Biography of speakers of the 2020 Women4Mediterranean Conference.

Helena Dalli is the first EU Commissioner for Equality since December 2019. Her role is to deliver on the Union of Equality chapter within the Political Guidelines of President von der Leyen, by strengthening Europe’s commitment to equality and inclusion in all of its senses. Prior to taking her role as Commissioner, Dalli held various political roles in Malta including Member of Parliament (1996 to 2019), Minister for European Affairs and Equality (2017 to 2019), and Minister for Social Dialogue, Consumer Affairs and Civil Liberties (2013-2017). She was also opposition Shadow Minister for public administration, equality, public broadcasting and national investments (1998-2013) and Junior Minister for Women’s Rights in the Office of Prime Minister (1996-1998). Dalli holds a PhD in Political Sociology from the University of Nottingham, and lectured in Economic and Political Sociology, Public Policy, and Sociology of Law at the University of Malta. Twitter: @helenadalli.

Åsa Lindhagen is the Swedish Minister for Gender Equality, with responsibility for antidiscrimination and anti-segregation. Her areas of responsibility include children’s rights, democracy and human rights, gender equality and introduction of new arrivals. Prior to being Minister for gender Equality, she was Vice Mayor for Social Affairs, Stockholm City (2014–2018), Group Leader of the Swedish Green Party, Stockholm City (2012–2014 ) and a Management consultant at EY (2008–2012 ). She has a degree in Political Science, Course A, from Uppsala University and a Master of Engineering, Industrial Economics, from Linköping University . Åsa Lindhagen was born in 1980. She lives in Stockholm and has two children. Twitter: @asalindhagen

Ms. Elena Bonetti is Associate Professor of Mathematical Analysis at the University of Milan. She graduated in Mathematics in 1997 at the University of Pavia, in 2002 Ms.Bonetti obtained a PhD in Mathematics at the University of Milan. She is committed to the Scout Movement and has experiences in the field of education and youth. On 5 September 2019, Ms. Bonetti was appointed as Minister for Equal Opportunities and Family by the President of the Italian Republic.  Twitter: @elenabonetti

Mrs. Boutiba is the General Secretary of the Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises-BUSINESSMED since 2014 which is consisted of 22 employers’ organizations from the EuroMed region. She has been a stable strong leader of this organization for the past 16 years coordinating and enhancing cooperation diversity all around the Mediterranean. Over the past decade she also had an experience at the U.S Department of States in Tunisia within the Political and Economic section for foreign grants assistance on the Economic Support funds. She has an extensive experience in managing large programs at international levels, responsible of partnership and networking relations with diplomatic Institutions and Business Development Providers in the Euromed/MENA Regions. Mrs. Boutiba holds several Expert Positions within the Economic field and in particularly with the political diplomacy and
institutional partners. Twitter: @BoutibaJihen

Dr. Blanca Moreno-Dodson is the Manager of the Center for Mediterranean Integration, the World Bank, Marseille, France. She is an experienced development economist with more than 24 years of World Bank service, notably in Africa and Latin America. She is accomplished in macroeconomics and fiscal policy, with a focus on growth, inequality and poverty reduction. She published three World Bank books, as well as numerous papers on acroeconomics, public expenditures, tax policy and growth, among others. She was guest lecturer at the John Hopkins and Duke Universities. Blanca obtained her PhD in International Economics and Finance from Aix-Marseille University and her MA in Economics from the Autonomous University of Madrid. She is fluent in Spanish, French, English and Portuguese. Twitter @MorenoDodson and @CMIMarseille.

