women and girls, as well as other marginalized communities. She is also the Founder and President of W.E. (Women Everywhere) Can Lead, a non-profit organization working in her native country of Sierra Leone, to nurture and empower teenage girls to become Africa’s next generation of dynamic female leaders. Sesay is currently putting the finishing touches on her first book, which details the mass abduction of the 276 Nigerian schoolgirls by the Boko Haram terror group in 2014. Their plight generated countless headlines around the world and the hashtag, #BringBackOurgirls. Harper Collins will publish the as-yet unnamed title, next year.
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is a South African politician and United Nations official, and is currently serving as the Executive Director of UN Women with the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka has devoted her career to issues of human rights, equality and social justice. She has worked in government and civil society, with the private sector, and was actively involved in the struggle to end apartheid in her home country of South Africa. Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka began her career as a teacher and gained international experience as a coordinator at the World YWCA in Geneva, where she established a global programme for young women. She is the founder of the Umlambo Foundation, which supports leadership and education. A longtime champion of women’s rights, she is affiliated with several organizations devoted to education, women’s empowerment and gender equality.
The Honourable Maryam Monsef
The Honourable Maryam Monsef is the Member of Parliament for Peterborough—Kawartha, and Canada’s Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality.
After running for Mayor of Peterborough in 2014, she became the first woman to be elected in the federal riding of Peterborough—Kawartha, the first Afghan-Canadian Member of Parliament in Canada’s history, and the first Muslim to serve as a federal Cabinet Minister.
Drawing on her years of experience in community organizing, Minister Monsef has worked with local organizations, including the YWCA of Peterborough and Haliburton Board of Directors, the Ontario Public Interest Research Group, and the New Canadians Centre. She has served as the Vice-President of the YWCA in her riding, and sat on a number of councils and committees dedicated to promoting social and economic justice. She also founded the Red Pashmina Campaign, which raised money to support education for women and girls in Afghanistan.
As Minister for Women and Gender Equality, she has led Status of Women Canada’s transition from agency to the new Department for Women and Gender Equality, and has secured major investments in Canada’s equality-seeking movement, including over $200 million to help prevent and address gender-based violence, and $100 million to build the capacity of women’s organizations from coast to coast to coast. She launched the first-ever federal gender-based violence strategy, has worked with the Minister of Finance to ensure that all federal budgets have to undergo a gender budgeting process; and partnered with the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour and the President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government to create and pass historic proactive pay equity legislation to ensure equal pay for work of equal value in the federally regulated sector.
Minister Monsef has lived in Peterborough since 1996, and has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Trent University. She speaks English, Farsi and Dari, and continues to work on her French.
Joannie Marlene Bewa
Joannie Marlene Bewa is a physician, researcher, and sexual and reproductive health advocate. She was recently named a United Nations Young Leader for the SDGs by the UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. She founded in Benin Republic, the Young Beninese Leaders Association (YBLA), a youth and women-led organization, which among other achievements empowered and trained more than 10,000 youth, girls, and women through capacity-building, mentoring on sexuality education, reproductive health, leadership, and entrepreneurship and was awarded the First Lady Michelle Obama Young African Women Leaders Grant. Joannie is also a public health researcher at the College of Public Health, University of South Florida and is advancing scientific research for women’s health.
Joannie works to advance women’s rights and health through her many roles and affiliations: board member for Merck for Mothers, Women Deliver Young Leader (Class of 2016), founding member of the UNFPA Youth Panel Benin, and member of the Adolescent and Youth Constituency of the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, Children’s Health (PMNCH) hosted by the World Health Organization.
Joannie was featured by Melinda Gates’ on her list of six influential women on the topic of global access to contraception in 2016, recently recognized as a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Goalkeeper and a ONE Campaign Woman of the Year. She supported global advocacy alongside Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on International Women’s Day for a commitment of 650 million dollars for women’s health globally and is one the spokesperson of the ONE Campaign Open Letter for women’s right which reached over 150,000 signatures in few days.
Winnie Byanyima
Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director at Oxfam International, is a global authority on economic inequality and women’s rights. Born in Mbarara, Uganda, her activism was inspired by the brave women in her village. She continues to support women’s rights struggles worldwide. Winnie formerly led the directorates of gender and development at the UN Development Programme and the African Union Commission, and served in the Ugandan Parliament for 11 years.
Ms. Byanyima is a signatory to her country’s 1985 peace agreement and has helped to broker and support women’s participation in peace processes in several African countries. As part of her drive to bring women’s perspectives into core development issues, she co-founded the Global Gender and Climate Alliance and chaired UN-wide task forces on gender aspects of the Millennium Development Goals and climate change.
Ms. Byanyima has served on numerous global boards and commissions and is currently a member of the Executive Board of the International Centre for Research on Women. She holds a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering in Energy Conservation and the Environment (University of Cranfield, UK), and a B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering (University of Manchester, UK).
- Date
- Tuesday 4 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 8:30 am - 10:00 am PST
- Speakers
- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
- Anna Rosling Rönnlund
- Isha Sesay
- Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
- The Honourable Maryam Monsef
- Joannie Marlene Bewa
- Winnie Byanyima
- Ken Frazier
- Peter Sands
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of Now: Taking stock of where we stand and what opportunities and challenges lie ahead
We first need to map where the world stands on gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women before we can chart a path forward. With evidence and data, optimism and realism, The Power of Now will apply a gender lens and explore progress made and setbacks faced in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. We will open with a grounding presentation, then have a dynamic discussion between leaders from civil society, the UN, government, and private sector, on opportunities and challenges ahead.
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Opening: The Right Honourable Justin P.J. Trudeau, Prime Minister, Government of Canada
- Introduced by Maryam Monsef, Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality, Government of Canada
Presentation: Anna Rosling Rönnlund, Founder, Dollarstreet, Co-Founder, Gapminder
Moderator: Isha Sesay, Founder, W.E. Can Lead Foundation, former journalist, CNN
Panel:
- Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, United Nations Under-Secretary-General, Executive Director, UN Women
- Maryam Monsef, Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality, Government of Canada
- Joannie Marlene Bewa, Young Beninese Leaders Association
- Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director, Oxfam International
- Ken Frazier, Chairman of the Board & CEO, Merck + Co., Inc.
- Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fights AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
Delivering for Girls and Women Award
The Power of Data and Accountability: Girls and women count, must be counted, and counted in
Reliable, timely, and gender disaggregated data collection and management are critical tools to help citizens and advocates hold governments accountable. Achieving progress for girls and women – and thereby all – is dependent upon accurate, gender…
- Organization
- Deliver for Good Influencer
Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary
The Crown Princess is a passionate advocate for health, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. She is committed to creating awareness, respect and ensuring compliance of women and girls´ sexual and reproductive health and rights, including access to family planning and the reduction of maternal and child mortality.
Crown Princess Mary was a member of the High-Level Task Force for the International Conference on Population and Development and serves as patron of several international organizations and agencies, including the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, but also a number of Danish NGOs: Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and Maternity Worldwide.
The Crown Princess is also an Influencer of Women Deliver’s ‘Deliver for Good Campaign’ and is a member of the ICRW Leadership Council. The Crown Princess was patron of the Women Deliver Conference in Copenhagen in 2016.
In 2007 the Crown Princess founded The Mary Foundation with the mission of fighting social isolation. Under her leadership the foundation brings together untraditional partners to develop and manage projects and programs that focus on prevention, the creation of opportunities and empowering vulnerable individuals and groups who find themselves socially isolated. The foundation’s focus areas are: domestic violence, bullying and wellbeing and loneliness.
Crown Princess Mary is also patron of the Global Fashion Agenda and an advocate for sustainability in fashion. She is a frequent speaker at international conferences and an honorary member of various associations and societies.
Julie Gichuru
Julie Gathoni Sumira Gichuru is a Kenyan entrepreneur and media personality with investments in media, fashion retail and entertainment sectors. She is an Independent Director at Acumen Communication Limited and is a Fellow and trustee of the Africa Leadership Initiative EA. Julie’s career in the media spans over the past 19 years and has seen her work across the fields of broadcast, print and digital media. Julie has also pioneered an impressive number of television shows, from the first Kenyan investigative TV series, The Inside Story on Kenya Television Network to various current affairs shows at NTV (Kenya) including political and current affairs programs Showdown, On the Spot, You The Jury and The People’s Voice, the celebrated news program Sunday Live, peace and reconciliation program Fist to Five at Citizen TV and the celebrated post-election peace special Voices of Reason.
Through Arimus Media Limited Julie now oversees the production of quality African content such as Africa Leadership Dialogues, the Great Debaters Contest and entertainment series such as Maisha, Glam Show, Trading Bell, The Code and Shinda Washinde.
Alison Holder
Alison Holder is Director of Equal Measures 2030, an independent civil society and private sector-led partnership that connects data and evidence with advocacy and action, helping to fuel progress towards gender equality. The partnership is a joint effort of leading regional and global organizations from civil society and the development and private sectors, including: the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Data2X, the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC), KPMG International, ONE Campaign, Plan International and Women Deliver.
Alison has nearly 20 years’ experience working in international development and the private sector, including leading policy, advocacy and campaigning work on issues ranging from inequality, tax justice, accountability, and corporate responsibility at Action Aid, Oxfam, and Save the Children. She has also worked on livelihoods projects with women’s groups in India and small business development in South Africa. Prior to working in the development sector, Alison worked in corporate social responsibility and business strategy consulting at Accenture.
Alison has an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and an undergraduate degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business in Canada.
Hon Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard served as the 27th Prime Minister of Australia from 2010-13. As Prime Minister and in her previous role as Deputy Prime Minister, Ms. Gillard was central to the successful management of Australia’s economy, the 12th biggest in the world, during the Global Financial Crisis. Ms. Gillard delivered nation-changing policies including reforming Australian education at every level, from early childhood to university education, and commenced the nation’s first ever national scheme to care for people with disabilities.
Ms. Gillard is the first woman to ever serve as Australia’s Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister. In October 2012, Ms. Gillard received worldwide attention for her speech in Parliament on the treatment of women in professional and public life.
In April 2018, Ms. Gillard was appointed Inaugural Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at Kings College, London. In 2014, Ms Gillard was appointed chair of the Global Partnership for Education, a leading organization dedicated to expanding access and quality education worldwide. Ms. Gillard is a non-resident Distinguished Senior Fellow with the Center for Universal Education at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Dr. Ephraim Kisangala
Ephraim is a young Ugandan medical doctor with demonstrated experience providing healthcare in rural and urban parts of Africa. Through a local organization, he initiated mobile medical outreach programs in rural Uganda while mentoring future professionals to embrace community healthcare.
He is a Women Deliver Young Leader (Class of 2016) who has contributed to several policy documents and programs on reproductive health, menstrual health, and public health in general. He was recently credited for his work on menstrual health by The Duchess of Sussex, HRH Meghan Markle. He has also been a recipient of several awards such as the Windle Trust International Scholarship Award and Global Voices Award.
Ephraim has held several leadership positions, including chairing Africa's medical students umbrella body (FAMSA) when he was a medical student. He is currently completing a master’s degree in Public Health from Bangor University, UK under the Commonwealth Scholarship.
Gabriela Ramos
As Chief of Staff and OECD Sherpa to the G7 /G20, Gabriela Ramos supports the Secretary-General’s Strategic Agenda, and is responsible for the Organisation’s contributions to the global agenda, including G20, G7, APEC. She leads the Inclusive Growth and the New Approaches to Economic Challenges initiatives and oversees the OECD’s work on Employment and Social Affairs (including gender).
In recognition of her efforts on gender equality, Ms. Ramos was awarded the Forbes prize for Entrepreneurial Excellence in June 2017. She was decorated with the Ordre du Merit by the President of France in 2013. In May 2018, she was included in Apolitical’s Gender Equality Top 100: The Most Influential People In Global Policy.
Previously, Ms. Ramos was Head of the OECD Office in Mexico and Latin America, prior to which she held positions in the Mexican Government, including Director of Economic Affairs (and OECD issues) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Technical Secretary at the Office of the Minister for the Budget. She held positions as Professor of International Economy at the Universidad Iberoamericana and at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. Ms. Ramos holds an MA in Public Policy from Harvard University, and was a Fulbright and Ford MacArthur fellow.
Jayathma Wickramanayake
Ms. Jayathma Wickramanayake was appointed as the UN Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth in June 2017 at the age of 26. In this role, Jayathma works to expand the UN’s youth engagement and advocacy efforts across all four pillars of work – sustainable development, human rights, peace and security and humanitarian action – and serves as a representative of and advisor to the Secretary-General.
Originally from Sri Lanka, Ms. Wickramanayake has worked extensively on youth development and participation, and has played a key role in transforming the youth development sector in her home country.
Prior to taking up her post, Ms. Wickramanayake was instrumental in creating the movement for civic and political engagement of young people, especially young women in Sri Lanka named “Hashtag Generation”. Previously, she advocated for global youth development on an international level including as the first ever Sri Lankan Youth Delegate to the United Nations and as the youth lead negotiator and member of the International Youth Task Force of the World Conference on Youth 2014 where she played a critical role in mainstreaming youth in the Post-2015 Process and in the establishment of World Youth Skills Day.
- Date
- Tuesday 4 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 10:30 am - 12:00 pm PST
- Speakers
- Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary
- Julie Gichuru
- Alison Holder
- Hon Julia Gillard
- Dr. Ephraim Kisangala
- Gabriela Ramos
- Jayathma Wickramanayake
- Joy Phumaphi
- Osvaldo Cristian Rudloff Pulgar
- Dr. Aparajita Gogoi
- Her Excellency President Sahle-Work Zewde
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of Data and Accountability: Girls and women count, must be counted, and counted in
Reliable, timely, and gender disaggregated data collection and management are critical tools to help citizens and advocates hold governments accountable. Achieving progress for girls and women – and thereby all – is dependent upon accurate, gender disaggregated data to fuel advocacy and guide interventions. During this plenary, we will discuss and demonstrate the power of data, data disaggregation, and evidence, just as we will explore how to measure commitments and hold governments accountable to their promises.
