Biography of speakers of the Women4Mediterranean Conference. Lisbon, 10-11 October 2018

Nada Abdelsamad has been a Senior correspondent in Lebanon from 1997 with BBC World Service in Beirut, Lebanon. She is a trainer of journalists (TV and Radio) with BBC Arabic service, and a Professor of Radio Program with Balamand University. Since 2014 she has been presenting a women show on BBC Arabic “Dunyana”, tackling all topics, including current affairs, not only women issues. Until 2014 she also was the Beirut Bureau Chief. She has a Bachelor degree, in Journalism  from Lebanese University and a Doctorate degree from City University, United Kingdom. Her areas of expertise are Political and War News in Iraq and Lebanon. She speaks three languages: Arabic, English and French. Among her publications we count: Abdelsamad, N. (2009). Wadi Abou Jamil: Stories of the Jews of Beirut. Beirut: Dar An-Nahar; Abdelsamad, N. (1990). Ayyam al-Hijara [Days of Stones]. Beirut: Dar al-Farabi. She was awarded a Trophy (Honoring Female War Correspondents) by the Institute for women’s studies in the Arab world at the Lebanese American University, on International Women’s Day in 2007. You can follow Nada on Twitter @BBCNadaSamad

Ana Rosa Alcalde is the Director of Alianza por la Solidaridad, the Spanish member of Action Aid International Federation. She has more than 20 years of experience in development aid, international relations and Women’s Rights and has been engaged with several NGOs, CSOs, bilateral and multilateral donors, UN Agencies and private corporations in Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. Under Ms. Alcalde’s leadership, Alianza has worked extensively to fight Gender Based Violence and promote Sexual Health and Reproductive Rights initiatives at global, regional and national level in several countries like Spain, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. She has a bachelor’s degree in Law, and two postgraduate degrees in EU Law and, International Relations and African Studies. She speaks three languages: Spanish, English and French. She is the mother of 3 children and passionate about her job and social change.  Follow Ana Rosa Alcalde on Twitter @AnaAlcalde69 and www.alianzaporlasolidaridad.org 

Mrs. Blerta Aliko was appointed as the UN Women Country Representative on 8 January 2018. Prior to this she was serving in the capacity of the Deputy Regional Director for UN Women Arab States region. A highly experienced professional with over 22 years of experience, she has been working with the UN development and humanitarian programmes and funds including UNDP, UNICEF and UN Women. Blerta joined UN Women in 2012 as Recovery Advisor in charge of implementing the regional response to Syrian refugee crisis based in Jordan followed by the appointment as the Chief of Humanitarian Unit based in New York. She has also contributed to drafting of a number of policy documents within United Nations Development Group and Inter Agency Steering Committee. Blerta holds a masters’ degree in Business Administration from the University of Geneva, Switzerland and graduated from the Faculty of Economy, University of Tirana in Albania.

Nicole Ameline, born on July 4, 1952 in Saint-Vaast-en-Auge (Calvados), is a French politician. Member of French Parliament  from 1991 to 2017. Activist for women empowerment, she is member of the French Republican Party. With a PhD in Law, specializing in the Environment, she joined the cabinet of the Minister of Environment, Michel d’Ornano. In May 1995, at the victory of Jacques Chirac, she left her mandate as a member of parliament to join the first Juppé government. She was minister in the Raffarin governments, namely she served as Minister for Professional and Gender Equality until the resignation of Jean-Pierre Raffarin in May 2005. In August 2005, she was appointed ambassador on mission, in charge of social issues and parity in international relations and delegate of the French Government to the board of directors of the International Labor Office (ILO), based in Geneva in November the same year. She returned to her seat as MP in June 2007. As an activist against violence against women, she was elected in 2008 at the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) at the UN headquarters in New York. She took the chair of CEDAW in February 2013. Follow Nicole Ameline on Twitter @nicoleameline 

Mr.Ritxar Bacete González is a Researcher and Senior Fellow at Promundo Global. He is an Anthropologist, Social Worker, Coach, specialist in gender, masculinities and positive fatherhood. Ritxar is also a Member of the Network of Men for Equality. He has coordinated the research “Involvement of Basque parents in parenting: Impact on co-responsibility and productive work” for the Directorate of Family and Community Policy of the Basque Government in collaboration with the University of Deusto.  Currently, he is coordinating the research “Men and masculinities. IMAGES”, for the Diputation of Bizkaia and Men, work and care in Spain for the CEPAIM Fundation. In 2017, he wrote the book Nuevos hombres buenos. La masculinidad en la era del feminismo (Ed Península). From the Synopsis: “In the last century feminism has revolutionized and redefined the role of women in society, in a process that has inevitably led to questioning and transforming the role of the masculine. Although more and more men support – at least theoratically – this process of approaching equality, one of its consequences is that it has left half of humanity orphaned by a reference model: the old is no longer useful for equitable coexistence with women in a democratic society and the new one is still under construction”. Follow Ritxar on Twitter @RitxarBacete 

Hafida Benchehida is a Senator, member of the Senate of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria since 2013, where she served on the Foreign Affairs Committee until 2015. Since January 2016, she is Vice-President for Legal and Administrative Affairs and the Senate Human Rights Committee. She is a founder and member of the Network of Arab Women Parliamentarians initiated by UN Women, Mena Media Monitoring. Hafida Benchehida is laureate cum laude of the University of Geneva in parliamentary translation in four languages. She was an official interpreter at the United Nations, as well as UNIDO, World Bank, IMF, G8, G15, OIC, OPEC, AU, EU, and BDA, inter al.  As she is proficient in six languages, fluent in three other languages, she was the interpreter of the President of the Republic of Algeria Abdelaziz Bouteflika during his state visits, notably to Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, the United States and Brazil and during visits of foreign heads of state to Algeria. Hafida Benchehida participates in symposiums and conferences on issues of societal and economic development, and women’s empowerment. On the theme of women, peace and security, she cooperated with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, in discussions with the Mediterranean countries, for the participation of African women in governance.

