UNESCO is organizing, Friday, 30 June, from 9 am to 6 pm at its headquarters, a High-level Conference on “Fostering Women’s Empowerment and Leadership”, launching the series of events on “UNESCO’s Soft Power Today”.

The Conference will gather over 50 high-level personalities and renowned experts from around the world and will serve as a platform to identify promising pathways for inclusive and innovative partnerships to work on women and girls’ empowerment and leadership, building on UNESCO’s achievements to date.

Some of the personalities include, Ms Rula Ghani, First Lady of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, Ms Aïcha Bah Diallo, Founder of the Forum for African Women Educationalist, and Ms Miriam González Durántez, Founder of Inspiring Girls International.

The day will start with an opening ceremony followed by three parallel panels in the morning and afternoon.

The three morning sessions entitled “Women’s Empowerment and Sustainable Development - The Power of Women’s and Girls’ Education", "Breaking Gender Stereotypes - The importance of role models in changing cultural norms" and "Leadership and Power - Women in Politics" will take place from 11 am to 1pm .

The afternoon session will focus on "Women’s Empowerment and Sustainable Development - Women, Peace and Security", “"Breaking Gender Stereotypes - Challenging the status quo" and "Leadership and Power - Women in Business" from 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm.

The event will conclude with a closing ceremony with all participants where a Statement will be presented to renew the commitment of the Organization as a champion for the promotion of Gender Equality in the international arena.

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More information on the Conference

Journalists wishing to attend the conference should request accreditation.

Contact: Djibril Kebe, d.kebe@unesco.org; +33 145 681 741