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Opening: HRH Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Deliver for Good Influencer, Women Deliver
Moderator: Julie Gichuru, Independent Director, Acumen Communications
Panel 1: Data
- Alison Holder, Director, Equal Measures 2030
- Gabriela Ramos, Chief of Staff and Sherpa to G7/G20, OECD
- Julia Gillard, Chair of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership and Chair of the Global Partnerships for Education, and Former Prime Minister of Australia
- Ephraim Kisangala, Medical Doctor
Panel 2: Accountability
- Jayathma Wickramanayake, UN Envoy on Youth
- Aparajita Gogoi, Co-Chair, Global What Women Want, Executive Director, Centre for Catalyzing Change
- Osvaldo Rudloff Pulgar, Executive Director, OLACEFS
- Joy Phumaphi, Co-Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s Independent Accountability Panel for Every Woman, Every Child, Every Adolescent
Fire Talk: Her Excellency President Sahle Work-Zewde, Government of Ethiopia
The Power of Agency: Changemakers on surviving and preventing gender-based violence
Girls and women are too often portrayed as victims, when they are in fact powerful agents of change. In this session, we will hear from survivors of gender-based violence and advocates working to create change in their communities and around the globe.…
Nice Nailantei Leng’ete
A Maasai woman from Kenya, Nice Nailantei Leng’ete challenged social norms in her community to end the harmful practices of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM, also known as Female Genital Cutting or FGC) and child marriage. Through her own efforts, and with the support of Amref Health Africa, Ms. Leng’ete educated elders, boys and the young men (known as Morans) with new messages about sexual and reproductive health and rights. She worked with the whole community to eliminate the practice of FGM/C and replace it with alternative rites of passage for girls that maintain the cultural celebration of the transition to womanhood without FGM/C.
Ms. Leng’ete is a respected community advocate and a recognized global youth leader. In April 2018, she was named to the TIME 100 list of the most influential people in the world. In February 2018 she was chosen as a Women Deliver Young Leader and in March 2018 she received the Annemarie Madison Prize. A recipient of the 2016 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders, as well as the 2015 Inspirational Woman of the Year Award from the Kenyan Ministry of Devolution, Ms. Leng’ete has been singled out as an innovative change maker dedicated to advancing gender equality.
Redi Tlhabi
Redi Tlhabi is an award winning author and journalist. She is the host of Africa’s premier current affairs television programme, The Big Debate and is a household name in South African broadcasting. She has 20 years’ experience, presenting prime time programs on radio and television. Her weekly column is read by millions of people, who want to understand the complexities of South African society. She has also contributed to the Washington Post, CNN and the BBC. She is a former host of popular international television program, South To North on Al Jazeera, whose aim was to deepen conversations between the Global South and audiences from other parts of the world. Redi identifies as a fearless feminist writer and her award winning books, tell stories of strong women who have survived sexual violence and are often failed by society and the law. She is a sought after speaker and moderator, particularly on matters affecting women. Redi recently moderated the Discovery Leadership Summit, where she was in conversation with Olympic gold medalist, Caster Semenya, who is currently in a grueling fight for her identity and right to compete. Amongst others, she has moderated a discussion with former British Prime Minister David Cameron and Oprah Winfrey. Redi is passionate about matters of social justice and economic empowerment of women. When she is not writing or working, she enjoys punishing her body by running ultra-marathons.
- Organization
- Girls United for Human Rights
Hadiqa Bashir
Hadiqa is a 17 year old young activist from Pakistan. She is a bold, confident, impulsive, optimistic, visionary feminist who is challenging the patriarchy and has taken up the issues of child marriage and violence against women and girls in the tribal areas of Pakistan. She promotes the principles of feminism and gender equality, to build the capacity of the adolescent girls in her community. Her work advocates to ensure equal status, rights and opportunities for all women and girls of Khyber PakhtunKhwa, Pakistan. The young women and girls cannot be silenced any more and the momentum is stirring within our bright eyed and hopeful youth.
Mohamed Sidibay
Mohamed’s story is one of resilience. He has been orphaned, uneducated, homeless, and raped. He was born in Sierra Leone, and at age 5, he witnessed his entire family being murdered and was forced to become a child soldier. At the age of 10, he became homeless; he could neither read nor write.
In 2007, at the age of 14, he settled in the suburbs of New Jersey. At 25 years old, Mohamed has emerged as a leader in the human rights field. He now dedicates his life to ensuring educational access to all children regardless of where they were born. He currently helps run a program in his home country of Sierra Leone that is sending over 100 students to school. In his capacity as a Global Youth Ambassador, he helped propel the effort to secure 10 million signatures as part of the Up for School Campaign, calling on world leaders during the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly to deliver on their promises of quality inclusive education for all. A 2015 graduate of The George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs, Mohamed speaks four languages and spends most of his time traveling and speaking on the importance of education and the danger of a mind kept in captivity. Most recently, he joined the Global Partnership for Education Youth Advocates Group to lend his voice and create awareness around GPE’s focus areas. In the fall of 2018, Mohamed will begin his first year of Law School at Fordham University School of Law in New York.
Michael Kaufman
Michael Kaufman’s latest book, The Time Has Come: Why Men Must Join the Gender Equality Revolution, draws on his work as an activist, advisor, researcher and educator focused on engaging men to promote the rights of women and girls, end men’s violence against women, and transform fatherhood. Over the past four decades, he has worked in fifty countries with the United Nations, governments, NGOs and women’s organizations, businesses, unions, and universities.
Dr. Kaufman is one of two Canadian members of France’s G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council. In 2017 he was awarded Canada’s Meritorious Service cross.
He is the co-founder of the White Ribbon Campaign, the largest effort in the world of men working to end violence against women. He is a Senior Fellow with the research institute Promundo based in Washington D.C. He was the co-author of the first State of the World’s Fathers report.
Michael is the author or editor of nine books, including two novels. He has two grown children and lives in Toronto, Canada.
- Organization
- Together for Girls
Dr. Daniela Ligiero
Dr. Daniela Ligiero is Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Together for Girls and serves as the Chair of the Executive Committee of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. She served as VP of Girls and Women’s Strategy at the UN Foundation and led the U.S. Department of State’s integration of gender into PEPFAR strategy and programming and helped develop the first U.S. Strategy to End Gender-Based Violence Globally. She earned her doctoral degree in counselling psychology from the University of Maryland. Dr. Ligiero is fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish and French.
- Organization
- Winner, 2018 Too Young to Wed: Girls’ Champion Award
Hauwa
Hauwa, 18, is a Boko Haram survivor and winner of the 2018 Too Young to Wed: Girls’ Champion Award.
At 14, Hauwa had only recently begun secondary school in Bama, Nigeria when a small group of fighters from the militant Islamist group Boko Haram burst into her family’s thatched-roof home and demanded her as a bride. Her parents refused and were murdered. After destroying her school, the insurgents took Hauwa with some 150 other girls, many of them friends and classmates, to their camps deep within the 200-square-mile Sambisa Forest.
After two years in captivity – and at nine-months pregnant – Hauwa finally escaped her captors and fled through the forest and a series of indifferent villages before arriving to the relative safety of Maiduguri. Only months later, she courageously shared her story with Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair and the nonprofit Too Young to Wed (TYTW) for a transmedia project published The New York Times Sunday Review. At her request, TYTW re-enrolled Hauwa in school and provided her with emergency assistance in the form of food and clothing.
In March 2018, Hauwa boarded her first airplane and came to the United States to once again bravely share her story, this time before 32 members of Congress and at the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women. Her advocacy mission to Washington and New York was widely captured by the media, bringing much-needed attention to the plight of Boko Haram “brides” and the thousands of other young women and girls who remain in captivity today.
- Date
- Tuesday 4 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm PST
- Speakers
- Nice Nailantei Leng’ete
- Redi Tlhabi
- Hadiqa Bashir
- Mohamed Sidibay
- Michael Kaufman
- Dr. Daniela Ligiero
- Hauwa
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of Agency: Changemakers on surviving and preventing gender-based violence
Girls and women are too often portrayed as victims, when they are in fact powerful agents of change. In this session, we will hear from survivors of gender-based violence and advocates working to create change in their communities and around the globe. Through the stories of people who’ve escaped child marriage, mobilized against female genital cutting, lived on the run as migrants, survived Boko Haram, and endured life as a child soldier, The Power of Agency will explore the connection between gender-based violence and gender inequality. And we will be reminded of the power that comes with bodily autonomy and agency.
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Video: Prime Minister of New Zealand the Right Honourable Jacinda Ardern
Opening: Nice Nailantei Leng-ete, Project Officer and Anti-FGM/C Global Ambassador, Amref Health Africa
Moderator: Redi Tihabi, Award-Winning Author and Journalist
Power Talks:
- Hadiqa Bashir, Founder, Girls United for Human Rights, Member, Girls Not Brides
- Mohamed Sidibay, Global Youth Advocate, Global Partnership for Education (GPE)
- Michael Kaufman, Co-Founder, White Ribbon Campaign
- Daniela Ligiero, CEO, Together for Girls
- Hauwa, Winner, 2018 Too Young to Wed: Girls’ Champion Award
The Power of Money: Driving equitable economic growth by investing in women
The World Bank estimates that nations leave $160 trillion on the table when women don’t fully participate in national economies. The Power of Money will examine examples of investments in women’s financial inclusion, seed funding, patient capital,…
Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe
Dr. Moloi-Motsepe is a businesswoman and philanthropist who started her career in medicine, specialising in women’s health. After establishing the Motsepe Foundation with her husband Patrice Motsepe in 1999, they became the first couple in Africa to join the Giving Pledge in 2013.
Dr. Moloi-Motsepe’s philanthropic vision is guided by the Global Goals, and her initiatives focus on community and societal development. Through the Foundation she grants access to education, resources and skills to empower the youth; launched a Girls In STEM programme to create a pipeline of women within these industries; hosts frequent dialogues for building awareness and challenging patriarchy to empower women and men; and supports social entrepreneurs through partnerships with the Schwab Foundation and Harvard Kennedy School.
She is also founder of a fashion company, which promotes African fashion and textiles by creating Fashion Week platforms and identifying commercial opportunities for African designers.
Dr. Moloi-Motsepe is also a member of:
- The Harvard Kennedy Women’s Leadership Board;
- The International Women Forum of South Africa;
- The Cancer Association of South Africa;
- The Global Agenda Council of the World Economic Forum; and
- Co-chair of Maverick Collective.
Raj Kumar
Raj Kumar is the founding President & Editor-in-Chief of Devex, the media platform for the global development community. A social enterprise dedicated to ensuring global development efforts do more good for more people, Devex was born in 2000 when Raj was a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School. Today, there are 100+ Devexers around the world serving a global audience of more than one million aid workers and development professionals. Beginning as a kid in Kerala, India, Raj has witnessed firsthand determined and courageous development work in over 50 countries – it’s what drives the Devex mission to “Do Good. Do It Well.” He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a media leader and former humanitarian council chair for the World Economic Forum, and has interviewed on-camera and on-stage hundreds of global luminaries on the most important challenges of our time. Raj is the author of the book "The Business of Changing the World," a go-to primer on the ideas, people, and technology disrupting the aid industry.
Maria Cavalcanti
Maria Cavalcanti is President and CEO of Pro Mujer. She holds over 25 years of professional experience advancing women and working with a wide range of business and non-profit organizations across Latin America, the United States, Western Europe, and India.
Maria leads Pro Mujer in sustainable growth, developing an extended, large-scale service and products platform to empower women in Latin America.
Before joining Pro Mujer, Maria co-founded and became managing partner of FIRST Impact Investing, a private equity fund in Brazil. Prior to FIRST, she served as Chief Strategy Officer for Fundación Avina, where she spearheaded strategy and operational initiatives across the organization, spanning 15 countries. Earlier in her career, Maria worked at Dell Inc. and as a management consultant with A. T. Kearney and TPI.
Maria is recognized as a leading speaker on impact investing and financial inclusion in Latin America. She has authored multiple trade and academic articles and has served on international boards, including the Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs, PYME Capital Fund, and FUNDES. In 2017, she was appointed Co-chair of Partnership for Responsible Financial Inclusion (formerly MCWG).
Maria holds an MBA from the University of Texas in Austin and an MS in Information Science from Columbia University in New York.
Humphrey Nabimanya
Humphrey Nabimanya is the founder and Team Leader of Reach A Hand Uganda (RAHU) and a Women Deliver Young Leader (Class of 2013). He is a youth sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) advocate, leader, and change agent.
His youth-led organization RAHU empowers young people through livelihood and skills development, Behavior Change Communication (BCC), SRHR, and HIV/AIDS awareness. RAHU has created campaigns, projects, and programs that appeal to young people while focusing on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including health and wellbeing (SDG 3), quality education (SDG 4), and gender inequality (SDG 5). Humphrey’s leadership at RAHU has generated a movement of young advocates with over 27 core team members and 500 volunteers through a Peer Educators Academy, which expanded to almost all regions in Uganda.
Humphrey’s mission is to support his peers to take control of their lives and present themselves in ways that inspire, impress, and spur confidence in themselves, and provide them a platform to make informed choices regarding their SRHR. His efforts have earned him speaking engagements at global events such the 2018 Aspen Ideas Festival as well as recognition as one of the 100 Most Influential Young Africans by the Africa Youth Awards in 2018.
Theo Sowa
Theo Sowa is an independent advisor and consultant, specialising in international social development with a particular emphasis on children’s rights and protection issues. She is currently the CEO of the African Women’s Development Fund.
Born in Ghana, she has lived and worked in many countries in Africa, as well as the UK, Europe, and the USA. Her work includes advisory roles to African and other international women and children’s rights activists and leaders, plus policy development and advocacy with a variety of international agencies and organisations. She was Senior Programme Advisor on the UN Study on Children and Armed Conflict (the Machel Report) and led the five year review of the report.
Theo is a board member of various national and international civil society organisations and grant making foundations, including being a trustee of Comic Relief (a multimillion grant making foundation) and Chair of Comic Relief’s International Grants Committee; a member of the African Advisory Board of the Stephen Lewis Foundation; a Patron of Evidence for Development; a member of the UBS Optimus Foundation and a board member of the Graça Machel Trust.