Noelia Vera Ruiz-Herrera was appointed Secretary of State for Equality and Gender Violence by Royal Decree 66/2020, of January 14 . She has a degree in Journalism from the Complutense University of Madrid. At the beginning of her professional career, she collaborated with various media such as CNN +, El Diario de Cádiz and TeleMadrid. After completing her Master’s Degree in Agency Journalism, she was the editor of the EFE Buenos Aires delegation. From 2011 to 2013, she held the position of content manager at Ágora News Agency and was the founder of its delegation in Bogotá. During her stay in the country, she held the position of communication advisor at IDARTES, a body dependent on the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá. She has collaborated with various media, including eldiario.es for the Human Rights section. She was part of the founding team of HemisferioZero, a website specialized in international information, which was awarded several prizes: Blogs, for the Best Journalistic Blog and 20Blogs, for the Best News Blog. Twitter: @VeraNoelia / Instagram: veranoelia

Emily Yiolitis was appointed Minister of Justice & Public Order on 29^th June, 2020. She graduated from Foley’s Grammar and Junior School in Limassol in 1994 and went on to study in the Law Department of Oxford University (Trinity College), from which she obtained a Law Degree in 1997. Between 1997-1998 she practiced law at «Chrysses Demetriades» Law Office in Limassol, after which she continued her practice at Directorate General 10 of the European Commission in Brussels. She continued to obtain her post graduate degree “Legal Studies in Comparative European Law” from the European University Institute in Florence and she was awarded the postgraduate degree in Jurisprudence from Oxford University (Trinity College). She was a Robert Schuman scholar in the Legal Service of the European Parliament in Luxembourg, in the Department of Internal Regulations. She was a member of the boarder of Trident Trust Management in Limassol for the period 2001-2002 and of Totalserve Management Limited, also in Limassol, between 2002-2006. Emily Yiolitis is a Member of the Cyprus Bar Association since 1998, she has served as Chairwoman of the Cyprus branch of the International Organisation “Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP)”, Chairwoman of the Electricity Authority of Cyprus, member of the Management Board and founding member of the Cyprus branch of the International Organisation “Internationale pour la Promotion des Femmes d’ Europe (AIPFE)” regarding the promotion of women’s rights. Twitter: @emilyyiolitis

Ahmed El Wakil has been an elected member of chamber boards since 1984. His extensive experience on chamber boards ranges from president of the Alexandria chamber of Commerce, to the Federation of Egyptian Chambers, to the Union of African Chambers, to the Association of Mediterranean Chambers, besides the first vice chairman of Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the treasurer of the Union of Arab Chambers.  On the private side, El Wakil is the Founder and chairman of Wakalex group and Wakalex for Industry & Trade. Twitter: @ascameorg

Anne-Claire de Liedekerke is President of Make Mothers Matter (MMM), an international organisation that for the past seventy years has been placing mothers – the first educators of their children – at the heart of its mission, advocating for and supporting them as change makers for a better world. She firmly believes in recognizing motherhood as a determinant factor in the cultural and educational richness and progress of modern society. Anne-Claire leads teams of representatives at the United Nations in New York, Geneva and Vienna; at the UNESCO in Paris; and at the European Union in Brussels. MMM federates members who act on the ground and gives a voice to mothers globally in the four main areas of health, education, the economy and peace. Twitter: @MMM4Mothers.

Dr. Leonard Mizzi is Head of Unit at the European Commission, Directorate-General (DG) for International Cooperation and Development – Rural development, food security and nutrition, since 1^st of January 2017. Prior to this post he was Head of Unit for 10 years in DG Agriculture and Rural Development, first in charge of agri trade and development issues (2007-2014) and from 2015-2016 leading the inter institutional unit hence relations with the European Parliament, Council and consultative bodies and well as steering the Civil Dialogue Groups. He is a graduate in Public Administration from the University of Malta (BA Hons First Class); and has degrees from CIHEAM-Montpellier (Master of Science) and a Ph.D in Agricultural economics from the University of Reading (UK). He has been an author of a number of articles and publications on agri food issues and nutrition in the Mediterranean region. Twitter: @LeonardMizzi2

Marcela Villarreal has a PhD in Rural Sociology from Cornell University and a BA/MA in Systems and Computing Engineering from the University of Los Andes in Bogotá. She is responsible for the implementation of FAO’s innovative strategies on partnerships with civil society, academia and research institutions. She coordinates the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT), the initiative on the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture (CFS-RAI), FAO’s policy on Indigenous Peoples, the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, the Parliamentarian Fronts against Hunger initiative and the Decade of Family Farming, among others.

Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca was unanimously approved by Parliament as the ninth President of Malta after being active in politics for forty years, and serving in Parliament for sixteen years.  As Minister for the Family & Social Solidarity, she initiated numerous social reforms.  Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca was the very first and still is the only elected General Secretary of any political party in Malta.  She also served on the National Parliamentary Delegation to  the Council of Europe.

Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca dedicated her life to the wellbeing of the most vulnerable in society, and contributed to bring about effective changes in the social policies of Malta.  Coleiro Preca founded and chairs The Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, The Malta Trust Foundation, and The Emanuele Cancer Research Foundation Malta.

Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca is currently President of Eurochild, a network of organisations and individuals based in Brussels, and working in and across Europe, to promote the rights and well-being of children and young people.

Ms. Françeska Muço is an Albanian civil society activist.  Since an early age, she has been very active and passionate about civil rights and youth engagement in democratic processes. She has been designing and implementing several projects and advocacy campaigns related to youth and women empowerment, education, and media. Her activities include being part of consultants’ groups for designing several youth initiatives, action plans and law proposals that have enabled her to be a youth representative in several advisory boards in local and national level. Françeska is also very active in the public debates, through participation as a speaker in conferences, in awareness campaigns, TV shows and interviews. Her professional experience is mostly related with project implementation and fundraising within the European Union programs but also with donors in Albania. Currently she holds the position of Secretary General of the Young Professionals Network of Albania and from March 2020 she is Youth Representative of Albania in the Governing Board of RYCO. Instagram: @franceskamuco

Gunhild Berge Stang was appointed as a State Secretary in the Ministry of Culture by the King in Council on 7 May 2020. From 2019–2020 she has served as Vestland County Authority, as group leader of the Liberal Party. She has been a member of Vestland county council, county executive committee and planning committee and member of specialist committee for business, innovation and natural resources. From 2015–2019 she was the mayor of Fjaler municipality. From 2013–2017 she was first substitute member of the the Norwegian parliament for Sogn og Fjordane Liberal Party in the Standing Committee on Labour and Social Affairs. Her academic background includes a degree in archaeology from the University of Bergen (2203) and a Researcher course Mark, landskap og samhalle (Land, landscape and community) from Stockholm University (2000).

The Hon. Rosianne Cutajar is Malta’s Junior Minister for Equality and Reforms within the Ministry for Justice, Equality and Governance. She was formerly Commissioner for Simplification and Reduction of Bureaucracy, Chairperson of Malta’s Parliamentary Committee for Family Affairs, Malta’s Head of Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCEPA), and Chairperson of the College of Regulators.

Elected to Malta’s House of Representatives in 2017, the Hon. Cutajar has successfully spearheaded the introduction of Malta’s cutting-edge Cremation Law, and has spoken out on a number of social, policy and bio-ethical concerns of national importance. These include the nationwide implementation of gender equality, IVF legislation, the need o​f alternatives to imprisonment, the lowering of the voting age threshold to sixteen, action against domestic abuse, the debate on a regulatory framework for prostitution, as well as the legalisation of medicinal cannabis and marijuana for recreational use.

The Hon. Cutajar is the youngest Member of Parliament in the current legislature and the second youngest woman MP after former President Agatha Barbara. Prior to her election to Parliament, she was the first youngest female mayor of Qormi, one of Malta’s largest localities — a position she held for two consecutive terms. She graduated with a B.Ed. (Hons.) degree from the University of Malta and is a teacher by profession.

Mariana Vieira da Silva was born in Lisbon in 1978. She holds a degree in Sociology from ISCTE-IUL and has completed the coursework for the PhD in Public Policy at ISCTE, being currently finishing a dissertation on health and education policies in Portugal. She has worked as a researcher at CIES-IUL in the area of public policies, health policies, education policies and justice policies, with several publications on these topics. Also worked as a trainer at INA and IPPS-IUL. She was part of the organizing team of ISCTE’s Public Policy Forum and was a member of the Advisory Board of “Descobrir” – Gulbenkian Program for Culture and Science, from Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

From 2009 to 2011, she served as Advisor to the Secretary of State Assistant to the Prime Minister, and between 2005 and 2009 worked in the cabinet of the Minister of Education. She became member of Government in 2015, holding the position of Secretary of State Assistant to the Prime Minister (from November 2015 to February 2019), and as Minister of the Presidency and of the Administrative Modernization (from February to October 2019). In the current XXII Constitutional Government, she was appointed as Minister of State for the Presidency (of the Council of Ministers).