Salma Bennani is an Engineer and Managing Director of the Moroccan office of Wavestone, a leading independent player in the European consultancy sector.  In 2012, she was in charge of the opening of the Moroccan office of Wavestone. Salma is regularly involved in assisting local governmental institutions and leading firms in their reorganization and/or digital strategy. Salma is strongly involved in the women rights cause in Morocco, in particular in the professional sector. In 2017, she took part of WOMED project – Women of the Mediterranean: Next Generation of Leaders, a high-level and intensive program conducted by Sciences Po and labelled by the UfM on leadership and gender equality to boost the professional growth of a group of young women leaders from South Mediterranean countries. Salma is also a member of “Mentor’Elles”, a network aiming to encourage Moroccan women to fulfil their professional aspirations and to overcome the constraints they may encounter, notably through a mentoring program dedicated to professional women and a collaborative network (providing access to feedback, good practices, career support, networking, etc.). Mentor’Elles is a Circle of LeanIn Maroc.

Neila Benzina is CEO Middle East & Africa, Business & Decision. After graduating from the National Institute of Telecommunications of Paris (TelecomSud Paris), she has worked for 3 years in France, as a consultant in the field of Business Intelligence, Customer Experience and Digital with major French groups such as than Saint-Gobain, Renault and LVMH. She then embarked on entrepreneurship by creating an information systems consulting and engineering company specializing in data management and analytics. After 4 years, a strategic partnership has developed with the multinational Business & Decision, a French group listed on the new Euronext market. She developed the activities to become a leader in its Middle East & Africa specialties, addressing both local and international customers in a co-localised mode. She drives a team of over 380 people, over a public /private ecosystem. In 2015, she was decorated as a Knight of the National Order of Merit. In 2017, she was selected among the 50 most powerful women in Africa by Jeune Afrique. She is President of the Tunisian Association for Communication & Technology, Founding Member of Amena (Development & Microfinance Association), Vice-President of AmCham, in charge of information and communication technologies and Vice-President in charge of the Communication of Réseau Entreprendre.

Dr. Flavia Bustreo was the former Assistant Director-General for Family, Women’s and Children’s Health for the World Health Organization (WHO). She was a principle creator of the Global Strategy for Women Child and Adolescent Health in 2010 and 2015. She also contributed substantially to the UN Taskforce on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 & 5 to reduce maternal and child mortality and to the development of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 on health and wellbeing. Dr. Bustreo’s contributions to global health have been recognized with numerous awards, including an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex in 2018. She held a variety of roles at WHO, UNICEF, the World Bank in Sudan, the United States and Denmark. As Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Norway she helped shape the government’s USD 1 billion contribution to infant and child health. Dr. Flavia Bustreo is a member of several boards, including the United Nations University’s International Institute for Global Health and Botnar Fondation. She currently advises several governmental and nongovernmental entities, including the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO). Dr. Bustreo has a degree in medicine and a postgraduate qualification in rehabilitation medicine from Padua University, Italy, and later obtained a M.Sc. in Communicable Disease Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She has worked as a clinician with children and adolescents with disabilities and in refugee camps in the former Yugoslavia.

Monica Carcò is Senior Industrial Development Officer at UNIDO HQs.  She has worked as International Civil Servant for UNDP, WFP, UNIDO and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for more than 25 years. Having covered representation and management positions, Monica strives to build up public and private partnerships and strategic multi-stakeholder alliances to boost local development. Monica Carcò has run several technical assistance projects in the area of private sector development, women economic empowerment and youth employment through entrepreneurship development and she is currently responsible for a regional programme in the MENA Region aiming at promoting women empowerment for inclusive and sustainable industrial development. Monica firmly believes that through promoting entrepreneurship development for youth and women and strengthening the entrepreneurial eco-system will contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable socio-economic development.

José Rui Velez Caroço is the new executive director of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe. The Portuguese diplomat took office in September 2018 after serving five years as the Consul general of Portugal in Boston (USA). Mr Caroço has served as a Portuguese diplomat for over 27 years, working in Europe, Africa and the Americas acquiring a large experience both in bilateral and multilateral international affairs.

Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca was elected President of the Republic of Malta on the 4th April 2014. At the age of 55, Coleiro Preca is the youngest serving President of Malta and only the second woman to hold the post of Head of State. Her nomination marked another development in the constitutional history of Malta, as the President was elected with the unanimous approval of all Members of Parliament. She was educated at the Polytechnic, Imsida. Later she graduated with a BA in Legal and Humanistic Studies (International Studies) and obtained a Diploma Notary Public from the University of Malta. She has been active in national politics for the past forty years, since the age of sixteen. Within the Partit Laburista she has served as a member of the National Executive, Assistant General Secretary and General Secretary. As General Secretary (1982-91), she was the only woman to have served in such a senior post of a Maltese political party. She served as MP in the Maltese Parliament from 1998 to 2014. On 13th March 2013 Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca took the oath as the Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity. Throughout her year in office she embarked on a series of reforms and strategies in the social sector.