She has authored many publications, including being a contributing editor to ‘The Impact of War on Children’; a contributing author and co editor of a Harvard Law School/UNICEF Innocenti publication on ‘Children and Transitional Justice’; and co author of ‘Groupwork and Intermediate Treatment’.
Theo was awarded a CBE in June 2010.
Suzanne Biegel
Suzanne is a globally recognised expert, field builder, and speaker on gender-smart investing. She is the Co-Producer of the Gender-Smart Investing Summit. She is Investment Director for SPRING Accelerator, focused on enterprises in emerging markets that positively effect adolescent girls. She is Senior Gender Lens Investing Adviser to Wharton Social Impact Initiative at Wharton Business School, to CDC Group, to Tara Health Foundation, for DFAT’s Investing in Women Initiative, and others. She is a Fellow at the Aspen Institute. She serves on numerous boards and advisory boards including Cornerstone Capital, SheEO, The Boardroom Africa, and WorldPulse. She received the Beacon Award for Philanthropy in the UK in 2015, amongst numerous other accolades in the UK and the US over the past 25 years. She began her career in the corporate world at IBM, and grew and ultimately sold a successful educational technology business through the 1990’s. Her personal portfolio is invested across all asset classes with an impact and gender lens and she is an active angel and venture investor. She is an alumna of The Wharton School and the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and has been based in London for nine years.
Dr. Gayathri Vasudevan
Dr. Gayathri Vasudevan was cited as one of the top 50 women in business by Business Today, a leading magazine in India in the year 2017 and “Entrepreneur of the Year in Social Business Category” by Forbes India in 2018.
She has a doctorate in Development Studies with 30 publications in the areas of labour and employment and gender issues to her credit. Gayathri was also a speaker at the EY World Entrepreneur Forum 2017 at Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Between 1999 and 2007, Gayathri worked for the International Labour Organization (ILO), a United Nations agency. She co-founded LabourNet in 2006 with a vision to enable livelihoods and enhance quality of life through Education, Employability and Entrepreneurship. LabourNet’s model has been widely acclaimed as one of the few companies in this space which is run profitably and having far reaching impact. LabourNet has impacted about a million lives, empowering youth, men and women to earn a decent living or become profitable micro entrepreneurs.
- Date
- Tuesday 4 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm PST
- Speakers
- Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe
- Raj Kumar
- Maria Cavalcanti
- Humphrey Nabimanya
- Theo Sowa
- Suzanne Biegel
- Dr. Gayathri Vasudevan
- Lareina Yee
- Vivian Hunt
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of Money: Driving equitable economic growth by investing in women
The World Bank estimates that nations leave $160 trillion on the table when women don’t fully participate in national economies. The Power of Money will examine examples of investments in women’s financial inclusion, seed funding, patient capital, gender smart investing, and women-led and owned businesses. Through partnerships and mechanisms, and by creating an enabling environment, we can drive inclusive and equitable economic growth that benefits everyone. We will also explore ways to increase funding and other resources for women-focused organizations. Investing in girls and women is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do.
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Opening: Dr. Precious Moloi Motsepe, Co-Founder and CEO, Motsepe Foundation and Co-Chair, Maverick Collective, an initiative of PSI
Moderator: Raj Kumar, President & Editor-in-Chief, Devex
Panel:
- Maria Cavalcanti, President & CEO, Pro Mujer
- Humphrey Nabimanya, Founder and Team Leader, Reach A Hand Uganda
- Theo Sowa, CEO, African Women’s Development Fund
- Suzanne Biegel, Founder, Catalyst at Large
- Gayathri Vasudevan, Co-Founder and CEO, LabourNet
Presentation: The Power of Parity - New Evidence on the Benefit of Investing in Gender Equality
- Lareina Yee, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, McKinsey & Co
- Vivian Hunt, Managing Partner, UK and Ireland, McKinsey & Co.
The Power of Tech: How do we best harness technology for gender equality?
A growing body of evidence shows that technology has the potential to help close the global gender gap faster – but only if it is designed by and for women, and gets in the hands of women. Whether or not tech lives up to its promise to be a driver…
Nick Oketch
Nick Oketch’s main inspiration is to fight for and advance gender equality, youth development, and sexual health and rights. His work focuses on youth rights advocacy and capacity building for young women and adolescents in his community in Kenya. Nick is currently the director and founder of Paradigm Youth Network Organization, which aims to break the culture of silence around sex and sexuality among young people and adolescents. Nick is a Women Deliver Young Leader from the Class of 2016 and a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow, a flagship program of the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) that empowers young people through academic coursework, leadership training, and networking in the U.S.
Melinda Gates
Melinda French Gates is a philanthropist, businesswoman, and global advocate for women and girls.
As the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda sets the direction and priorities of the world’s largest philanthropy. She is also the founder of Pivotal Ventures, an investment and incubation company working to drive social progress for women and families in the United States.
Melinda grew up in Dallas, Texas. She received a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Duke University and an MBA from Duke’s Fuqua School. Melinda spent the first decade of her career developing multimedia products at Microsoft before leaving the company to focus on her family and philanthropic work. She lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband, Bill. They have three children, Jenn, Rory, and Phoebe.
Shivani Siroya
Shivani Siroya is the founder and CEO of Tala, the leading mobile technology and data science company committed to expanding access to financial services for the emerging middle class globally. Over 3M of people have borrowed through Tala’s smartphone app, which provides instant credit to underserved customers in East Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.
Prior to founding Tala, Shivani held a variety of positions in global health, microfinance, and investment banking including with the United Nations Population Fund where she worked across West Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa and researched the issues of financial systems that Tala is trying to solve.
Judith Spitz, Ph.D.
Judith Spitz, Ph.D.is the Founding Program Director of the Initiative for Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York (WiTNY)at Cornell Tech; a partnership between Cornell Tech, the City University of New York and a growing list of corporate partners with a mission to significantly increase the participation of women in higher education in fields related to technology. She is also a member of the Advisory Board of ASAPP, an Artificial Intelligence company that drives digital transformation in customer care. Prior to this, she was a senior vice president and CIO at Verizon. The New York Business Journal listed her as one of its 2018 Women of Influence. In 2017, she received the Above & Beyond Award for Outstanding Women in Business from City & State New York. InfoWorld named her as a 2009 CTO 25 award winner and Computerworld magazine put her on its CIO 100 Honoree list in 2007. Her current passion is driving programs that will address the urgent need for more women in technology and topics related to gender-based algorithmic bias, the future of work, and the leadership skills needed in an AI-driven economy.
- Date
- Tuesday 4 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm PST
- Speakers
- Nick Oketch
- Melinda Gates
- Shivani Siroya
- Judith Spitz, Ph.D.
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of Tech: How do we best harness technology for gender equality?
A growing body of evidence shows that technology has the potential to help close the global gender gap faster – but only if it is designed by and for women, and gets in the hands of women. Whether or not tech lives up to its promise to be a driver of equality tomorrow will depend on the actions we take today. The Power of Tech will highlight leaders in different industries who have harnessed technology to reduce the gender gap, and propose policy changes that could scale impact.
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Opening: Nick Oketch, Founder, LucyBot, Director and Founder, Paradigm Youth Network Organization
Moderator: Melinda Gates, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Panel:
- Shivani Soroya, CEO and Founder, Tala
- Judith Spitz, Founder, Women in Technology and Entrepreneurship in New York (WiTNY)
- Nick Oketch, Founder, LucyBot, Director and Founder, Paradigm Youth Network Organization
Wednesday 5 June
The Power of Integration and Scale: Driving big global social change
Scaling up the status quo will not close the gender gap or make the world a more gender equal place. We need to break down silos between issues and sectors, and we need to integrate and collaborate in order to accelerate progress and change. The Power…
Marie Villeneuve
Originally from Chicoutimi, Quebec, Marie Villeneuve joined Radio-Canada's British-Columbia/Yukon radio team in February 2010 to cover the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. Marie has a diverse background both behind the scenes and on-air. Before becoming the host of the late afternoon show, Boulevard du Pacifique on ICI Radio-Canada Premiere, Marie was a columnist and an Associate Director of various radio and television shows. Since June 2013, the public has tuned in hear Marie at the helm of Phare Ouest, a daily show from 6 am to 9 am (97.7 FM in Vancouver).
Alan Jope
Alan joined Unilever in the UK in 1985, subsequently working in North America for 14 years and in Asia for 13 years. Before being appointed as Chief Executive Officer, Alan served as President of Unilever’s Personal Care business from 2014 and continued as President when the name of the division changed in 2018 to Beauty and Personal Care.
From 2009 Alan led Unilever’s business in China and North Asia, doubling its size and laying important foundations for future success. He was appointed to Unilever’s Leadership Executive in 2011 in his role as President of Unilever’s businesses across North Asia. His previous senior roles have also included President Russia, Africa & Middle East; global category leader for several of Unilever’s Foods businesses; and President of Unilever’s Home & Personal Care business in North America. Earlier, Alan worked in a number of sales and marketing roles in the UK, Thailand, and the US.
Alan holds a Bachelor of Commerce with honours from Edinburgh University, Scotland. He also graduated from Harvard Business School’s General Management Program in 2001.
Kristalina Georgieva
Kristalina Georgieva is the Chief Executive Officer for the World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association). Georgieva’s role is to build support across the international community to mobilize resources for poor and middle-income countries and to create better opportunities for the world’s most vulnerable people.
Previously, Georgieva, a Bulgarian national, played a leading role in shaping the agenda of the European Union, first as Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, managing one of the world’s largest humanitarian aid budgets, and later as Vice President for Budget and Human Resources, in charge of the European Union’s €161 billion (US $175bn) budget and 33,000 staff around the world.
Before joining the European Commission, Georgieva held multiple positions at the World Bank, including, most recently, Vice President and Corporate Secretary (2008-2010), and from 2007 to 2008, Director for Sustainable Development in charge of 60 percent of the World Bank’s policy and lending operations.
Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen
A renowned leader in development and gender equality, Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen has worked for over 25 years in international development, human rights, change management and diplomacy.
Ms. Albrectsen has been CEO of Plan International since September 2015. Prior to this she was United Nations Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director for Management at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Ms. Albrectsen is also Chairperson of the International Civil Society Centre and the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data and a member of the United Nations Every Woman Every Child High Level Steering Group and the Generation Unlimited Global Board.
Ms. Albrectsen has previously held senior leadership positions in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNFPA and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She served with the UNDP from 1997 to 2004, in Indonesia and later as Director of the Administrator’s Office at UNDP Headquarters. She led country operations for UNFPA in Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan from 2004-2006. From 2007-2009, she led the Danish government’s humanitarian and civil society affairs work as the director of the relevant division in the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ms Albrectsen is Danish and holds a law degree from the University of Copenhagen.
Henrietta Fore
Henrietta Fore is UNICEF’s seventh Executive Director. Ms. Fore brings to the role more than four decades of private and public sector leadership experience.
Prior to taking up this appointment Ms. Fore served as Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Holsman International, a manufacturing and investment company. From 2007 to2009, Ms. Fore, an American national, served as both the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and as Director of United States Foreign Assistance in the U.S. State Department. From 2005 to 2007, Ms. Fore was Under Secretary of State for Management, the Chief Operating Officer for the U.S. Department of State. Prior to that, she was the 37th Director of the United States Mint, a position she held from 2001 to 2005. Earlier in her career, at USAID, she was appointed as Assistant Administrator for Asia and Assistant Administrator for Private Enterprise (1989-1993). She also served on the Boards of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation.
In addition to her Government service, Ms. Fore has had leadership roles in a number of organizations in civil society, including being Global Co-Chair of the Asia Society, and associations with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Aspen Institute, the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, and the Center for Global Development.
Ms. Fore has also had leadership roles in the corporate sector, serving on the boards of a number of U.S. and international public corporations, and being active in promoting best practices in the corporate sector – including as Co-Chair of Women Corporate Directors. Effective December 31, 2017 Ms. Fore will have stepped down from all outside board engagements.
Ms. Fore has a Bachelor of Arts in History from Wellesley College and a Master of Science in Public Administration from the University of Northern Colorado. She is married and has four children.
Dr. Githinji Gitahi
A passionate advocate for a pro-poor Universal Health Coverage (UHC), Githinji Gitahi is Group CEO of Amref Health Africa and Co-Chair of the UHC2030 Steering Committee, a global World Bank and World Health Organization initiative for UHC. Amref Health Africa, founded in 1957, is the largest African-led international organization on the continent reaching more than 9 million people through over 150 health-focused projects across 35 countries.
Dr. Gitahi has received the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS), a commendation from the President of Kenya, for promoting health in Kenya. He has a Doctor of Medicine from the University of Nairobi, a Master’s in Business Administration, majoring in Marketing, from United States International University and a Certificate for Strategic Perspectives for Nonprofit Management from Harvard University.
- Organization
- The YP Foundation
Manasa Priya Vasudevan
Manasa Priya Vasudevan works at the Delhi-based The YP Foundation, where she manages Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights interventions in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi NCR. In her role, Manasa works closely with diverse groups of adolescents, youth and their gatekeepers from across urban, rural, institutional and informal settings. Manasa also facilitates young people's direct engagement on policy by strengthening youth capacities, and connecting them with technical agencies and policymakers so that they can meaningfully inform large scale policies and programs on health. As a member of the FP2020 global reference group, Manasa also ensures that young people's diverse realities and needs are highlighted at national, regional and global platforms. In the past, as a NIXI fellow and Research Associate at IT for Change, she has undertaken research and advocacy on issues at the intersections of information communication technologies and social justice. Manasa holds a Master’s degree in Gender, Media and Culture from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences.