Haifa Fahoum Al Kaylani is a Development Economist recognised in Arab and international government, private sector and NGO circles as a high-impact change agent focussed on women’s leadership and youth empowerment, working for progress, peace and prosperity in the Arab region and internationally. Mrs Al Kaylani’s work for the last two decades has centred on economic empowerment for women and youth, having founded AIWF in 2001 as a development organisation supporting women’s leadership in social and economic growth in the MENA region and globally. She is a Fellow of the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative 2017, and a Commissioner of the ILO Global Commission on the Future of Work. She is a Board Member of the Arab British Chamber of Commerce in London, a Director of the East-West Institute in New York, and a Member of the Women’s Leadership Board at Harvard. She has received numerous regional and global awards for her exceptional efforts to enable and advance women and youth through education and economic engagement in the MENA region and beyond.

Born in Gaziantep in 1966 Fatma ŞAHİN received a BS degree in chemical engineering from Istanbul Technical University in 1987. From 1988 to 2001, Mrs. ŞAHİN worked as a Plant Engineer and Plant Manager at one of the leading companies of Turkey.

Fatma ŞAHİN was elected to the Parliament on the general elections held in November 2002 and thus, held the title of standing as the very first female Deputy of the Parliament for Gaziantep and Southeastern Anatolia region; and was re-elected at the consecutive general elections held on July 22nd, 2007. During her tenure as a Parliamentarian, Fatma ŞAHİN became a Member of Turkish-EU Joint Parliamentary Commission and served as the Chairwoman to Morals and Decency Murders Commission and Research Commission of Violence against Children, in addition to a number of assumed duties in the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) including Vice-Chair of the Party, the Membership of Central Executive Committee and the Chair for the Women Branches of AK Party between 2007 and 2011.

David Svab is a Programme Management Specialist with the UN Women Regional Office for Arab States, working on women’s economic empowerment. David works on supporting more gender-responsive legal and policy frameworks, fostering gender-responsive private sector that attracts, retains, and promotes women business leaders and employees, and challenging norms in the care economy and occupational segregation. In this regard, David manages a multi-country programme of UN Women and ILO in the Arab states.

Previously, David worked in the UN system in Western Balkans on sustainable development, focusing on local economic and rural development, skills development and employment of people at risk of being left behind, youth empowerment, and innovation for development. Originally from the Czech Republic, David has a master’s degree from the Prague University of Economics and Business. Twitter: @DavidSvab

Gaëlle Ferrant is an economist and gender specialist at the OECD Development Centre. In this role, Gaëlle oversees the gender programme  including policy-oriented research, policy dialogu and measurement of gender-based discrimination in social institutions notably through the SocialInstitutions and Gender Index and its country    at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium and the University of Laval, Canada.  She also worked  at the French Development  Agency and for African-based NGOs. She has a PhD in development economics from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Paris School of Economics. Gaëlle is a French citizen.

Åsa Nihlén is a UN expert on human rights and health, and in particular issues related to gender equality. Åsa works at the WHO Regional Office for Europe where she is responsible for providing advice and assistance to countries on how addressing gender equality, non-discrimination and health-related human rights will lead to better health for all. Her areas of expertise include the strengthening of health systems to address violence against women, including the trafficking in women and girls, sexual and reproductive health rights, migrant and refugee health and LGBTI health rights.

Mrs. Aoun is the head of the Supreme Council of Arab Women Organization for the years between 2019- and 2021. She was appointed as President of the National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) in 2017, where she works on empowering Lebanese women, protecting their rights, as well as ensuring their effective participation in society. At NCLW, she initiated as well a considerable number of important actions and plans including the adoption by the Lebanese government of UN Resolution 1325 Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security; drugs prevention actions and laws, gender equality advocacy, etc. She also sought to pass laws that ensure gender equality, including amending the labor law and the social security law to provide protection for women, include a quota for women in the parliamentary and local elections to ensure a greater participation of women in political decision making positions, amend the law to protect women and other family members from domestic violence, pass a law criminalizing sexual harassment in the workplace and public places, adopt a law specifying 18 years as the minimum age for marriage, amend the Human Trafficking Law and the Nationality Law to give Lebanese women the same right as men to transfer their nationality to their children.