Ms. Amarsanaa Darisuren is a gender equality advocate with extensive expertise on the implementation of international human rights norms and standards, in particular CEDAW. Prior to OSCE, she served as a regional human rights advisor for the UN Women Regional office for Asia and the Pacific, based in Bangkok. She specializes in the areas of law and policy reform, access to justice, gender-based violence, the economic and political empowerment of marginalized groups, and practical strategies for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women. She co-chaired inter-agency task force on Women, Peace and Security for Asia and the Pacific, facilitated work on gender and climate change, gender and environment, ending violence against women and girls. Her portfolio also includes programmes in area of promoting democratic governance, establishment of human rights mechanisms in ASEAN and other broad range of issues. Prior to UN Women, she worked with the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development where she supported national and international advocacy of women’s movements working on gender equality. She provided technical expertise to UN Democracy Fund, UNDP, UNFPA and OHCHR. Ms Amarsanaa Darisuren holds MA degree in Theory and Practice of Human Rights from the University of Essex, UK, and MSc in biology-microbiology from Odessa State University, Ukraine. 

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Wafaa Dikah Hamze is a Board Member of the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) and a Former Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs (2004 – 2005), Lebanese Government. She is a Senior Agricultural Specialist and Independent Consultant in rural development, and on SDG 2030 with UN Women and League of Arab States (2016) . She served as Regional Adviser for Gender Equality and Women Advancement, at UN-ESCWA (2013-2015), and was Elected as member of FAO Programme Committee at FAO – Rome for the Near East Region (2008-2009). Formerly she held several Senior level official responsibilities in the Lebanese public sector, and in international and regional programs including Italian Cooperation, EU, IFAD and World Bank. In addition to being a researcher and University Instructor, she is the Founder and Director of the National Observatory for Women in Agriculture and Rural Areas (NOWARA). She is also Vice President and co- founder of the National Commission for Lebanese Women, and contributed to establishing the Arab Women Organization under the umbrella of the League of Arab States. A prominent activist for women’s rights and gender equality in Lebanon and the Arab Region, she has made Post Graduate Courses in Rural Extension and Participatory Rapid Appraisal, 1992, The International Agricultural Center, the Netherlands and Management of Programs, 1991, German Foundation for International Development, Germany. She holds a Master’s of Science in Crop Production, 1988, and a Bachelor of Science and Engineering diploma, General Agriculture, 1986, from American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

Juan Pablo de la Iglesia y González de Peredo, Secretary of State for Cooperation and for Ibero-America and the Caribbean, has a Degree in Law from the U. Complutense (Madrid) and a Diploma of International Studies, Diplomatic School. Diplomat since 1973, he currently holds the position of Ambassador of Spain occupying the No. 1 of the Escalafón. He was assigned to the Embassy of Spain in Bogotá and the Permanent Mission of Spain to the United Nations along with other International organizations in Geneva. He was successively Director of Economic Relations with America; Deputy General Director of Mexico, Central America and Caribbean Countries and General Director of Foreign Policy for Latin America with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was also in charge of Peace Operations as Ambassador in Special Mission. He has been Ambassador of Spain in Guatemala, Mexico and Poland and Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations in New York. He has also been Secretary General of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI) and, after the reform of 2007, Director of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID). He has been Secretary of State for Ibero-America and Secretary of State for Foreign and Ibero-American Affairs. His last position was that of Consul General of Spain in Geneva.

Sarah Diouri is Head of Espace Bidaya, Social Green Tech incubator (Morocco). With a background in business and finance combined with a strong interest in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Sarah currently manages a social green tech incubator, called Bidaya, based in Casablanca and part of a global network. Prior to that, she supported international development organizations in their projects’ elaboration and delivery. Consultancy services were provided to the World Bank, EBRD, GIZ and UNEP. She worked and lived in Morocco, South Africa, France, Australia and the USA. Her main areas of interest and expertise include positive impact financing, responsible entrepreneurship, education, gender equality, sustainable agriculture and food security. Sarah is also an active member of Lean In Morocco chapter, an informal organization, which promotes female leadership in Morocco through mentorship programs, awareness campaigns and training sessions.  

Nicola Ehlermann heads the MENA-OECD Competitiveness Programme at the Global Relations Secretariat of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The OECD is an international organisation based in Paris, which sets standards and provides policy advice in all areas of economic policy for its 34 members countries and non-member countries alike. The MENA-OECD Competitiveness Programme is designed to create the conditions for sustained economic growth and investment, encourage private sector-led development and improve employment prospects in the MENA region. It also aims at fostering regional and international co-operation. Mrs. Ehlermann initiated and leads the Programme’s work on women’s economic empowerment and business integrity. Prior, she worked in the OECD Anti-Corruption Division, where she was responsible for designing and carrying out assistance programmes, relating to legal and institutional anti-corruption and governance reforms in non-OECD member countries. She also developed innovative means and tools to prevent, detect and sanction bribery. She directed and contributed to various publications. Mrs. Ehlermann joined the OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs in 1991 after having worked as business consultant and product manager at L’Oréal. 