- Date
- Wednesday 5 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 8:30 am - 10:00 am PST
- Speakers
- Marie Villeneuve
- Alan Jope
- Kristalina Georgieva
- Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen
- Henrietta Fore
- Dr. Githinji Gitahi
- Manasa Priya Vasudevan
- Ntokozo Zakwe
- Gerda Verburg
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of Integration and Scale: Driving big global social change
Scaling up the status quo will not close the gender gap or make the world a more gender equal place. We need to break down silos between issues and sectors, and we need to integrate and collaborate in order to accelerate progress and change. The Power of Integration and Scale will examine how we create cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approaches to solving problems and what factors are needed to scale an idea or program. We will hear examples from business executives, campaigners, policy leaders, and grassroots organizers on how true integration reaches across sectors and issues to drive societal change.
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Opening: His Excellency Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, C.G.H.President of the Republic of Kenya
Moderator: Marie Villeneuve, Radio Canada Vancouver, CBC
Flash Panel:
- Alan Jope, CEO, Unilever
- Ntokozo Zakwe, DREAMS Ambassador
- Kristalina Georgieva, CEO, World Bank
- Dr. Githinji Gitahi, Group CEO, Amref Health Africa and Co-Chair, UHC2030
- Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, CEO, Plan International
- Manasa Priya Vasudevan, Program Manager, Know Your Body, Know Your Rights
- Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF
- Gerda Verburg, Coordinator, Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Alliance
Fire Talk:
- Alan Jope, CEO, Unilever
- Henrietta H. Fore, Executive Director, UNICEF
Delivering for Girls and Women Award
The Power of Breaking Barriers: Systemic change, individual gain
At the heart of gender equality lies the right to power over one’s self and one’s future. And at the heart of the calls for structural change lies the need for a more power balanced and equal world. The Power of Breaking Barriers will examine individual…
Dr. Natalia Kanem
On 3 October 2017, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Dr. Natalia Kanem as Executive Director of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. Dr. Kanem brings to the position more than 30 years of strategic leadership experience in medicine, public and reproductive health, social justice and philanthropy. She started her career in academia with the Johns Hopkins and Columbia University schools of medicine and public health.
While serving as a Ford Foundation Officer from 1992 to 2005, she helped pioneer work in women’s reproductive health and sexuality, in particular through her position as the representative for West Africa. She then served at the Foundation headquarters, becoming Deputy Vice-President for its worldwide peace and social justice programmes in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and North America.
From 2014 to 2016, Dr. Kanem served as UNFPA Representative in the United Republic of Tanzania. In July 2016, she was named Deputy Executive Director of UNFPA in charge of programs. Dr. Kanem was founding president of ELMA Philanthropies Inc., a private institution focusing primarily on children and youth in Africa. She also has been a senior associate of the Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies.
Dr. Kanem holds a medical degree from Columbia University, New York, and a Master’s degree in Public Health, with specializations in epidemiology and preventive medicine, from the University of Washington, Seattle. She is also a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University, where she studied history and science. Dr. Kanem becomes the fifth Executive Director of UNFPA since the Fund became operational in 1969.
Shahira Amin
Shahira Amin is an independent journalist based in Cairo. Former Deputy Head of Egypt’s English-language channel Nile TV and one of the channel’s Senior Anchors, Amin quit her job in the height of the January 2011 uprising to protest censorship. A longtime contributor to CNN’s Inside Africa, Amin reported mainly on women’s issues (female genital mutilation, girls education, early marriages, domestic violence etc.) and the rights of minorities (the plight of Sudanese refugees, discrimination against Coptic Christians, sectarian clashes etc.) from 2000 to 2012. In May 2011 (a couple of months after the uprising that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down), Amin broke the story on virginity tests performed by a military doctor on 17 Tahrir female protesters after she got the first admission from a senior army general that the tests had been carried out. Her coverage contributed to the issuance of a decree ruling that such tests will never be carried out again in Egypt. For the last seven years, Amin has worked as an online journalist reporting on the post-revolution developments in her country. Her work has been published mainly in Index on Censorship, Freemuse and Al Monitor. She has also worked as a filmmaker, producing 9 documentaries for various UN agencies (UNIDO, ILO, UNICEF and UN Women.)
Amin is a founding member of the Egyptian Women Journalists Union, a network established in 2015 that extends legal, moral and professional support to female journalists in Egypt. The NGO organizes training workshops for young and mid-career journalists (male and female) in provinces outside Cairo where training opportunities are limited and has recently produced a training manual for journalists covering population issues (family planning, gender-based violence etc.) with the support of UNFPA. She is also a board member of the International Women’s Forum, a Washington-based NGO working to promote women leadership and youth empowerment.
Amin has won several international awards including the BMW’s Responsible Leaders Award 2016, The Global Thinkers Forum Excellence in Promoting Gender Equality Award 2013 and Spain’s Julio Anguita Parrado Award for Courageous Journalism 2012.
Nancy Northup
Nancy Northup has served as President and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights since 2003. Under her leadership, the organization has become the global leader in using the power of law to advance reproductive rights as fundamental human rights. Through its offices on five continents, the Center has transformed how reproductive rights are understood by courts, governments, and human rights bodies around the world. It has secured legal victories in the U.S., Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe on issues including access to life-saving obstetrics care, contraception, and safe abortion services, as well as the prevention of forced sterilization and child marriage, and has built the legal capacity of women’s rights advocates in over 60 countries.
Northup has devoted her legal career to the public interest. She was the founding director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, served as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and clerked in U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
Northup has held adjunct appointments at NYU Law School and Columbia Law School and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Hina Jilani
Hina Jilani is a member of The Elders, a group of independent global leaders founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007.
In addition, Hina Jilani is a pioneering lawyer and human rights defender. As an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, she has conducted many landmark cases setting new human rights standards in the country. She created Pakistan’s first all-women law firm and co-founded Pakistan’s first legal aid centre. She also founded its national Human Rights Commission and the Women’s Action Forum, a prominent pressure group at the heart of Pakistan’s democracy movement. She was the first Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Human Rights Defenders from 2000 to 2008.
Hina is currently the President of the World Organisation Against Torture and co-chairs the World Refugee Council and the International Task Force on Justice.
Dr. Alvaro Bermejo
Dr. Alvaro Bermejo is the Director General of IPPF, a role he began on 1st of March 2018. He has more than 20 years’ experience as a senior executive in global federations, working across HIV and AIDS, humanitarian issues and health policy. Before joining IPPF Alvaro was the Executive Director of the Survive & Thrive portfolio at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation which included work on nutrition, health, deworming and education.
Prior to that, Alvaro was Executive Director at the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, where he contributed to the design and implementation of its strategy, oversaw its rapid growth and expansion to 36 countries, and led a team which achieved significant policy influence. From 2011 to 2013 he served as Board member for the Developed Country NGO delegation to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Alvaro also spent more than ten years with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), where latterly as Director, Health and Care, he created the environment and partnerships that positioned the Red Cross as a key player in the fight against HIV and AIDS and helped establish the IFRC’s global emergency health response mechanisms. He has also worked for the Spanish official overseas development assistance agency (AECI) and held field positions in primary health care programmes in both Bolivia and Nicaragua.
Alvaro qualified as a medical doctor from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and holds an MA in Public Health from the University of Leeds.
Anoka Primrose
Anoka is the Asia-Pacific Representative to the UN Habitat YAB, a Women Deliver Young Leader, British Council International Climate Champion and Sri Lanka’s first female World Economic Forum New Champion. She started volunteering and activism for environmental protection and conservation at age 13 in 2004 after surviving the Tsunami in Sri Lanka. She is the co-founder of Growin’ Money replanting over 60000 Mangroves, and a social enterprise supporting communities providing skills training for better employability such as IT training, basic resume making, eco-tourism guide training, handicrafts making and organic produce making. An alumnus of the University of London, University of Colombo and Harvard University, Abeyrathne is a post-graduate student of the University of Cambridge -Judge Business School.
Waneek Horn-Miller
Waneek works and travels extensively throughout the Aboriginal world. Through her work as a sports commentator for CBC and APTN, Waneek has become a community advocate for sport, fitness and wellness. She also has traveled extensively throughout North America as a motivational speaker. As one of Canada’s few Aboriginal Olympians, Waneek has used her passion and experiences in sport to influence Aboriginal and non-aboriginal leadership towards making Sport and Wellness a community building priority. Waneek was the director of Community engagement for the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. She is currently working as the brand ambassador for the aboriginal forward company Manitobah Mukluks as well as pursuing graduate studies in the field of Indigenous Motivation at the University of British Columbia.
- Date
- Wednesday 5 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 10:30 am - 12:00 pm PST
- Speakers
- Dr. Natalia Kanem
- Shahira Amin
- Nancy Northup
- Hina Jilani
- Dr. Alvaro Bermejo
- Anoka Primrose
- Waneek Horn-Miller
- Musola Catherine Kaseketi
- Lina Abirafeh, PhD
- Ziauddin Yousafzai
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of Breaking Barriers: Systemic change, individual gain
At the heart of gender equality lies the right to power over one’s self and one’s future. And at the heart of the calls for structural change lies the need for a more power balanced and equal world. The Power of Breaking Barriers will examine individual power, self-esteem, and agency, as well as explore systems, challenges, and opportunities for progress. How can we break down barriers from political, legal, economic, and social structures to drive lasting change?
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Opening: Natalia Kanem, Executive Director, UNFPA
Moderator: Shahira Amin, Independent Journalist
Flash Panel:
- Nancy Northup, President & CEO, Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR)
- Hina Jilani, Advocate, Supreme Court of Pakistan
- Dr. Alvaro Bermejo, Director-General, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF)
- Anoka Primrose Abeyrathne, Social Entrepreneur, Sustain Solutions
- Waneek Horn-Miller, Former Olympian and Indigenous Activist
- Musola Catherine Kaseketi, Founder & Executive Director, Vilole Images Productions and HerAbilities Award Winner
- Dr. Lina Abirafeh, Executive Director, the Arab Institute for Women at the Lebanese American University
Fire Talk: Ziauddin Yousafzai, Co-Founder, Malala Fund
The Power of Stories: Making sexual and reproductive health and rights come to life
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) is about a woman’s opportunity to decide if, when, and how many children to have, and about being able to live her full potential in a world without fear, stigma, or discrimination. The Power of Stories…
Kate Gilmore
Kate Gilmore was appointed United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights on 1st December 2015.
She brings to the position diverse and longstanding experience in strategic leadership and human rights advocacy with the United Nations, government and non-government organizations.
Prior to joining OHCHR, Ms. Gilmore was Assistant Secretary General and Deputy Executive Director for Programmes with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Previously she was National Director of Amnesty International Australia and then Executive Deputy Secretary General of Amnesty International.
Ms. Gilmore started her career as a social worker and government policy officer in Australia. She helped establish Australia’s first Centre Against Sexual Assault at Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital and her work over a number of years focused on prevention of violence against women. In Australia, she was granted honorary appointments to provincial and national public policy and law reform processes, including membership of the country’s first National Committee on Violence Against Women.
Ms. Gilmore holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of New England and postgraduate degrees in Social Work from the University of Melbourne and Community Development from RMIT.
Dr. Roopa Dhatt
Dr. Roopa Dhatt is a physician by training and an advocate by principle. She was recently recognized in the Gender Equality Top 100, the most influential people in global policy 2019. She is the Executive Director and co-founder of Women in Global Health (@womeningh), an organization that aims to achieve gender equality in global health leadership and advance women’s leadership. Women in Global Health is a global movement with ~21K followers, from 90+ countries, with global chapters in 4 continents.
She serves as the Co-Chair of Global Health Workforce Network Gender Equity Hub, is on several advisory bodies, including the Research in Gender and Ethics (RinGS) Advisory Board; Strategic Advisory Committee for the Global Health Workforce Network (GHWN); the Global Health 50-50 Advisory Council, Global Health Council Advisory Council, the GlobeMed Advisory Board, and formerly, in the Women Leaders in Global Health Conference Steering Committee. She has served on World Health Organization task teams and working groups to improve meaningful civil society engagement.
Dr. Dhatt is deeply committed to providing primary care, as she is an Internist, in Washington D.C. She completed her training at Case Western Reserve University, Department of Internal Medicine in the International Health Track. She has a decade of experience in global health from leading world-wide campaigns on global health issues including Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Climate Change, Social Determinants of Health, Universal Health Coverage, and Health in All Policies, engaging people from 120+ countries. Formerly, she was the President of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations and is the founder of the Young Voices, Youth: Pre-World Health Assembly (#yWHA) in 2013 with the Global Health Centre, Graduate Institute. She has a B.A. and B.S. from the University of California, Davis in Cell Biology and African American and African studies; a Master in Public Affairs from Sciences Po, Paris, France; and an M.D. from Temple University School of Medicine.
Jona Claire Turalde
Being the youngest and first youth champion of the SheDecides movement and member of the Guiding group for 2 years now, Jona has been constantly finding herself in the extremes of situations: from staying in communities where a teenage mother she interviewed wasn't aware that she was actually raped, and even going to schools despite gov't agencies' efforts, students still believe they lack the knowledge and access to contraceptives and other SRHR services; to lobbying, securing and persuading international stakeholders commitment in ensuring that she decides without question!She became a Girl Advisor for an international research titled "Girls to the Front: a snapshot of girls' organising" commissioned by IworldsGlobal, Frida Young Feminist Fund and Mama Cash. In her free time, she organizes a youth organization that advocates for reproductive health and rights. Despite all of these, she's a full time Anthropology student.
- Organization
- International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region
Kobe Smith
Kobe Smith is a youth advocate from Guyana and a Women Deliver Young Leader (Class of 2018). He is pursuing a Bachelor of Laws at University of Guyana and working at the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Limited.
Kobe is passionate about incorporating comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) in school curricula to inform youth of their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). As president of Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association’s Youth Advocacy Movement, Kobe has led and supported outreach activities, advocacy campaigns, and CSE for thousands of young people.
Kobe has participated and presented at international advocacy fora in the U.K., Peru, Rwanda, and U.S. In 2017, he participated in a hearing at the Organization of American States, where he highlighted SRHR issues affecting Guyanese youth. Kobe has also successfully advocated for the implementation of a national reintegration policy for adolescent mothers in Guyana.
Alongside his membership at United Nations Population Fund’s Youth Advisory Group, Kobe serves as Youth Director on the Regional Board of International Planned Parenthood Federation Western Hemisphere Region and Alternate Youth Director on the Governing Council of IPPF. In 2017, Kobe received the National Youth Award for his dedicated service to promoting health education for adolescents in Guyana.