Mrs. Aoun holds a Master’s degree and a BA in Cinematographic and Audio-Visual Studies from the Sorbonne University in Paris, which has enabled her to take on a multi-layered career path. She is the founder and CEO of Clémentine SAL, a fast-growing communications agency that meets the needs of more than 100 companies and accounts in Lebanon and the MENA region. Her agency has also two branches in Armenia and Tunisia. She was as well as Forbes Lebanon 100 awardee in 2017.

She is married to Member of Parliament General Chamel Roukoz and is mother to five children.

Janneke van der Graaff – Kukler is the Deputy Regional Director for UN Women in the Arab States. She has over 15 years of experience in the field of development cooperation, with a focus on democratic governance, human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment. Prior to her current assignment, Janneke was the Head of Regional Strategic Planning and UN Coordination for UN Women in Asia and the Pacific between 2013-2019.  In this role she deepened UN gender related programming in over 20 countries, and established UN Women as a recognized leader for the advancement of results for gender equality and women’s empowerment within the UN system. In this capacity she also represented UN Women in the UN Country Team in Bhutan and was assigned to New York where she coordinated the establishment of UN Women’s Corporate Change Management process, with a focus on reviewing UN Women’s Regional Architecture.

While in Kenya from 2006 – 2013 Janneke headed the United Nations – Government of Kenya Joint Programme on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (UN Women) and served as Programme Analyst on Democratic Governance and Human Rights for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Prior to her appointment to the United Nations, Janneke spent two years working for VSO in Vanuatu where she pioneered the organizations HIV/Aids and Gender portfolio, and worked for SNV Netherlands in The Hague as well as in the private sector for a number of years (sales and marketing).

A national of the Netherlands, Janneke holds an MSc in Public Administration and Development from the University of Birmingham (UK), a Post-Masters diploma in International Development Studies (focus on gender) from the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands) and a Master of Arts from the University of Utrecht (Netherlands).

Dr. Melsa Ararat is the founding director of Corporate Governance Forum of Turkey at Sabancı University. Currently a professor of Management with a corporate background.  Dr. Ararat is an activist scholar; she was a founder of the Global Board Ready Women project and Turkey’s Independent Woman Directors Platform. serves on the Global Advisory Board of the 30% Club and chairs the Steering Committee of the Club’s Turkey Chapter. She launched the Business Against Domestic Violence Project in 2015 in cooperation with the UN Population Fund which mobilised Turkey’s largest corporations against intimate partner violence since then.

Dr. Ararat serves on the board of International Corporate Governance Network since 2015. She also serves on the board of Global Compact Turkey Network since 2019 and co-chairs its Gender Equality Task Force. She holds a BSc degree in Chemical Engineering, a MSc degree in Thermodynamics and Phd in Management and Strategy. Her research is focused on the nexus of sustainability and corporate governance. She is a member of Daughters of Themis, female business school academics network and the co-coordinator of Emerging Markets Corporate Governance Research Network.

Alicia Ramos Jordan is advisor on Feminisms and LGTBI in the tenure of the Mayor’s Office of Social Rights, Global Justice, Feminism and LGTBI

She graduated in Law from the University of Barcelona and Master in Historical Culture and new professions from the University of Barcelona. She holds a Phd from the University of California Merced in Humanities (World Culture) specialty: cross-border literary studies, Chicano writers in Spanish. She taught in Cambridge, at Trinity College in the department of Spanish, translation and cultural studies. She is a deputy in the Congress of Deputies in the XII legislature and advisor in the Metropolitan Area of ​​Barcelona

Social Media handles (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram)[email protected], short Jordan, Alicia Ramos

Laia Bonet Rull is the Deputy Mayor of Barcelona for Agenda 2030, digital transition, sports, territorial and metropolitan coordination, and international relations. She holds a law degree and has been full professor of administrative law at Pompeu Fabra University, as well as professor of communications law at Blanquerna University. She was Legal Secretary of the government of Catalonia from 2007 to 2010 and member of the Catalan parliament from 2010 to 2012, where she was deputy spokesperson of the Socialist Group. Twitter: @laiabonetrull