Ms. Sanaa El Aji holds a doctorate in sociology from Sciences Po Aix (2016). She also authored lots of articles and books in French and Arabic, i.e. Majnounatou Youssef (Argana Editions, 2003). She contributed to three compilations : Lettres à un jeune marocain (Letters to a young Moroccan) (Le Seuil, 2009), Couverture de la diversité dans les médias marocains (Coverage of diversity in Moroccan media) (CMF Mena, 2009) and Femmes et religions (Women and religions) (Le Fennec, 2014). She regularly publishes in the Moroccan and international presses in Arabic and in French. In 2017, she published her doctorate in sociology in the section: Sexualité et célibat au Maroc, pratiques et verbalisations (Sexuality and celibacy in Morocco, practices and verbalization) (La Croisée des Chemins). Sanaa El Aji is currently working as a senior consultant in communication, public relations and content creation. She is also co-founder and director of www.marayana.com, media in Arabic devoted to corporate debates and the promotion of values of diversity and pluralism. 

Hakima Fassi Fihri is a Moroccan scholar. She teaches Family Law at the Law School of the International University of Rabat (IUR) since 2011. She serves also as the Director of International Relations and Partnerships at IUR, and is a member of its managing board. Hakima is a graduate from Rabat University School of Law, and holds a Master’s Degree (DEA) in European Law from the University Pierre Mendès-France Grenoble II (France). She is involved in research and teaching on women’s rights in Morocco, Moroccan Family Code readings, inheritance of women in Morocco, gender equality and women empowerment in Morocco and North Africa. One of Hakima’s fields of interest relates to inter-religious marriages between Moroccan Muslim women and non-Muslim men who have not converted to Islam. Hakima also works on the inheritance of women in Morocco. She was one of the authors of the collective book The Inheritance of Women in Morocco (2017). She works on understanding how the religious rules (of islam) impact the laws governing family in Morocco, based on the fact that islam is the religion of the State according to the Moroccan Constitution, and the main source of Family law in Morocco is islamic law. She believes that gender equality and islam are not contradictory, provided that an appropriate/innovative reading of the islamic texts is performed. Hakima gives lectures and speaks at scholarly conferences on women’s rights in Morocco and related topics, to an audience of national and international scholars and students from pluridisciplinary backgrounds.  

Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega is President of the Spanish Council of State and President of the Women For Africa Foundation (Mujeres por África). A judge, she has also been a member of the General Council of the Judiciary, a Member of the Spanish Parliament and the General Secretary of the Socialist Parliamentary Group. From 2004 to 2010 she was First Deputy Prime Minister, as well as Minister of the Presidency and the General Secretary of the Socialist Parliamentary Group, being the first woman to hold these posts. Committed to equality and an active collaborator with the feminist cause throughout her career, she has also been on UN Women’s Global Advisory Board. She is currently dedicated to supporting African women as the engine behind their continent’s development.

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.

Monica Ferro, Director of the UNPFA Office in Geneva since April 2017, has worked to promote equality, development and human rights for the past 20 years. Prior to joining UNFPA, Ms. Ferro had a twenty-year career of public service in Portugal, during which she served as the Secretary of State for National Defense, as a university lecturer, a media personality and an activist. She served as a Member of Parliament and was Vice-President of the Parliamentary Group of the Social Democrat Party; Chair of the All Party Parliamentarian Group on Population and Development; and Vice-President of the European Forum of Parliamentarians for Population and Development. Ms. Ferro is a founding partner of the 2015 Objective Association – United Nations Millennium Campaign, Portuguese United Nations Association, and Founding Member of P&D Factor Association for Cooperation in Population and Development. A National Defense and Civil Crisis Management Auditor, Ms. Ferro has also been a lecturer at the University of Lisbon, guest lecturer at the National Defense Institute and University of Military Studies. Furthermore, she is an Associate Researcher at the Centre for Gender Studies, University of Lisbon and has been a columnist for several national newspapers and magazines, and author of more than a hundred articles, entries in encyclopedias, book chapters on the United Nations, Development Cooperation, Human Rights, United Nations, Security Sector Reform and Gender equality.

Mercedes Giovinazzo is director of Interarts, a non-governmental organization specialized in culture and cooperation for development. She oversees the financial, organizational and institutional policy of the organization and coordinates diverse projects, including the Promoting the Role and Image of Women in the Southern Mediterranean Audiovisual Sector – SouthMed WIA in MENA countries, which she will present at the conference. Previously, she was Director of Services and Deputy Director of Customer Services at the Universal Forum of Cultures in Barcelona, Spain; Administrator at the Division of Culture and Cultural and Natural Heritage at the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg, France; and, director of the Mastère Européen Management des Entreprises Culturelles at the École Supérieure de Commerce de Dijon, France. She has been Board Member of the Teatro di Roma (2013-2016); President of Culture Action Europe (2008-2015) where she promoted the “culture2015goal” international campaign for the inclusion of culture in the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and President of the “Access to culture” Platform of the European Commission (2008-2011). She holds a Laurea in Archaeology (Università degli Studi “La Sapienza”, Rome, Italy) and a Master’s Degree in Arts Management (École Supérieure de Commerce de Dijon, France).  Follow Mercedes on Twitter @MerGiovinazzo 

Dr. Laila Ghannam has been the first female Governor of Ramallah and al-Bireh governorate since 2010 when she was the first female to occupy such position at national and regional level, especially in the Southern East Med region. From 2009 to 2010, she was Deputy Governor of Ramallah and Al-Bireh. From 2007 to 2009 she was Director General of the Office of the Minister of Social Affairs. She has a PhD in Education Philosophy in Mental Health, University of Minya, Egypt and a Master degree in Psychological and Educational Counselling, from Al-Quds University, Palestine. She also had BA in Social Development, from Al-Quds Open University. Dr. Ghannam is an active member of the Palestinian political movement, thus she participated in many conferences related to the national and developmental role of Palestinian women, and submitted research papers in the same context. She conducted many lectures and participated in seminars and dialogues on the role of Palestinian women in national struggle; Palestinian women and their political participation; the role of Palestinian mothers in raising children and manage their households; women prisoner movement and more.