Karl Hofmann
Karl Hofmann leads PSI (Population Services International), a global health non-profit organization operating in over 50 countries worldwide, working in family planning and reproductive health, malaria, water and sanitation, HIV, and non-communicable diseases.
For 50 years, PSI has measurably improved the health of people in the developing world, making it easier for them to lead healthier lives and plan the families they desire. PSI partners with the private sector, national governments, and local organizations to create health solutions that are built to last.
Looking to the future, PSI is reimagining healthcare, to put the consumer at the center of programming, and wherever possible, to bring care directly to her front door.
Before joining PSI, Karl was a career American diplomat for 23 years. He served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Togo, Executive Secretary of the Department of State, and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, France. He also served on President Clinton’s National Security Council staff.
Karl is Vice Chair of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy, and the CSIS Commission on American Health Security. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and the National Defense University.
Nelly Munyasia
Nelly is the Executive Director for the Reproductive Health Network in Kenya, a network of trained health care providers, who are passionate about ensuring provision of quality comprehensive reproductive health information and services especially safe and legal abortion. She is a trained Midwife/Nurse and a health systems management expert, a Reproductive Health Advocate and Champion for girls and women rights.
Nelly is passionate about protecting reproductive health rights, including safe and legal abortion for vulnerable and marginalized girls and women as a way of ensuring gender equality and realization of their full potential in life.
At RHNK, she has overseen the expansion and growth of the network through training of abortion service providers and establishing community linkages with community gatekeepers and local policy makers for advocacy purposes. Nelly has grown the network to a membership of 571 health care providers that have supported the realization of a healthy society with comprehensive reproductive health services. Under her leadership, RHNK has developed and grown a movement of young people who are instrumental in the realization of the organizations mission.
Nelly has successfully engaged at the national, regional and international advocacy forums that advocate for policy change and gender equality in provision of sexual and reproductive health services including safe abortion services.
Heather Jarvis
Heather Jarvis is a queer woman, activist, survivor, and feminist who was born in South Africa and immigrated to Canada as a child.
For over a decade Heather has been honoured to volunteer and work with a variety of grassroots social justice projects involving survivors of sexual violence, queer and trans people, sex workers, incarcerated women, drug users, and people living with HIV/AIDS. In 2011 Heather co-founded SlutWalk Toronto, a small rally that began in Toronto and then spread around the world. Since then, she has done a TEDx talk, won awards recognizing her activism from Planned Parenthood, Utne and Flare, been interviewed by media around the world, and become a public speaker, advocate and educator at conferences and on campuses across Canada.
Heather has a deep commitment to compassion and accountability, harm reduction and transformative justice from the ground up. She currently lives in a small rural cabin with her partner and two rescue dogs, as a settler in Newfoundland & Labrador, and works in St. John’s for Safe Harbour Outreach Project (SHOP), the only sex worker rights program in the province.
- Date
- Wednesday 5 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm PST
- Speakers
- Kate Gilmore
- Dr. Roopa Dhatt
- Jona Claire Turalde
- Kobe Smith
- Karl Hofmann
- Nelly Munyasia
- Heather Jarvis
- Anne Philpott
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of Stories: Making sexual and reproductive health and rights come to life
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) is about a woman’s opportunity to decide if, when, and how many children to have, and about being able to live her full potential in a world without fear, stigma, or discrimination. The Power of Stories will use powerful reflections and examples to translate the term SRHR into something all people can understand. We’ll explore identity, autonomy, bodily integrity, pleasure, sexuality, and choice.
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Opening: Kate Gilmore, United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights
Moderator: Dr. Roopa Dhatt, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Women in Global Health
Power Talks:
- Kobe Smith, Youth Director, International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region
- Karl Hofmann, President & CEO, Population Services International (PSI)
- Jona Turalde, SheDecides Youth Champion, Co-Founder, International Youth Alliance for Family Planning Philippines
- Bushra Al-Makaleh, Reproductive Health Specialist, Save the Children International, Yemen
- Nelly Munyasia, Programs Manager, Reproductive Health Network Kenya
- Heather Jarvis, Co-Founder, SlutWalk
- Anne Philpott, Founder, The Pleasure Project
- Arushi Singh, Pleasure Propagandist, The Pleasure Project
The Power of the Arts: Using words, music, design, and more to advance gender equality
Changing perceptions and gender norms is crucial in order to advance gender equality and the status of girls and women in society. The Power of the Arts will showcase how words, entertainment, music, architecture, and more can reshape perceptions in…
Emi Mahmoud
Emi Mahmoud is a Sudanese-American slam poet, activist, and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador. In June 2018, she opened TEDxKakumaCamp, the first ever TEDx event in a refugee camp. Emi uses her work and talent to raise awareness about refugees, notably including Boy in the Sand and Head over Heels. In 2015, she won the Individual World Poetry Slam championship for her poem Mama, a tribute to her mother. She has witnessed UNHCR’s frontline work in the field, having spent time with Syrian refugees in Zaatari and Azraq camps in Jordan in 2018. She has also traveled to Greece and Uganda – in the latter, she led poetry workshops. Emi has represented the UNHCR at multiple high profile events, such as the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society in Paris, the Youth Strategy 2030 launch at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and the Hilton Foundation Humanitarian Prize event.
Erica Johnson
Erica Johnson is an award-winning investigative journalist with a particular interest in media, gender equality and consumer issues. She has covered gender inequality in Kenya’s education system, sexual harassment inside Canada’s prison system and sexual assault risks for female travellers. As host of Go Public – an investigative segment on national radio, television and online – Johnson exposes wrong-doing and holds corporations and governments to account. Previously, she hosted Canada’s investigative consumer program, Marketplace, for 15 years.
Most recently, Johnson’s examination of misleading sales practices inside Canada’s telecom industry lead to a national public inquiry and better protections for consumers. Her investigation of aggressive sales targets inside Canada’s banks lead to a banking review.
As the mother of a 15 year old daughter, Johnson is pleased to participate in a conference aimed at making the world a better, stronger place for girls and women.
OluTimehin Adegbeye
OluTimehin Adegbeye is a writer, speaker, and advocate whose work focuses on human rights, inclusion and justice in the areas of Gender, Sexualities, and Urbanisation.
Her TED Talk “Who Belongs in a City?”, on the subject of inclusive urbanisation in her home city of Lagos, was delivered when she was 25 years old. It has been viewed over 2 million times and was chosen by TED as one of the best ten talks of 2017.
As a leading voice in the Nigerian Young Feminist movement, Ms Adegbeye has worked with a wide range of political, cultural, civil society and corporate organisations, including the European Union in Nigeria, UN Women, Unilever, Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO), the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), the Ake Arts and Book Festival, The Initiative for Equal Rights, and other entities.
She has been invited to speak at events in a dozen countries across four continents, including the inaugural U20 Mayors Summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her writing, which is available both digitally and in print, has been translated into multiple languages.
John Cary
When architect-turned-writer John Cary co-authored an op-ed with partner Courtney E. Martin on the design failures of the breast pump, it sparked an MIT Media Lab hackathon and the launch of multiple companies. It’s a perfect example of his knack for linking good design and public good. John is the author of two books, most recently Design for Good: A New Era of Architecture for Everyone with a foreword by Melinda Gates, and his writing on design, philanthropy, and fatherhood is widely published. John works as a philanthropic advisor to an array of foundations and nonprofits around the world, including as Senior Program Officer of The Audacious Project, a big-bet philanthropy program managed by TED. In addition to being a TED speaker, John also frequently curates and hosts events for TED, the Aspen Institute, and other entities. Deeply committed to diversifying the public stage, John is also a founding partner in FRESH Speakers, a next-generation speakers bureau that represents young women and people of color. He lives with his family in a co-housing community in Oakland, Calif.
Rand Jarallah
Rand Jarallah is passionate about combining art and activism. She is founder of Randistic, a platform that uses art, performance, and makeup to convey stories on a range of topics, including human rights and mental health. Rand is also a Women Deliver Young Leader from the Class of 2016.
Since becoming a Women Deliver Young Leader, Rand has led many successful makeup campaigns, including a collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund on #7DaysOfMakeup, which helped raise awareness on the needs of displaced girls and women. Her artivism has been featured in The New York Times, Marie Claire, Vogue, The Independent, CNN, BBC, Mashable, and other media outlets.
Rand was born and raised in Palestine. She is currently pursuing a master's degree in Art and Politics and has received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, Sociology, and Marketing.
Maysoon Zayid
Maysoon Zayid is an actress, comedian, writer and disability advocate. She is a graduate of, and a Guest Comedian in Residence, at Arizona State University. Maysoon is the co-founder/co-executive producer of the New York Arab American Comedy Festival and The Muslim Funny Fest. She was a full-time On Air Contributor to Countdown with Keith Olbermann and a columnist for The Daily Beast. She has most recently appeared on Oprah Winfrey Network’s In Deep Shift, 60 Minutes, and ABC News. Maysoon had the number one TED Talk of 2014 and was named 1 of 100 Women of 2015 by BBC.
As a professional comedian, Maysoon has performed in top New York clubs and has toured extensively at home and abroad. She was a headliner on the Arabs Gone Wild Comedy Tour and The Muslims Are Coming Tour. Maysoon appeared alongside Adam Sandler in You Don’t Mess with the the Zohan and has written for VICE. She walked in New York Fashion Week and is proud to be an ambassador for the Cerebral Palsy Foundation. Maysoon is currently developing a comedy series with Hazy Mills Productions called If I Cancan.
Georgia Arnold
Georgia Arnold is Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility at Viacom International Media Networks and the Executive Director of MTV Staying Alive Foundation.
Ms. Arnold was instrumental in establishing the MTV Staying Alive Foundation in 2005, and was appointed Executive Director in October 2007. MTV SAF is a global charitable body that provides grants to grassroots, youth-led organisations to set up HIV and AIDS awareness campaigns in their communities, and have supported 207 organizations, totaling over $6million. MTV SAF also produce the multi award-winning MTV Shuga – a 360-degree mass-media HIV prevention edutainment campaign.
- Date
- Wednesday 5 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm PST
- Speakers
- Emi Mahmoud
- Erica Johnson
- OluTimehin Adegbeye
- John Cary
- Rand Jarallah
- Maysoon Zayid
- Georgia Arnold
- Mamarumo Marokane
- Ayanda Makayi
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of the Arts: Using words, music, design, and more to advance gender equality
Changing perceptions and gender norms is crucial in order to advance gender equality and the status of girls and women in society. The Power of the Arts will showcase how words, entertainment, music, architecture, and more can reshape perceptions in the quest for a more gender equal world, as well as and girls’ and women’s agency. This will be a dynamic session filed with laughter, poetry, and inspiration.
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Opening: Emi Mahmoud, Poet and Goodwill Ambassador
Moderator: Erica Johnson, Journalist, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)
Power Talks:
- OluTimehin Adegbeye, Feminist Writer and Speaker
- John Cary, Senior Program Officer, The Audacious Project at TED
- Rand Jarallah, Founder, Randistic
- Maysoon Zayid, Actress, Comedian, Writer, and Disability Advocate
Fire Talks:
- John Cary, Senior Program Officer, The Audacious Project at TED
- Maysoon Zayid, Actress, Comedian, Writer, and Disability Advocate
Closing Live Skit:
- Georgia Arnold, Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility, Viacom International Media Networks, and Executive Director, MTV Staying Alive Foundation
- Mamarumo Marokane
- Ayanda Makayi
The Power of Lift: Stepping up to use power for good
Achieving gender equality will take all of us using our power for good. Regardless of age, gender, sexuality, geography, income, or title, each of us has a role to play. To create a gender equal world, it will take elected officials, as well as their…
Gary Barker
Gary Barker, PhD, is a leading global voice in engaging men and boys in advancing gender equality and positive masculinities. He is the CEO and founder of Promundo, which has worked over 20 years in more than 40 countries. Beginning in low-income areas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Promundo’s approaches have been incorporated into ministries of health and education around the world. Promundo is a Global Consortium with members in Brazil, the US, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Portugal. Gary is co-founder of MenCare, a global campaign working in 45 countries to promote men’s involvement as caregivers, and co-founder of MenEngage, a global alliance of more than 700 NGOs. He co-created and leads the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES), the largest-ever survey of men’s attitudes and behaviors related to violence, fatherhood, and gender equality. He is a co-author of the 2015 and 2017 State of the World's Fathers reports. He has advised the UN, the World Bank, numerous national governments, and key international foundations and corporations on strategies to engage men and boys in promoting gender equality. In 2017 he was named by Apolitical as one of the 20 most influential people in gender policy around the world. He is an Ashoka Fellow and received the Voices of Solidarity Award from Vital Voices for his work to engage men for gender equality. Gary holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology.
- Organization
- Women Deliver
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau is an engaged advocate for gender equality and a mother of three young children. Over the past 15 years, she has been involved with a variety of causes as a speaker and mentor, including causes for teenage self-esteem, women and girls’ rights and freedoms, eating disorders and mental health.
In 2013, Sophie received the UN Women National Committee Canada Recognition Award for her contribution to human rights. She received the 2018 Humanitarians Award from the United Nations Association of New York.
As part of her advocacy, she works as an official spokesperson for Plan Canada’s “Because I am a Girl” initiative and the FitSpirit Foundation. She was named influencer for the Deliver for Good campaign of Women Deliver. Sophie is always looking to deepen the conversation around mental and physical well-being and is now the National ambassador and ally to We Well-being to bring awareness on mental health.
As a mother, Sophie’s outdoorsy and energetic personality translates into regular active family time in nature and practicing a multitude of sports. She was honoured as the 100th member of Nature Canada’s Women for Nature initiative for her support of nature and the outdoors and continues to be committed to sharing her passion for nature with Canadians as Honourary Guide for Families for Parks Canada.