Nadia Naïr is the holder of a Diploma of Advanced Studies (DEA) in Economics from the University of Montpellier (France) and a DEA in gender studies from the Institute of Women’s Studies at the University of Valencia (Spain ). She is a professor of Expression and Communication Techniques (TEC) at the National School of Applied Sciences of Tetouan (Abdelmalek Essaadi University – UAE) and a guest professor at the Master “Gender and women’s rights between the two shores of the Mediterranean at the Faculty of Economic, Social and Legal Sciences of Tangier (UAE).

She is responsible for various UAF projects, the most recent “Women’s Fund for Equality without reservation – FFER” financed by the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation – ACCD. She is a former member of the Regional Human Rights Commission (CRDH) Tangier-Tetouan. She is a trainer and consultant in gender and women’s rights. She carried out various trainings on gender and women’s rights and communication, as well as evaluations of cooperation projects, and surveys and studies.

A career diplomat for the Egyptian government, Nasser Kamel held the position of Ambassador of Egypt to the United Kingdom from 2014 to 2018. He was also Ambassador to France in the period 2006-2012, during which he took part in the drafting of the Joint Declaration of the 2008 Paris Summit that marked the launch of the Union for the Mediterranean. Furthermore, between 2012 and 2014, he was Assistant Minister for Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs. From 2004 to 2006, he was the Director of Egypt’s Public Information Service. Prior to this position he served in various embassies, including Washington (1984-1988), Lisbon (1990-1994), Tunis (1994-1998), Brussels (1999-2001) and Paris (2001-2004). Mr. Kamel studied Political Science at Brussels University (1977-1979) and Cairo University’s Faculty of Economics and Political Science, obtaining his bachelor’s degree in 1981. He graduated from the Diplomatic Institute – Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cairo (1981-1982) and the École Nationale d’Administration(ENA) in Paris (1982-1983). He holds the title of Grand Officier de l’Ordre National du Mérite of the Republic of France and has also received decorations from the Kingdom of Belgium and the Republic of Portugal. He is fluent in Arabic, English and French. He is married and has two children.

Since June 2017, Núria Ramon Pérez is the CEO of the Catalan Women’s Institute.  Between 2014 and 2017, she was CEO of the ACSAR Foundation (Catalan Association for Solidarity and Aid to Refugees). Previously, she was a member of the team for prevention of eating disorders in the Catalan Association against Anorexia and Bulimia (ACAB). She was a member of the Secretariat of the National Youth Council of Catalonia (CNJC) –a platform that congregates the main youth organizations of Catalonia- during the 2012-2014 term, and the president of the CNJC during the 2014-2016 term.

She has a BA degree in psychology, an MSc in clinical child and adolescent psychology, and a postgraduate degree in “Gender Equality Policies in Public Management (PIGGP)”. She is 32 years old and was born in Barberà del Vallès (Vallès Occidental). Twitter and Instagram: @NuriaRamonP

Before assuming the position of Secretary for Foreign Action and the European Union, she was the director-general for Global Affair in the Ministry for Foreign Action, Institutional Relations and Transparency of the Government of Catalonia. Since January 2019, Nebreda had been Minister Alfred Bosch’s deputy chief of staff, from where she provided support, assisted the Minister’s activities, and coordinated the dependent units. Before being deputy chief of staff, Nebreda worked from September 2014 to December 2018 as advisor on Human Rights, Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, as well as Foreign Affairs, at the Greens/EFA Parliamentary Group in the European Parliament.Previously, Elisabet Nebreda spent much of her professional career working at the GEA Barcelona European  Consulting, from 2008 to 2014.

Nebreda graduated in Law from Pompeu Fabra University and she holds a Master in International Relations from the University of Nottingham (England) and a Postgraduate in European Union Law from the University of Barcelona. Twitter: @elinebreda

Maria Stratigaki is Associate Professor at the Department of Social Policy at Panteion University, focusing on gender, social policy and gender equality policies. She served as Vice Mayor of Athens for Social Solidarity, Welfare and Equality (2014-2019).