Belouahri Houria born on October 23, 1962, agronomist with the University of Constantine in Algeria, worked as principal inspector at the level of the direction of the agricultural services of the wilaya of Bordj Bou Arreridj from 1987 to 2014, Manager of the cell of the rural woman, retired since 2014. Trainer at the level of the CROSC (resource center for civil society organizations) on several topics including gender, GCP, associative management, associative project, local development strategy, networking etc. Project coordinator at the level of the association of solidarity and fight against poverty and exclusion (El Ghaith), responsible for the writing of projects along with monitoring and evaluation. Director of UN Women Program on “Economic Empowerment of Rural Women” since 2013. She believes in equal opportunities for sustainable local development.

Ms. Guelhan Inci, gynecologist and gynecological oncologist, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany. Ms. Inci focuses on the whole spectrum of women’s health especially gynecological and breast cancer treatments.  Her clinical work also includes  cancer prevention programs, such as the national screening program for breast cancer in Germany, where she worked in the development-phase in 2007. She is also a federal executive chairwoman of pro familia, who is particularly interested in women’s rights and represents the organisation on the national and international level (networks with IPPF) as an expert in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights. Since 2010 she has dealt with national as well as international accreditation institutions for measuring the quality of patient care in women’s cancer centers. She has driven clinical governance and established quality control in healthcare systems as an important tool for improving the standards of care for women. In December 2015 she developed an aid project for refugee women called “Charité  Women for Women” and has done over 100 lectures on health education with subsequent patient.

Katja Iversen is the President/CEO of Women Deliver – a leading global advocate for investment in gender equality and the health, rights, and wellbeing 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 Prime Minister Trudeau’s G7 Gender Equality Council, the Unilever Sustainability Advisory Council, the MIT Women & Technology Solve Leadership Group, and an International Gender Champion. Iversen was recently named in the top 10 of Apolitical’s Top 100 Most Influential People in Gender Policy. She is also a sought lecturer and speaker. Follow Katja on Twitter: @Katja_Iversen, www.womendeliver.org

Hassan Joumaa is the Masculinities Program Officer at ABAAD – Resource Center for Gender Equality, an ECOSOC accredited organization, which aims to achieve gender equality as an essential condition to sustainable social and economic development in the MENA region. Hassan conducts ToTs and workshops for front-liners from local and international NGOs, to increase awareness about masculinities and gender socialization. Hassan has been heavily involved in the pilot and implementation of ABAAD’s Programme P, which aims to engage fathers in positive disciplining and modern education techniques, and Programme RA, a capacity building training manual on working with young men around issues like non-violence, SRHR, substance abuse, and gender equality. Hassan has represented ABAAD at the CSW Youth Forum in the United Nations headquarters for two consecutive years, and Gender 360 summit in Washington DC. He holds a master’s degree in Healthcare management and Quality Technology. Follow Hassan on Twitter @Hassanjoumaa5 

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.

Lina Khalifeh is the Founder and owner of SheFighter, “the 1st Self-Defense studio for women starting in Jordan and now globally”. The Idea of SheFighter about women’s Self-Defense has come from its founder about violence against women. SheFighter is designed to empower women both mentally and physiologically through Self-Defense training. Lina has more than 17 years of experience in practicing Martial Arts like Taekwondo, Kick-Boxing, Kung Fu and Boxing. As well, the founder holds the black belt in Taekwondo 3DAN, and has represented Jordan in many competitions and championships (National and International). Lina got also certified as a trainer in Canada and North America. After starting training women at the basement of her parent’s house, Lina managed to start the first SheFighter studio in 2012. The studio has trained more than 15 thousand women all over the globe. Lina has many great achievements, among them President Barack Obama mentioned her in his speech at the White House in 2015. Moreover, she was awarded the economic Empowerment Leadership award by Hillary Clinton and Vital Voices in Washington D.C. in 2018. Lina is very passionate about her work and is working to spread SheFighter globally. Follow Lina on www.shefighter.com 

Dominique Laresche, after having presented the international newspapers and the newspaper Africa for several years, is now editor-in-chief and presenter of Objectif Monde, the first French-language investigative magazine. Each month in 1h30 this program treats a major topic broadcast to our societies through TV5MONDE’s partner channels (RTBF, RTS, FRANCETV and RADIO-CANADA), by confronting the viewpoints of the journalists, who made these reports and those of great witnesses, such as politicians and experts. After spending 20 years in Africa, Ms. Laresche has a real passion for Africa, which she also discovered as a news reporter for TV5MONDE. Thanks to her official travels, international summits and election coverage, she travelled in Africa from East to West and from North to South. Ms. Laresche hosted numerous forums, round tables and presented a program “C’est fini! The #MeToo Women’s Revolt » on women’s role. On this occasion, she met several women from North Africa.

Isabel Lousada is a researcher at NOVA FCSH – CICS.NOVA Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences and collaborates with CLEPUL – Centre for the Study of Lusophone and European Literature and Culture. Lousada belongs to several NGO’s especially concerning women issues and at present is secretary of the board of AMONET – Portuguese Association for Women in Science and Vice-President of the MIMA – International Museum for Women – Association – Lisbon. Isabel Lousada is also a member of the board of WWIH – Women Writers in History DARIAH-EU working group. 