Fully bilingual, Sophie studied Commerce at McGill University, and finished her B.A. in Communications at the Université de Montréal. She completed another degree at the École de radio et de télévision Promédia in Montreal. After her studies, she worked in sales and advertising before becoming a television and radio reporter.
Her intrinsic curiosity and her willingness to explore spirituality motivated Sophie to study hatha yoga and attain her certification. She has also completed her “Radiant Child” kundalini yoga teacher training, a practice specifically for children, and has taught classes on a volunteer basis at a public school close to her home.
Maria Toorpakai Wazir
Maria Toorpakai Wazir hails from South Waziristan, along the Pakistan Afghanistan border. This area is known as the most dangerous place on earth and the birthplace of the Taliban. Due to the centuries old ultra-conservative norms, girls/women have been suffering from the worst of human rights’ conditions. Girls here are bought & sold into marriages at young ages & have no right to decide for their lives but despite these disadvantages, Maria became Pakistan’s top female squash player and turned professional in 2006. She started her journey of rebellion for equal rights at age 4 ⅕ by burning her girly clothes/dresses and cut her hair. She is trailblazer in her native Pakistan, she fought against gender barricades inflicted on her by the so called Islamic & cultural beliefs and posed as a boy using the name Genghis Khan to compete in sports in her younger days. Due to her audacious and outspoken nature, She got death threats from the Taliban in 2007 & so she locked herself in her house for 3 years. She continued to train in her bedroom while sending out thousands of emails around the world to sports academies in order to train & compete with peace of mind. She escaped her country in 2011 to Canada. Her passion for Sports and her quest for Equality & liberty continued. Athletic competition gave Maria her platform to learn about the world and channel her abundant energy in a positive direction, and she hopes to inspire young women to seek empowerment through athletic competition, particularly in conservative cultures through community engagement and mentorship. Coming from violent & war affected area, she truly believes in the power of Sports to combat negativity, extremism and violence. She uses sport as the medium for change.
Regina Honu
Regina is the CEO of Soronko Solutions. She just opened the first coding and human centered design school for children and adults called Soronko Academy. She was just awarded the 2018 AFS Active Global Citizen Award for her contributions to global competence education.
She recently spoke at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and on closing the gender gap in computer science. She also spoke at Brookings Institute in Washington DC on Advancing Female entrepreneurship in Africa. She is an ambassador and mentor for thecamp, first European campus dedicated to emerging technology and social innovation. She is listed as one of BBC 100 most inspirational and innovative women for 2017. She was also recently interviewed by Bishop TD Jakes. She was awarded the 2017 Northwestern University Buffet Institute for Emerging Global Leaders Award and awarded by Coca Cola in the Coca Cola young achievers award as one of the big six and a leader in technology. She was also unveiled as the 2016 Vlisco Brand Ambassador. She won Startup Entrepreneur of the year and Soronko Solutions won Social Start-up of the year for 2016 at the Ghana Startup Awards. She was featured on CNN as one the 12 inspirational women who rock STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). She was named as one of the six women making an impact in Tech in Africa and one of 10 female entrepreneurs to watch in emerging economies. She was awarded Young Entrepreneur of the year by the GPA Awards from Africa 2.0 and JCI Ghana Outstanding Young Person award for scientific and technological advancement. Soronko Solutions was nominated for the editor’s choice award in the Women in IT award in the UK. She was featured on CNN African Voices,CNN African Startups and interviewed by BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle and Aljazeera. She is an Ashoka Fellow, Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow, GOOD Fellow, Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum, Vital Voices Fellow and a Change Leader with Tigo Reach For Change. She belongs to Africa Leadership Initiative West Africa.
Elhadj As Sy
Elhadj As Sy is the Secretary General of the IFRC. He began this leadership role on 1 August, 2014 and is based at the IFRC secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.
Mr. Sy has extensive experience in leadership roles in the humanitarian sector, having previously served at a senior level with UNICEF, UNAIDS, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and other agencies for more than 25 years.
Before joining the IFRC ‐ the world’s largest humanitarian network ‐ Mr. Sy was UNICEF’s Director of Partnerships and Resource Development in New York. He has also served as UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa and Global Emergency Coordinator for the Horn of Africa.
From 2005 to 2008, Mr. Sy was Director, HIV/AIDS Practice with the United Nations Development Programme in New York. Before that, he worked with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as its Africa Regional Director and later as Director of Operational Partnerships and Country Support in Geneva. Mr. Sy has also held the position of UNAIDS Representative in New York and Director of the New York Liaison Office. From 1988 to 1997, he served as Director of Health and Development Programmes with Environment and Development Action in the Third World in Dakar, Senegal.
Mr. Sy holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts and Human Sciences from the University of Dakar. He then pursued Master’s studies in Arts and Germanistik at the University of Graz, and graduated from the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna. He was also awarded a post graduate diploma in Education from the Ecole normale superieure in Dakar. He speaks English, French and German and is a national of Senegal.
Wendy Grant-John
Wendy Grant-John is a Senior Aboriginal Advisor at Deloitte. She grew up with cultural values and teachings instilled by her family and surrounding families. Wendy is a member of Musqueam Chief and Council and has spent most of her adult life working for her community as well as representing First Nations across this country in many different forums. Wendy is a recipient of the Order of BC and has two Honourary Doctorates of Law.
Mrs. Grant-John served three terms as Chief of the Musqueam and was the first woman elected Regional Chief to the Assembly of First Nations. As Musqueam Chief, she helped to negotiate one of the first Aboriginal commercial fisheries in Canada. She has previously worked at Indian and Northern Affairs Canada as Associate Regional Director General of British Columbia and has served as a lay bencher of the Law Society of British Columbia and as a Board Member with Canada Lands Company Limited. She has also served as a Commissioner on the Pacific Salmon Commission. She was a founding member and director of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and a founder of the Musqueam Weavers. Most recently, Mrs. Grant-John was the official Representative for the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada on the issue of Matrimonial Real Property on Reserve.
Grant-John’s weaving group proved to have a significant impact on her own life. “Those women encouraged me to run politically, and when I was 38 years old, I was first elected chief. Things just grew from there.”
Martín Aguirre
Martín is a journalist and a lawyer, working with the biggest newspaper in Uruguay, El País, where he leads a newsroom of more than 100 professionals. He also commands the digital strategy of the newspaper, and writes a very popular column every Sunday analyzing local politics. Some of his articles of covering different issues, from soccer to international politics, have been published in newspapers such as The Guardian, El Tiempo, from Colombia, or El Mercurio, of Chile. He is also a college professor, where he teaches legal regulation of media and communications, and has been involved in the recent process of modification of the law that regulates media companies. He has studied Spanish literature, Latin American studies, and recently published his first book, “The progressive wave”, about the series of left wing governments that have re shaped South American politics during the last decade. And during 2017-2018 he was a Humphrey Fellow, a program supervised by the State Department of the United States.
- Date
- Wednesday 5 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 4:30 pm - 5:30 pm PST
- Speakers
- Gary Barker
- Sophie Grégoire Trudeau
- Maria Toorpakai Wazir
- Regina Honu
- Elhadj As Sy
- Wendy Grant-John
- Martín Aguirre
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of Lift: Stepping up to use power for good
Achieving gender equality will take all of us using our power for good. Regardless of age, gender, sexuality, geography, income, or title, each of us has a role to play. To create a gender equal world, it will take elected officials, as well as their spouses and partners. It will take community activists, lawyers, CEOs, and celebrities. It will take privileged populations and marginalized people pulling up chairs to the same table. The Power of Lift will inspire us through stories and examples of how people use their power to lift and support others.
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Opening: Gary Barker, President and CEO, Promundo US
Moderator: Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, Deliver for Good Influencer, Women Deliver
Panel:
- Wendy Grant-John, Councillor, Musqueum Chief and Council and Senior Aboriginal Advisor, Deloitte
- Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General, International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
- Regina Honu, CEO, Soronko Solutions
- Martin Aguirre, Journalist, El País Uruguay
- Maria Toorpakai Wazir, Professional Squash Player and Founder/President, Maria Toorpakai Foundation
Delivering for Girls and Women Award Presentation
Thursday 6 June
The Power of Movements: What happens when many demand change
At the heart of global movements for progress lies the power of people joining together and the power of many demanding the same change. Movements have transformed lives, changed the world, and have powered real, sustainable progress. The Power of Movements…
Barkha Dutt
Barkha Dutt is an award-winning TV journalist, anchor and columnist with more than two decades of reporting experience. She is India’s only Emmy-nominated journalist who has won multiple national and international awards, including the Padmashri, which is India’s fourth highest civilian honour.
Barkha graduated from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi with a degree in English Literature. She did her Master’s in Journalism from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York.
Barkha has reported from some of the toughest spots and conflict zones in India and across the world including Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Egypt. Her frontline reporting of the Kargil war first made her a household name.
She is an out spoken feminist voice on the global stage and also the Founder-Editor of Mojo, a multi-media events and content venture. She is also the founder of ‘We The Women’, a multi-city festival and current affairs website that focuses on the biggest gender debates of our time.
She is a featured Columnist with Washington Post; appears regularly as an analyst on CNN and BBC and is also a Contributing Editor at The Week magazine.
Ailbhe Smyth
Ailbhe Smyth is a long-time activist and campaigner on feminist, LGBTI+and socialist issues. She lectured at University College Dublin for many years, where she was the founding head of Women’s Studies, and has published widely on feminism, politics and culture in Ireland. Ailbhe left academia in the mid-2000s to focus on working with women’s community organisations and in social movement politics. She has been involved in many campaigns and was a strategic executive member of the victorious same-sex marriage campaign in 2015. She has been fighting for women’s right to choose for over 35 years, and was Co-Director of the Together for Yes national referendum campaign which removed the near-total ban on abortion from the Irish Constitution with a majority of 66% in 2018. She convenes the Coalition to Repeal the 8th Amendment, and is a regular contributor to media and national debate on a host of issues in Ireland. In April 2019, Ailbhe was included on the TIME 100 'Most Influential People' list for her work with Repeal the 8th Amendment campaign, along with the other two campaign co-directors.
Zoleka Mandela
Zoleka Mandela, granddaughter of the late President Nelson Mandela, is a breast cancer survivor, author, global advocate and campaigner.
Zoleka currently serves as Ambassador for the Child Health Initiative (CHI) and its advocacy campaigning, leading a global call to action for adolescent health. She also campaigns as a leading advocate for action on road traffic injury and traffic safety in memory of her daughter Zenani Mandela, who was killed in a road crash in Johannesburg aged just 13. Zoleka has also campaigned globally on cancer and NCDs with the Union of International Cancer Control (UICC) and NCD Alliance.
Zoleka’s campaigning achievements have been recognised by the United Nations Millennium Campaign and the United Nations Development Programme, and she has addressed the UN General Assembly on her campaign issues.
Zoleka is inspired by her grandfather, Nelson Mandela, her grandmother Winne Mandela, and her family to campaign for humanitarian causes as a committed social activist. Following the legacy of her grandparents she is a passionate supporter of civil rights and women’s empowerment. She is the founder of the Zoleka Mandela Foundation which focuses its activities on road safety, breast cancer and social responsibility.
Haldis Holst
Haldis Holst is Deputy General Secretary of Education International (EI) which represents organisations of teachers and other education employees across the globe and is the world’s largest federation of unions.
Ms. Holst is also currently Chair of the Governing Board of The European Wergeland Centre (EWC). The EWC is a resource centre based in Oslo for education professionals, researchers, civil society, policymakers, parents and students across Europe. In addition, Ms. Holst serves on the Board of Directors of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and on the Board of the Global Campaign Against Child Labour.
Ms. Holst graduated as a teacher in 1983, after majoring in English and Physical Education. She has worked as a teacher in primary and secondary schools and has been a union representative at local, regional and national level. In 2001, she became Vice-President of Norsk Lærerlag (NL). After the merger of the two largest teacher unions in Norway in 2002, she was an Executive Board member and later Vice President of Utdanningsforbundet (Union of Education Norway).
Ms. Holst has also served as Norway’s representative on the European Trade Union Committee for Education (ETUCE) and been a member of the Executive Board of Education International. Ms. Holst was Vice-President of EI from 2009 –2012.
Tarana Burke
For more than 25 years, activist and advocate Tarana J. Burke has worked at the intersection of racial justice and sexual violence. Fueled by commitments to interrupt sexual violence and other systemic inequalities disproportionately impacting marginalized people, particularly black women and girls, Tarana has created and led various campaigns focused on increasing access to resources and support for impacted communities, including the ‘me too’ movement.
A proud native of the Bronx, NY, Tarana’s passion for community organizing began in the late 1980’s when as a young girl, she joined a youth development organization called 21st Century, and led campaigns around issues like racial discrimination, housing inequality and economic justice across the city. That work, coupled with a desire to deepen her education and organizing skills led her to attend Alabama State University, a historically black institution. Her organizing and advocacy work continued throughout college and remains a pillar of her professional life.
Her career took an intentional turn toward supporting survivors of sexual violence upon moving to Selma, Alabama to work for 21st Century. She encountered dozens of black girls who were sharing stories of sexual violence and abuse, stories she identified with very well. Tarana realized too many girls were suffering through abuse without access to resources, safe spaces and support, so in 2007 she created Justbe Inc., an organization committed to the empowerment and wellness of black girls. The impacts of Justbe Inc. are widespread, as the program, which was adopted by every public school in Selma, has hundreds of alumni who have gone on to thrive and succeed in various ways. Tarana’s role as the senior director at Girls for Gender Equity in Brooklyn, NY, an inter-generational non-profit dedicated to strengthening local communities by creating opportunities for young women and girls to live self-determined lives, is a continuation of what she considers her lifes’ work.
Since #metoo, the hashtag she created more than ten years ago, went viral last fall Tarana has emerged as a global leader in the evolving conversation around sexual violence and the need for survivor-centered solutions. Her theory of using empathy to empower survivors is changing the way the nation and the world think about and engage with survivors, and her belief that healing isn’t a destination but a journey has touched and inspired millions of survivors who previously lived with the pain, shame and trauma of their assaults in isolation.