She also served as the Secretary General for Gender Equality in Greece (2009-2012). From 1991 to 1999 she worked at the European Commission’s Unit on equal opportunities between women and men. Furthermore, during her professional career she has also been the General Director of the Research Centre of Gender Equality- KETHI (1999-2002) and the Centre for Gender Studies of Panteion University (2007-2009).

Nawal Haddadeen joined AWO in 1970, when I was still a teacher of Mathematics at a local public school. Throughout the years, I have learnt to mobilize women at the grassroots level for women’s rights and the protection of the environment. Back in 1993, AWO joined IUCN to promote women participation in the conservation of nature. Since 2012, I was nominated as AWO representative at IUCN Jordanian National Committee and took the lead to engage women in water management and in adaptation to desertification, which are negatively affecting the environment in Jordan. , I took part at the IUCN Conference in South Korea and in 2016 I represented AWO in IUCN Conference in Hawaii. These days, I’m involved in implementing the SDGs with special concern to link Goal 5, which is on Gender Equality with most of the Goals on the environment, especially with Goal 13 on Climate Change.

Additionally, I represent AWO at the Women International Democratic Federation (WIDF) based in Colombia. AWO is celebrating it’s 50^th anniversary this year as it was established in 1970.

Carmen Urbano is the Director General of Agribusiness Innovation and Promotion in the Government of Aragon (Spain). She has a Law Degree, an International M.B.A. Master and a Master in International eBusiness.

Since the age of 13, Carmen Urbano has had the opportunity to live abroad, which has notably led her to choose international commerce and marketing. Since 1991, she has worked for companies that have developed strongly internationally and has traveled to more than forty countries thanks to her job as Export Manager. In 2001, she discovered the Institute of Foreign Trade in Spain (ICEX) and joined it as a consultant to assist Spanish SMEs participating in public internationalization programs. She has been a trainer in Chambers of Commerce, at ICEX, the University of Zaragoza, and in several Trading Schools. In 2004, she created her consulting firm in relation to internationalization and marketing with a strong specialization in online marketing, inbound marketing, electronic commerce and social media, which she developed with her brand COMINTON. She was Director of the International eBusiness Department at Inycom, one of the most important Spanish ICT companies. Today, she is General Director of Agrifood Innovation and Promotion, in the government of Aragon, Spain. Social Media: @carmenurbano

Ms. Akissa Bahri is currently Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, Tunis, Tunisia. From March to August 2020, she was Secretary of State in charge of Hydraulic Resources. She previously held the following positions: Professor at the National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia; Coordinator of the African Water Facility (AWF) at the African Development Bank; Director for Africa at the International Institute of water (IWMI), based in Accra, Ghana; and Research Director at the National Institute for Agricultural, Water and Forestry Engineering in Tunisia (INRGREF). She has worked in water research in the areas of water resources management and agricultural use of marginal waters and bio solids. She is the author of over 100 research and policy papers and reports in the fields of integrated water resources management, water and soil management, reuse of treated wastewater in agriculture and in related fields.

She holds a degree in Agronomic Engineer from the National School of Agronomy in Toulouse, France, a Doctorate – Engineer degree in “Sciences and Techniques in Plant Production and Product Quality” from the National Polytechnic Institute from Toulouse, France and a PhD, Department of Water Resources Engineering, Institute of Science and Technology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.

Graduated of Sciences Politiques in Aix-en-Provence, with a specialty in political sociology of the Arab and Muslim world, Yasmine was responsible for the ORSE (French Observatory of Corporate Social Responsibility) of projects on sustainable development and CSR in the Maghreb. She previously served as a project officer in the office of the UN Under-Secretary-General for Innovative Financing for Development (UNITAID) and was consultant for the French Development Agency (AFD). Her associative involvement led her to be a founding member of ATLAS (Algerian Talents and Leaders Association) and she is currently head of the CSR and Territories Committee of the CACIF (Algerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in France).

Silvia Barbatello is currently CIHEAM Bari Regional Coordinator of the project “Enhancing gender mainstreaming for sustainable rural development and food security actions – GEMAISA”, funded by the Italian Cooperation and implemented in Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia and Morocco.