Benito Marin Herrero is a Principal Administrator in the Unit for Regional Programmes Neighbourhood South in the Directorate-General Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR) of the European Commission. He is in charge of the coordination of the multi-annual indicative programming exercise for the regional cooperation in the Southern Neighbourhood. He is also Gender Focal Point. Prior to this, he was serving in the capacity of programme manager for civil society in the Office of the Representative of the European Union to West Bank and Gaza. Benito joined the European Commission as an official in 2003. He has been working since then in the field of external relations and aid development to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries as well as Middle Eastern countries. Benito holds a bachelors’ degree in Modern Philology and a master’s degree in Diplomacy and International Relations from the Spanish Diplomatic School

Alejandra Meneses is a policy analyst for the gender team at the OECD Development Centre. In this position, she contributes to the production of policy-oriented research, policy dialogue and measurement of gender-based discrimination in social institutions, notably through the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI). Prior to joining the OECD Development Centre, Ms. Meneses worked with the Regional Programmes Unit at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). She holds a Master Degree in Development Economics from Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. She speaks Spanish and French.

Federica Mogherini is the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission since 1^st November 2014. She has been the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs from February to October 2014 and a Member of the Italian Parliament (Chamber of Deputies), where she was elected for the first time in 2008. In her parliamentary capacity, she has been the Head of the Italian Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and Vice-President of its Political Committee (2013-2014); member of the Italian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (2008-2013); Secretary of the Defence Committee (2008-2013) and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Rosa Monteiro (Coimbra, Portugal, December 20, 1972) is the current Secretary of State for Citizenship and Equality of the XXI Constitutional Government of the Portuguese Republic. She has a degree in Sociology from the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra and a master’s degree in Family and Social Systems at the Miguel Torga Institute in Coimbra. She has a Ph.D. in Sociology of the State, Law and Administration, from the Faculty of Economics and the Center for Social Studies both of the University of Coimbra. She is a researcher at the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, at the Center for Social Policies, Labor and Inequalities and a professor at the Miguel Torga Institute in Coimbra. She is an expert on Gender Equality and Women’s Studies, recognized by the European Institute for Gender Equality. She was vice-president of the Portuguese Association of Studies on Women between 2012 and 2015. She has been Councilor in the Municipal Council of Viseu between 2013 and 2017. She was advisor to the Minister in the Cabinet of the Prime Minister  in the areas of gender equality and citizenship, from 2015 to October 2017. Follow Rosa Monteiro on the website of the Portuguese Government www.portugal.gov.pt

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 twenty-four years of World Bank service, including operational work worldwide, with deeper regional expertise Africa, Latin America and the MENA region.  Previously, she worked as junior economist at the European Union. She has published three World Bank books: “Reducing Poverty on a Global Scale”, 2005, “Public Finance for Poverty Reduction”, 2007, and “Is Fiscal Policy the Answer? A Developing Country Perspective”, 2012, as well as numerous papers on macroeconomics, public expenditures, tax policy and growth, and other development issues, at the National Tax Association Journal, Banca d’Italia Fiscal Policy Annual Volume, Hacienda Pública Española Journal, Bulletin of Economic Research, and the World Bank Working Papers series.  She has been guest lecturer at the Duke University Tax Executive Program and at John Hopkins University, and a frequent speaker in a variety of international Development Conferences and Workshops. Blanca obtained her PhD in International Economics and Finance from the Aix-Marseille II (Université de la Méditerranée) in France and her Master’s in Economics from the Autónoma University of Madrid, Spain.

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. Follow the National Council for Women on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ncwegyptpage/ 

Saida Neghza is President of the Mediterranean Union of Business Confederations – BUSINESSMED, General Manager of SARL SORALCOF Algeria, President of the General Confederation of Algerian Enterprises – CGEA, Member of the Board of Directors of the International Labor Organization – ILO, Vice President of the International Organization of Employers-OIE, Vice President of BusinessAfrica & JobsForAfrica. Her professional career began in the 1990s with a coffee roasting company in Algiers, which in a few years had a great success, then it focused its investments in the fields of public works and buildings and hydraulics. The activity led to the creation of SARL SORALCOF, where she has been managing director since 2004. In 2008, following the acquisition of mineral deposits, the company developed into a multinational with several branches. From this ascent, it became essential that Saida Neghza be an active part of the business world. To this end, in 2004 she became a member of the Algerian General Confederation of Enterprises (CGEA), as President of the Algiers office. Elected as CGEA’s National Vice President in 2012, Saida contributed to the development and restructuring of the Confederation before being appointed President in 2016. Thanks to the efforts and credibility gained at the international level, Saida integrated within the CGEA, members of three national groups: the National Association of Algerian Architects; the National Union of Young Investors; National Association of Small Businesses BUSINESSMED; OIE; BusinessAfrica; JobsForAfrica; BIT. Follow Saida on Twitter @neghza_saida  

Winner of the 2nd best mobile start-up worldwide in MWC 2016, Samira Negm – a Computer & Systems Engineering Graduate – played diverse roles during her 8-year experience in software industry between Cairo & Germany, ranging from software development, training, process design & optimization, project management & team leadership roles. After being awarded Valeo international efficiency award, Samira later decided to use the diverse knowledge she gained to solve real problems faced by her own community, specifically the congestion that resulted in wasting 5 hours daily commuting to work and back home. Samira decided to switch to social entrepreneurship to start Raye7, a culturally sensitive carpooling app that was the 1st to tackle cultural challenges in the region preventing people from utilizing their resources to have an efficient, safe and affordable commute. Raye7 is now providing its services in Egypt & Finland and further expanding with the help of GSMA Ecosystem Accelerator.