Vanina Escales
Vanina Escales is an essayist and a journalist, and a founder of the movement Ni Una Menos. She was a member of the founding group of journalists, and was the one to propose the name ‘Ni Una Menos’ for their platform. She is director of LatFem, a feminist media based in Argentina, it provides a free access information service, mainly focused on Latin America and the Caribbean. She has been a member of the Communications Area of the Center for Legal and Social Studies -CELS-since August 2014. CELS is an Argentine human rights organization founded during the last military dictatorship.
Between 2010 and 2012, she was a doctorate scholar in the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET, according to its initials in Spanish). She won scholarships from the National Arts Fund for the literature category in both 2003 and 2009. She wrote a biography of the anarchist and feminist writer Salvadora Medina Onrubia (in press), of the philosopher Lou Andreas Salomé (Capital Intelectual, 2008) and compiled two anthologies, accompanied with preliminary studies: Crónicas del Centenario by Juan José de Soiza Reilly (Biblioteca Nacional de la República Argentina, 2008) and Desobediencia civil y otros escritos by Henry David Thoreau (Editorial Terramar, 2009). Her journalism has centered on problems linked to gender, institutional violence and human rights, and also writes as a critic and cultural journalist.
Tina Tchen
Tina Tchen shares hope, ideas and strategies that inspire others to recognize the power of diverse teams and keep equality on the forefront of the global agenda.
During her eight years at the White House, Tina served as chief of staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, assistant to President Barack Obama, and executive director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, leading the first-ever White House Summit on Working Families and the first-ever United State of Women Summit.
A high-powered lawyer, Tina’s career accomplishments have established her as a powerful advocate for gender equality. Tina is actively involved with the Time’s Up initiative, where 300 prominent women in the entertainment world have banded together to create a legal defense fund which aims to support women dealing with sexual harassment across all industries. Ms. Tchen co-founded the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which is administered by the National Women’s Law Center, and has raised over $22 million to connect victims of workplace sexual harassment with lawyers. She is a partner at Buckley LLP, where she leads the firm’s Workplace Cultural Compliance practice.
A passionate champion for women’s and children’s issues, including women in positions of leadership, Tina shares her unique perspective and insights on workplace culture, breaking through male-dominated industries, and ending campus sexual assault. Energetic, authentic and engaging on stage, she empowers the next generation to raise their voices and take action now to secure a better tomorrow for women and minorities across the country and world.
- Date
- Thursday 6 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 8:30 am - 10:00 am PST
- Speakers
- Barkha Dutt
- Ailbhe Smyth
- Zoleka Mandela
- Haldis Holst
- Tarana Burke
- Vanina Escales
- Tina Tchen
- Noelene Nabulivou
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of Movements: What happens when many demand change
At the heart of global movements for progress lies the power of people joining together and the power of many demanding the same change. Movements have transformed lives, changed the world, and have powered real, sustainable progress. The Power of Movements will bring together founders and key catalysts of some of the most important movements of our lifetime. These movements are shaping critical consciousness and marshalling collective action for change - for and with girls and women around the world.
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Moderator: Barkha Dutt, Columnist, Washington Post and Founding Editor, We The Women
Flash Panels:
- Ailbhe Smyth, Co-Director, Together for Yes
- Zoleka Mandela, Ambassador, Child Health Initiative (CHI)
- Haldis Holst, Deputy General Secretary, Education International
- Tarana Burke, Founder, The #MeToo Movement
- Vanina Escales, Founder, The ‘Ni Una Menos’ Movement
- Tina Tchen, Former Chief of Staff to Michelle Obama and Co-Founder of Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund
- Noelene Nabulivou, Political Adviser, DIVA for Equality
- Yvonne Leina Chi, Founder, Gender Danger
Delivering for Girls and Women Award Presentation
The Power of Youth: How young, intersectional feminists are changing the world!
Time to shake things up. In this session, young people from around the world will leverage the WD2019 plenary stage to explore the beauties, complexities, and challenges of being a young, intersectional, and globally oriented feminist advocate in…
Rega Jha
Rega is a writer and creator interested in telling stories across platforms which examine the overlaps of popular culture, digital behaviour, gender politics, and youth wellbeing. She founded BuzzFeed in India in 2014 and served as its editor-in-chief for four years, building up a team and brand that stand for progressive values, authenticity, and social justice among millions of young Indians. Rega studied writing at Columbia University and is 27 years old.
Aya Chebbi
Aya Chebbi is an award-winning Pan-African feminist. She is the first African Union Youth Envoy and the youngest diplomat at the African Union Commission Chairperson’s Cabinet. She is the founder of multiple platforms such as Youth Programme of Holistic Empowerment Mentoring (Y-PHEM), Afrika Youth Movement (AYM), and Afresist. Aya served on the Board of Directors of CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation, the World Refugee Council, and Oxfam Independent Commission on Sexual Misconduct.
Chebbi became a world renowned blogger during Tunisia’s Revolution running Proudly Tunisian. Her blogs were published at OpenDemocracy and Al-Jazeera among others. Since then, she has been traveling across the African continent to support and train thousands of social movement leaders and activists on mobilization, blogging, leadership and non-violence and continues to travel the world as a scholar, mentor, speaker and activist.
In 2012, Chebbi was a Fulbright scholar at Georgia Southern University and 2015 Mo Ibrahim Scholar for her Masters in African Politics at SOAS, University of London. She was recognized in 2016 and 2018 among 100 Under 40 Most Influential Africans in the World. She received the 2016 Inspirational Woman of the Year by Women4Africa Awards, 2017 Pan-African Humanitarian Award by Pahawards and 2018 Young Talent of the year by UNLEASH Festival.
June Eric-Udorie
June Eric-Udorie is a writer and a feminist campaigner based in Great Britain. She is a journalist and blogger for the Guardian and the New Statesman, as well as Cosmopolitan. In 2016, the BBC included her as an inspirational and influential woman on the list of 100 Women. June successfully petitioned to include the study of feminism to the A-level politics curriculum in the UK, and was a member of Plan UK’s Youth Advisory Panel. She is also an FGM Ambassador for Plan UK and the Young Press Officer for Integrate Bristol. June was nominated for the Young Commentariat of the Year in 2015, as well as the Words By Women Award in 2015 and the PRECIOUS Awards for Leadership. She has also been selected as a trainee editor for Random House.
Alencia Johnson
Named to EBONY Magazine’s “Power 100” list of influential African Americans and PRWeek’s “40 Under 40” list, Alencia Johnson is a political operative and strategic communications, sitting at the intersection of social justice, politics, and culture. Alencia advises on strategies to engage women and communities of color and is a sought after cultural commentator.
As the Director of Public Engagement at Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Alencia engages political, media, entertainment and corporate influencers to shift mainstream culture with positive perceptions of reproductive rights. Alencia created Planned Parenthood’s Constituency Communications department, responsible for national communication campaigns engaging communities of color and new audiences. She developed communication strategies with campaigns for candidates endorsed by the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, including Hillary Clinton for America.
In 2012, Alencia served on the campaign to re-elect President Barack Obama, managing surrogate and influencer strategies to reach Black communities and young people.
Alencia has been seen on MSNBC, NewsOne, BET, Huffington Post Live, and featured in NPR, Washington Post, ESSENCE and more. Alencia has been recognized on "The Root 100" list of influential Black leaders, named a "Champion in PR" by PRWeek and received the Woman of the Year Award from Harvard University’s Black Men’s Forum.
Alencia began her communications career at GEICO’s corporate headquarters after graduating from Christopher Newport University.
Deneka Thomas
Deneka Thomas is a Women Deliver Young Leader (Class of 2018) who is an internationally recognized poet, writer, arts educator, and activist from Trinidad and Tobago. Deneka is also the Program Manager of Girl Be Heard Trinidad and Tobago. She is a committee member on the Caribbean Regional Youth Council and has been published in print and online publications, and is currently working on her first collection of poems.
Deneka is the 2018 National Grand Slam Defending Champion and a resident poet and Teaching Artist at The 2 Cents Movement. She also mentors youth through various secondary school poetry clubs across Trinidad and Tobago. Deneka’s passion for empowering young people through art and poetry led her to create and assist in the creation of curriculums, programs, and youth outreach with various organizations.
As an advocate, Deneka is proud to lead one of the most upcoming female-led and serving organizations in her country. She has been the face of many campaigns and initiatives that promote equality and human rights. Her work is a mixture of advocating for women, LGBT rights, environmentalism, and exploring culture and diaspora. She has married her passion for championing women's issues and love for the earth's ecology to create her personal brand of eco-feminism.
- Organization
- Uhai; East African Sexual Health & Rights Initiative
Cleopatra Kambugu
Cleo Kambugu is a Ugandan trans activist and the Director of Programmes at Africa's first Indigenous activist LGBTIQ and sex worker focused fund, UHAI EASHRI. UHAI works to a resource sex worker, sexual and gender minority organizing in Eastern Africa through flexible grantmaking, capacity support and support for convening. It works to resource organizing in three languages in seven countries - Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, DRC, Kenya and Uganda.
Cleo currently co-chairs the Global Philanthropy Project’s trans working group; serves on Astraea Lesbian Foundation's Activist Advisory Board; has facilitated conversations that led to the formation of the International Trans Fund and ISDAO, the West African LGBTIQ activist fund; and she currently sits on the advisory board for Transgender Europe's Trans Violence Tracking and Trans Murder Monitoring Project.
Prior to her 11 years in philanthropy and activism, Cleo worked with the trans community in Uganda to advocate for affirmative trans health services. Her documentary, The Pearl of Africa is available on the Netflix platform and has received global accolades and has been used locally and globally by activist groups to raise visibility about transhealth.
Cleo loves farming and has a degree in agriculture with a focus on Plant Pathology. Her passion to understand the genetic basis of sex and gender drove her to pursue an M.Sc. in molecular biology and biotechnology.
- Date
- Thursday 6 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 10:30 am - 11:30 am PST
- Speakers
- Rega Jha
- Aya Chebbi
- June Eric-Udorie
- Alencia Johnson
- Deneka Thomas
- Cleopatra Kambugu
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of Youth: How young, intersectional feminists are changing the world!
Time to shake things up. In this session, young people from around the world will leverage the WD2019 plenary stage to explore the beauties, complexities, and challenges of being a young, intersectional, and globally oriented feminist advocate in 2019. We know by now that youth are powerful – and not just because half the global population is under the age of 30. Youth are powering progress and change in their peer groups, families, schools, communities, city councils and local governments, nations, regions, and the world over. They are meaningfully engaged across all regions of the world: deploying innovative strategies to fuel and sustain movements; battling climate change, mass incarceration, and everyday sexism; running for office and winning; and masterfully applying advocacy tools and tactics in tireless pursuit of gender equality and social change. Join us for fun, inspiration, and challenges to your way of thinking. We will also close out this innovative plenary with news and updates from the Social Enterprise Challenge.
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Host: Rega Jha, Founder, Buzzfeed India
Interviews:
- Cleo Kambugu, Women Deliver Young Leader
- Aya Chebbi, Award-winning Pan-African Feminist Special Envoy on Youth, African Union
- June Eric-Udorie, Writer and Activist
- Alencia Johnson, Director, Public Engagement, Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Performance: Deneka Thomas, Women Deliver Young Leader
Social Enterprise Award Presentations
The Power of Momentum: What’s next on the trajectory towards gender equality?
It doesn’t stop here. There is much work to be done. There is opposition to the issues, but also many upcoming opportunities that can help move the needle further for gender equality and girls’ and women’s health and rights. The Power of Momentum…
Catherine Fiankan-Bokonga
Catherine Fiankan-Bokonga is an engaged journalist who defends the freedom of expression and gender equality. She is founder and Chief-Editor of Swiss magazine, Klvin Mag, correspondent in Switzerland for France 24 (French International Tv channel) and for CGTN-Français (International Chinese channel in French language). She is vice-president of the Swiss Press Club (Club Suisse de la Presse). She is also a presenter and producer of television news reports.
A TV, radio and print journalist specialized in African politics and women issues, Catherine has been based in Geneva since 1999. She has covered many armed conflicts in Africa and hosted seminars with West African journalists to sensitize them to the duty of non-partisan information.
She is a regular speaker and moderator at high profile conferences on security, humanitarian relief, health care, trade, culture and women’s issues. She has interviewed numerous World leaders.
She often collaborates with international Foundations or NGOs to promote peace, safety and international cooperation through education and training. She was elected vice-president of the Association of the Accredited Correspondents at UN Geneva (ACANU).
Catherine was born in Geneva (Switzerland) to a father from the Democratic Republic of Congo and a Belgian Flemish mother.
The Honourable Maryam Monsef
The Honourable Maryam Monsef is the Member of Parliament for Peterborough—Kawartha, and Canada’s Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality.
After running for Mayor of Peterborough in 2014, she became the first woman to be elected in the federal riding of Peterborough—Kawartha, the first Afghan-Canadian Member of Parliament in Canada’s history, and the first Muslim to serve as a federal Cabinet Minister.
Drawing on her years of experience in community organizing, Minister Monsef has worked with local organizations, including the YWCA of Peterborough and Haliburton Board of Directors, the Ontario Public Interest Research Group, and the New Canadians Centre. She has served as the Vice-President of the YWCA in her riding, and sat on a number of councils and committees dedicated to promoting social and economic justice. She also founded the Red Pashmina Campaign, which raised money to support education for women and girls in Afghanistan.
As Minister for Women and Gender Equality, she has led Status of Women Canada’s transition from agency to the new Department for Women and Gender Equality, and has secured major investments in Canada’s equality-seeking movement, including over $200 million to help prevent and address gender-based violence, and $100 million to build the capacity of women’s organizations from coast to coast to coast. She launched the first-ever federal gender-based violence strategy, has worked with the Minister of Finance to ensure that all federal budgets have to undergo a gender budgeting process; and partnered with the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour and the President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government to create and pass historic proactive pay equity legislation to ensure equal pay for work of equal value in the federally regulated sector.
Minister Monsef has lived in Peterborough since 1996, and has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Trent University. She speaks English, Farsi and Dari, and continues to work on her French.