She has previously served as CIHEAM Bari liaison and support officer at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs And International Cooperation, at the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and at the Italian Ministry of Agriculture, focusing in particular on technical assistance in the preparation of background documents on Food Security and Nutrition, organic agriculture, monitoring, financial and technical reporting and organization of international events. She has worked as gender officer in Lebanon and Syria in rural and agricultural development projects implemented by CIHEAM Bari.

Meher Khelifi is a Tunisian graduate in MPI engineering and business management. He is the head of the start-up Ahmini (‘’ Protège-Moi ’’ in Arabic), a platform that facilitates the affiliation of rural women to social security and payment of contributions remotely. A study, carried out by the Ministry of Women in 2016, showed that: 90% of rural Tunisian women have no social security. Each year, 1,100 rural women suffer from cancer, and 50% die because they do not benefit from the social security which gives them access to care in public hospitals. This situation, Meher experienced by losing his mother. Today he is fighting to make a difference for these women. His first victory was when, among other projects, Ahmini helped change the law in Tunisia to integrate rural women into the social security system. He is very proud of it, taking into account that since this law came into existence, 13,000 women have joined Ahmini. Webpage: www.ahmini.net

Maya Morsy is an Egyptian political scientist and specialist in public policy. She has been President  of Egypt’s National Council for Women (NCW), a government body, since February 2016. Before being elected to lead the NCW, Morsy had served as regional gender team leader for the United Nations Development Programme in Cairo and country program manager for the United Nations Development Fund for Women. She has been described as “one of the best public policy experts on social gender in Egypt, and perhaps even in all of the Arab world”. The NCW was created in 2000 by Egypt’s former president, Hosni Mubarak, and led by Suzanne Mubarak. Its board was disbanded after the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and reorganized in 2012.

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Plácido Plaza is an Agricultural Engineer from the University of Louvain (Belgium) with an extensive experience in applied agronomy both in Latin America and in the Mediterranean. Secretary General Ad. Interim of the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies – CIHEAM, he has a long experience in coordinating research networks with universities, research bodies and institutions on Mediterranean agricultural and natural resources-related issues. He has also managed EU-CIHEAM cooperation programs and coordinates educational and research activities in CIHEAM General Secretariat.

Ms. Sarah Poole is a development professional with more than 25 years of experience working in field and headquarters assignments engaged with Africa, Europe and the CIS, and the Arab States. Since 1999, she has served in several leadership position in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), most recently as Regional Director for Arab States a.i.. Prior to this, she was Deputy Director of the Bureau for Programme and Policy Support; Senior Advisor for the Europe and CIS Region; Deputy Resident Representative and Resident Representative a.i. in Turkey; Team Leader for the Western Balkans, Turkey and Cyprus; Senior Advisor on UN Reform and Strategic Initiatives; and global team leader on post-crisis reintegration and recovery. Before joining UNDP, Sarah served as the Deputy and Regional Refugee Coordinator with the US State Department’s Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro between 1996-1999; and with USAID’s Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance in Rwanda, Burundi, and Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1994 to 1996. Sarah holds a MSc in Government from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Dr Andreas Ullrich MD, MPH, Adviser on Global Women Health Policies at Charité is coordinating international knowledge transfer platforms for the prevention and management of women cancers.

Prior, he was with WHO Headquarters Geneva where he has shaped the WHO global cancer control strategy by engaging all relevant WHO programs at Headquarters and Regional Offices and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to respond to the needs of cancer control world-wide.

It is in this context that he has paved the way for the emerging strategic partnership between WHO and UfM. He has worked over a decade to anchor women health projects into the regional framework of the UfM intergovernmental policies in the Mediterranean region.  Dr Ullrich has guided UfM and WHO to engage in a formal relationship based on a Memorandum of Understanding which was signed in January 2020 coinciding with the outbreak of the COVID pandemic. The MoU gives UfM and WHO the opportunity to synergize their activities in the region across sectors and partners. This process starts with policies to empower women by better access to health services and by stronger positioning women in the health work force so much need in the COVID crisis.