Nora Noor is a Franco-Moroccan portrait photographer, curator and gallerist in Brussels, where she has co-directed the “Loft Photo” for three years. She realized a teaching tool “Women Photographers from the Arab World”, for the AWSA-Be association (Arab women’s Solidarity) and with the House of Women of Schaerbeek in Brussels, she led a campaign against sexist advertising.

She is co-editor of a magazine Dialna, which promotes the image and the paths of minorities www.dialna.fr. As a feminist, she defends the image of racialized women through portraits. She was a finalist of the photography contest of the Foundation of women of the Euro-Mediterranean – FFEM on gender stereotypes (2017 edition).

Laurence Païs is a French career Diplomat with 30 years of experience, specialized in the fields of multilateral negotiations, cooperation and development. She was involved, inter alia, in the negotiation of common positions on foreign and security policy, particularly in the case of countries in crisis in the Middle East and Africa.

She served as Political Advisor in several French embassies including Oslo and Ottawa and occupied various positions at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has been Responsible for the Rule of Law, Human Rights and Reconstruction Division, in the Department of Democratic Governance and Deputy Director of Multilateral and Sectoral Issues at the Directorate General of Political and Security Affairs.

Before joining the Secretariat, she was Deputy Permanent Representative of France to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union.

Paola Parri is Deputy Secretary General of COPEAM. She has more than 20-year experience in the international relations and cooperation sectors. In 1994-95, she worked for the news agency IPS-Inter Press Service, charged of the international coordination of a journalists’ network specialised in cooperation and development issues (Latin America, Africa, Asia). In 1995-96, she was in charge of the projects’ pre-selection for the EU MED-Media Programme (Brussels, European Commission – DG 1/B, ex DG RELEX). In this position, she was also charged of organising visits for young journalists and diplomats from MPCs to the EU institutions. In 1996, she moved to COPEAM, where she started organising international meetings and conferences related to audiovisual and cultural topics in several European and non-European countries – Algeria, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Jordan, Morocco, Romania, Spain, Tunisia. In the following years, she was project manager for COPEAM of various EU-funded actions: Euromed News; Med-Mem – Sharing the Mediterranean Memories; Terramed Plus. She has been COPEAM head of project for JOUSSOUR, a cross-border coproduction on Mediterranean environmental issues involving 9 public broadcasters of the whole EUROMED area. She has been official speaker and moderator in several international Conferences organized by the European Commission, UNESCO, ASBU, IFJ, etc. She gives lectures at LUISS University in Rome on topics related to the audiovisual landscape and cooperation relationships in the Euro-Mediterranean area. She has published various articles dealing with audiovisual and cultural cooperation in the Mediterranean Region.

Carolina Pereira, as public speaker, social entrepreneur and activist, believes that global citizens can use a holistic way forward to address the seemingly intractable worldwide problems and that people power is as important as powerful people. She was the founder of MY Destiny when she was 19 years old, #ChangingTheWorldThroughSurf, with educational programs turning kids into change-makers running in Indonesia, Portugal, Brazil, Panama, and India. In India, she worked empowering girls from the Ashan Kiran Orphanage and women victims of acid attacks. Carolina has co-created and collaborated on youth training programs for a better world, such as the West Asia Change-makers Fellowship and Global Goals Boat among others, as she holds that in addition to bringing fresh perspectives, young people often have direct knowledge of and insights into issues, which are not accessible to adults. Now, Carolina is collaborating with UN SDG Action Campaign, as storyteller and project manager. She is an international HeForShe (UN Women’s movement for gender equality) advocate as well, promoting gender equality in everything she does and understanding how it is a precondition for sustainable development.

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 the Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States. 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.

Patrizia Pugliese, agro-economist, senior researcher and development officer at CIHEAM Bari, the Italian seat of the Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes (CIHEAM). She holds a PhD in Policies for Sustainable Development and a MSc in Rural Resources and Countryside Management. She has twenty-year experience in research and development cooperation work on rural development, sustainable and organic agriculture in EU and developing countries, with deeper expertise in the Mediterranean region and focus on rural economy diversification, sustainable and inclusive value chain development, place-based and eco-region approaches to territorial development. Current efforts on rural women’s empowerment include analysis, training and evaluation work on women’s meaningful participation to agricultural cooperatives and agri-food value chains and are carried out in the framework of different Italian Development Cooperation projects in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia (GEMAISA2 project), Oromia region in Ethiopia (ISVCDO project) and in early recovery interventions in Syria (multi-donor programme Agricultural and Livestock support for Syrian People). Author of various scientific contributions. Member of the CIHEAM Bari Secretariat of the Mediterranean Organic Agriculture Network (MOAN).

Liliana Maria Gonçalves Rodrigues de Góis is a Madeira-born Member of the European Parliament (2014–present). She currently serves as Member of the European Parliament, representing Portugal. Prior to her election to the European Parliament, Rodrigues served as the president of the Laboratório de Ideias da Madeira from 2011 until 2015. In her professional life, she is a professor at the University of Madeira and an educational investigator. She graduated from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa in 1996 with a degree in philosophy, and received two degrees in education from the University of Madeira, a masters’ degree in 2003 and a doctorate in 2008. In the European Parliament, she serves on the Committee on Regional Development, the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality, the Committee on Culture and Education and at the Subcommittee on Human Rights. She is also a member of the Delegation for relations with the Mashreq countries, of the Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Union for the Mediterranean and of the Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. In addition to her committee assignments, she is a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on LGBT Rights.