- Organization
- Moose Hide Campaign
Raven Lacerte
Raven Lacerte is a proud member of the Carrier First Nation and belongs to the Grizzly Bear Clan. She is the Co-Founder and Ambassador for the Moose Hide Campaign, a National grassroots effort to end violence towards Indigenous and non-Indigenous women and children. She is a hunter and a practitioner of traditional Indigenous cultural and ceremonial activities. Raven is a PROUD mother of daughter Cedar Sus! And a proud partner of Dominic Paul.
Saadia Zahidi
Saadia Zahidi is a Managing Director at the World Economic Forum and Head of the Forum's Centre for the New Economy and Society. Her teams work with leaders from business, government, civil society and academia to understand and shape the new economy, advance competitiveness, drive social mobility and inclusion, close skills gaps, prepare for the future of work and foster gender equality and diversity. Saadia founded and co-authors the Forum's Future of Jobs Report, Global Gender Gap Report, and Human Capital Report. Her book, Fifty Million Rising, charts the rise of working women in the Muslim world and is longlisted for the FT/Mckinsey Book of the Year 2018. She has been selected as one of the BBC's 100 Women and won the inaugural FT/Mckinsey Bracken Bower Prize for prospective authors under 35. She holds a BA in Economics from Smith College, an MPhil in International Economics from the Graduate Institute of Geneva and an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School. Her interests include the future of work, the impact of technology on employment, education and skills, income inequality and using big data for public good.
Arthur Erken
Since joining UNFPA in 1993, Arthur Erken has held a range of increasingly senior positions, both in policy (ICPD Secretariat; Technical and Evaluation Division; Office of the Executive Director), and programme (Division for Arab States and Europe; Africa Division; Asia and Pacific Division). He has served in both Headquarters and the field.
Since April 2015, he is the Director of the Division of Communications and Strategic Partnerships. Prior to that, he served as UNFPA Representative in Vietnam, providing strategic leadership and direction to the country programme and office. Prior to that, he served as UNFPA Representative in Bangladesh, where he successfully positioned UNFPA as a leader in maternal health and on the prevention of violence against women.
Arthur Erken, a national from the Netherlands, holds a masters degree in cultural anthropology. He is married and has two daughters.
Emilienne de León Aulina
Emilienne is Mexican and has over 25 years of experience working as a supporter and consultant of local and international human rights and women’s rights organizations. From 2000-2009 she served as the Executive Director of the Mexican Women’s Fund: Semillas. As the Executive Director of Semillas, Emilienne contributed to a very significant growth of the fundraising and grant making of this organization and to the establishment of its endowment. Her most outstanding achievement was to promote a culture of philanthropy in Mexico and to contribute to the founding of a local network of both individual (Red MIM) and corporate donors. Emilienne is acting as the Executive Director of Prospera, the International Network of Women’s Funds since 2010. Prospera has 38 Women’s Funds based in all over the world.
Emilienne has served in various local and international Boards during her career, like Movimiento Ciudadano por la Democracia México (1998-2005), Women’s Funding Network (2001-2008). She is also member of the Board of El Poder del Consumidor in Mexico and She is the actual Chair of the Institute of Leadership Simone de Beauvoir. Emilienne received the E-News XXI Century Leaders Award in 2005.
- Organization
- UN Women
Lopa Banerjee
Lopa Banerjee is the Director of the Civil Society Division at UN Women. She leads UN Women’s work on partnering with, supporting and strengthening women’s rights groups and civil society networks as well as their contribution, participation and influence in policy discussion at global, regional and national levels. Lopa’s work focuses on partnership development with civil society organizations to influence global action on gender equality, in particular related to standard setting, policy discussion and stakeholder accountability.A gender and human rights thematic expert with substantive experience in social policy and governance issues across Asia and Africa, Lopa has worked for over 3 decades on international development, policy advocacy, communication and partnership building, across the UN and in the private sector in different countries. Lopa’s areas of specialization include feminist policy advocacy and analysis, and inclusive partnership development and engagement. She lives in New York City.
- Date
- Thursday 6 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm PST
- Speakers
- Catherine Fiankan-Bokonga
- The Honourable Maryam Monsef
- Raven Lacerte
- Saadia Zahidi
- Arthur Erken
- Emilienne de León Aulina
- Lopa Banerjee
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of Momentum: What’s next on the trajectory towards gender equality?
It doesn’t stop here. There is much work to be done. There is opposition to the issues, but also many upcoming opportunities that can help move the needle further for gender equality and girls’ and women’s health and rights. The Power of Momentum will discuss the incredible potential for progress when moments, movements, and investments are linked and coordinated. We will explore the way forward, connecting WD2019, the French G7, ICPD+25, Beijing+25, and other key political moments. And we will discuss how we can seize funding, commitments, and enthusiasm to propel exponential progress.
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Opening Video: Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization
Moderator: Catherine Fiankan-Bokonga, Senior Reporter
Panel:
- Maryam Monsef, Minister of International Development and Minister for Women and Gender Equality, Government of Canada
- Raven Lacerte, Co-Founder and Ambassador, Moose Hide Campaign
- Saadia Zahidi, Managing Director and Head, Centre for the New Economy and Society at the World Economic Forum
- Arthur Erken, Director, Communications and Strategic Partnerships, UNFPA
- Emilienne de Leon, Executive Director, Prospera
- Lopa Banerjee, Director, Civil Society Division, UN Women
The Power of All: Closing celebration of the Women Deliver 2019 Conference
Join the closing plenary of the Women Deliver 2019 Conference, where we’ll come together in reflection and celebration. We will recap the highlights of WD2019, see how people participated through satellite events across the globe, and discuss how each…
Chmba
Chmba (Ellen Chilemba) is a DJ, Producer and Activist. She is the Founder of Tiwale, a women’s center in Malawi supporting girls/women through economic and educational opportunities. Chmba started Tiwale at 17-years-old to end the vicious cycle of child marriage. Tiwale has supported over 250 women in educational and vocation skills training opportunities. Chmba has since shifted to primarily curating educational and collective safe spaces for LGBTQ+ Africans.
For her work, she was named Glamour Magazine’s College Woman of the Year, Forbes’ Africa 30 Under 30, Ashoka Future Forward Winner, Gates Foundation Goalkeeper, Global Citizen Youth Advocate, One Young World Ambassador, Commonwealth Awardee for Excellence in Development and Powell Emerging Leader.
Femi Oke
Femi Oke is an award winning international journalist, broadcaster and co-founder of the diverse moderators bureau “Moderate The Panel.” Based in Washington, D.C., she hosts the interactive current affairs show “The Stream” for Al Jazeera English; is a correspondent for the Al Jazeera documentary series “Fault Lines”; and the social media contributor for NPR’s midday news program “Here and Now.”
Femi’s reporting has been recognized by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Communications Agency and InterAction. Since the 1980s, she has worked for BBC television and radio, Sky TV, all the U.K. terrestrial television networks, CNN and U.S. public radio. As a professional moderator Femi has presided over world class events including European Development Days for the European Commission, NBA Africa Celebratory Luncheon for the U.S. National Basketball Association, and the historic Barbershop Conference at the United Nations Headquarters. She relishes feedback while moderating live events, so if you tweet @FemiOke, be prepared to be part of the program.
- Organization
- Women Deliver
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau is an engaged advocate for gender equality and a mother of three young children. Over the past 15 years, she has been involved with a variety of causes as a speaker and mentor, including causes for teenage self-esteem, women and girls’ rights and freedoms, eating disorders and mental health.
In 2013, Sophie received the UN Women National Committee Canada Recognition Award for her contribution to human rights. She received the 2018 Humanitarians Award from the United Nations Association of New York.
As part of her advocacy, she works as an official spokesperson for Plan Canada’s “Because I am a Girl” initiative and the FitSpirit Foundation. She was named influencer for the Deliver for Good campaign of Women Deliver. Sophie is always looking to deepen the conversation around mental and physical well-being and is now the National ambassador and ally to We Well-being to bring awareness on mental health.
As a mother, Sophie’s outdoorsy and energetic personality translates into regular active family time in nature and practicing a multitude of sports. She was honoured as the 100th member of Nature Canada’s Women for Nature initiative for her support of nature and the outdoors and continues to be committed to sharing her passion for nature with Canadians as Honourary Guide for Families for Parks Canada.
Fully bilingual, Sophie studied Commerce at McGill University, and finished her B.A. in Communications at the Université de Montréal. She completed another degree at the École de radio et de télévision Promédia in Montreal. After her studies, she worked in sales and advertising before becoming a television and radio reporter.
Her intrinsic curiosity and her willingness to explore spirituality motivated Sophie to study hatha yoga and attain her certification. She has also completed her “Radiant Child” kundalini yoga teacher training, a practice specifically for children, and has taught classes on a volunteer basis at a public school close to her home.
Katja Iversen
Katja Iversen is the President/CEO of Women Deliver – a leading global advocate for investment in gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women, with a specific focus on maternal, sexual and reproductive health and rights. Iversen, an internationally recognized expert on development, advocacy and communications, has more than 25 years of experience working in NGOs, corporates and United Nation agencies. Previously, she held the position as Chief of Strategic Communication and Public Advocacy with UNICEF, a position she came to after almost six years of leading the team responsible for advocacy and communication on reproductive health with UNFPA. She holds a master’s degree in communications, bachelor’s degree in public administration and certificates in management, conflict resolution, and international development. Iversen has worked in global development for more than 20 years and has an extensive network within the UN, development communities, and global media. She has counseled and trained multiple Fortune 500 executives on cross cultural management and cross cultural communication. She is a member of President Macron’s G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, the Unilever Sustainability Advisory Council, the MIT Women & Technology Solve Leadership Group, and an International Gender Champion. Iversen was recently named 2018 Dane of the Year and included in the top 10 of Apolitical’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy. She is also a sought lecturer and speaker.
Girl Be Heard
Girl Be Heard develops, amplifies, and celebrates the voices of young women through socially conscious theatre-making. Founding CEO/Executive Director Jessica Greer Morris will be joined by performing artists Chelsea Allison, Camryn Bruno, Halle Paredes, and Breani Saintonge (aka Purrsian White) who will light up the stage at Women Deliver with their original spoken word poems, raps. Halle wrote the song that will performed.
Girl Be Heard (GBH) runs after school and weekend programs in NYC and Trinidad and Tobago. GBH centers our youth as experts in their own lives. Our education curriculum and methodology is designed to create safe, fun, nurturing spaces for self-expression, grow individual talents (writing, rapping, acting, step dancing, singing) and provide opportunities for youth to “be heard” at open mics and ensemble shows during their first year with us. Economic empowerment is central to our work. After one year, our artist/activists (ages 13 and up) get paid $15 per hour and up for devising and performing their original work.
As a theatre collective, GBH uses performance and personal storytelling to catalyze change around systemic human rights issues youth face around the world. We bring workshops and performances into detention centers, schools, refugee camps, domestic violence shelters, churches, community centers, theaters and countless other venues. We also work in partnership with the United Nations, the State Department, and local elected officials to engage and persuade decision-makers to advocate for, invest in, and create policies that protect, empower, and elevate the status of women, girls, and gender non-conforming youth. GBH has toured 8 countries (Bermuda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, Taiwan, Trinidad, United Kingdom, United States). To bring Girl Be Heard to your community, please contact girlbeheard@girlbeheard.org.
Angélique Kidjo
Angélique Kidjo, three-time Grammy Award winner, is one of the greatest artists in international music. Time Magazine considers her “the first African diva” and the Guardian has noted her as one of the 100 most influential women in the world. Her ability to mix Beninese traditions with current music along with her striking voice has taken her beyond African borders from Olympia to Carnegie Hall. She has also been recognized for her strong humanitarian commitment. In 2006, she founded The Batonga Foundation, a nonprofit that works to help empower vulnerable young women and girls in her home country of Benin. Her tireless pursuits to help children in need around the world have led her to be appointed as UNICEF’s International Goodwill Ambassador and to receive Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award.
- Date
- Thursday 6 June
- Location
- Plenary Hall, Vancouver Convention Center
- Hours
- 3:00 pm - 4:15 pm PST
- Speakers
- Chmba
- Femi Oke
- Sophie Grégoire Trudeau
- Katja Iversen
- Girl Be Heard
- Angélique Kidjo
- Tags
- Plenary
The Power of All: Closing celebration of the Women Deliver 2019 Conference
Join the closing plenary of the Women Deliver 2019 Conference, where we’ll come together in reflection and celebration. We will recap the highlights of WD2019, see how people participated through satellite events across the globe, and discuss how each and every one of us must go home and use our power – and use it for good. There will be laughter, commitments, and of course – great music to send us off.
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Opening Music: “DJ Chmba” Ellen Chilemba, DJ, Producer, and Activist
Master of Ceremonies (MC): Femi Oke, Senior Host, Al Jazeera English
Celebration Opening: Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, Deliver for Good Influencer, Women Deliver
Video: Michelle Obama, Former First Lady, United States of America
Closing Remarks: Katja Iversen, President/CEO, Women Deliver
Special Performance: Girl Be Heard
How will you use your power?
-Carolyn Tastad, Group President, North America, P&G
- Lina Abirafeh, Executive Director, the Arab Institute for Women at Lebanese American University
- Sandy Abdelmessih, Young Leader
- Rukshana Kapali, Youth Engagement Working Group Member and Young Leader
- Diana Abou Abbas, Executive Director, Marsa Sexual Health Center in Lebanon
- Winrose Nyaguthii Mwangi, Groots Kenya
- Amadou Kanoute, Executive Director, CICODEV Africa
- Grand Chief Edward John, First Nations Summit Task Group
- Marisa Viana, Executive Coordinator, RESURJ
- Chris Jochnick, CEO, Landesa
- Helga Fogstad, Executive-Director, PMNCH
- Peter Sands, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
- Loren Rodwin, Managing Director, Social Enterprise Team, OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT CORPORATION
Remarks and Music: Angélique Kidjo, Grammy Award Winning Singer and Activist
Closing Action Items: Katja Iversen, President/CEO, Women Deliver
Closing Music: Angélique Kidjo, Grammy Award Winning Singer and Activist