Véronique Roger-Lacan is Ambassador, Permanent Representative of France to the OSCE since September 2015. She previously held various positions within the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Before that, at the Delegation for Strategic Affairs of the Ministry of Defense (2001-2010), she was Deputy in charge of operations to the Director and at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1998-2001), Administrator in the Division of Defense Planning and Operations in charge of the partnership with the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus. Prior to that she spent six years with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Her first visit to UNHCR was to the Regional Delegation for South-East Asia, where she was in charge, under the leadership of UNHCR Special Envoy for Cambodia, Sergio Vieira de Mello, for the protection of Cambodian refugees in Khmer Rouge camps, and of Burmese refugees in the camps administrated by Karen, Kareni, and Mon. Then, at the HCR regional delegation for BeNeLux, she was in charge, along with HCR’s Special Envoy for Bosnia and Herzegovina, of the protection of civilian populations during the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Véronique Roger-Lacan has a degree in public international law from Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne University, as well as Hindi language and civilization from INALCO. She was integrated into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in September 2015 as a Plenipotentiary Minister. Follow Véronique Roger-Lacan on Twitter @rogerlacanv 

Gili Roman serves as the director of the Eastern Mediterranean International School, EMIS. EMIS, is the first International school boarding high school in Israel and the first Israel UfM labelled project. In his capacity Mr. Roman designs and implements school policies that align with their mission of: making education a force for peace and sustainability in the Middle East. He holds a BA degree in Psychology and Business Administration, MA in Public Policy and teaching license in Civics. Among other activities he serves on the senior management team of Hakfar Hayarok educational hub. A member and advisor to the “Israeli Hope”, National Leaders Club, President of Israel strategic team. He is the former founding director of ‘The Center for Entrepreneurship in Education.”

Susan Schorr, Head ITU Digital Inclusion Division, leads the digital inclusion work of the International Telecommunication Union in the Telecommunication Development Sector (BDT), promoting ICT use among youth and children, women and girls and Indigenous Peoples as well as ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities. Her portfolio includes ITU’s International Girls in ICT Day campaign to make young women and school girls aware of information and communication technology (ICT) career opportunities, with an outreach of over 357,000 girls in 171 countries and the joint ITU-ILO Digital Skills for Decent Jobs for Youth campaign to incentivize a range of stakeholders to provide job-ready digital skills training to young women and men. Ms. Schorr directed development of the ITU reports, “Digital Skills Toolkit,” “Coding bootcamps: a Strategy for Youth Employment, “Digital opportunities: Innovative ICT Solutions for Youth Employment” as well as the ITU-G3ict “Model ICT Accessibility Policy” report which identifies concrete steps ICT policy makers and regulators can take to ensure that persons with disabilities can use affordable and accessible ICTs in their home countries. Prior to joining ITU in 2000, Ms. Schorr practiced antitrust law as an associate in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Howrey & Simon, LLP. She was graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center cum laude.

Hayfa Sdiri is a 20-year-old Tunisian blogger and social activist currently enrolled at Paris Dauphine University. She began her civic work at the age of 16 and was one of the leaders and first organizers of a series of BIL and Ignite conferences tacking various topics in Tunisia and the MENA region, including women’s rights. She has also worked the UNDP to put on a series of Ignite conferences, focused on translating the SDGs into the Tunisian dialect in order to make them accessible. She has also been a member of the UN organization GIRL UP and volunteered during the World Social Forum. Today, she works as a community manager at Think.iT, a German tech startup and volunteers as a facilitator in the UNDP’s initiative: SDGs camps, conducted in different governances across Tunisia, in order to sensitize youth on the sustainable development goals and promote their role as changemakers. She is UN-certified Sustainable Development Goals Youth Mentor and an ardent advocate for youth in policy making, and women in political and financial leadership positions. Her project is Entr@crush, which is a Tunisian solution to the issue of economic empowerment. The project aims to facilitate Tunisian youth’s transition from abstract academic concepts to professional life. Entr@crush is a platform offering a wide range of services, ranging from showcasing startups and success stories to e-learning videos for both hard and soft skills to displaying potential investors and weekly events. The project is being conducted in partnership with university professors and self-help coaches.

Leila Serhan is currently the Regional Director for Public Sector in the Gulf Regions. Prior to that, her experience spanned across Emerging Markets in the MENA region, leading global sales, marketing and services. Leila previously held position as Small and Medium enterprises and Solutions Partners Manager and Business Operations Manager in the MENA region.  During her 16 years at Microsoft, Leila has held different sales and managerial roles in the Eastern Mediterranean and Pakistan subsidiaries. Leila first joined Microsoft in 2002 as a financial controller, before moving to the marketing department in 2003 as Marketing manager. She later became Country Manager in 2009. Prior to joining Microsoft, Leila held different positions with one of the leading telecom operators in Lebanon.  In October 2016, she became the President of the Women in IT association in Lebanon, an organization whose mission is to promote the inclusion of Women in the ICT industry. Leila holds a degree in Business Administration from the American University of Beirut. In her spare time, Leila enjoys reading, running, and spending time with family and friends. 

Helga Maria Schmid has been shaping the European Union’s foreign and security policy for over a decade. As a German diplomat, she has served as political adviser to Foreign Ministers Klaus Kinkel and Joschka Fischer and was Head of Fischer’s cabinet from 2003 to 2005. That same year, Ms. Schmid joined the EU institutions as Director of the Policy Planning and Early Warning Unit under Javier Solana, the former High Representative of the EU for the Common Foreign and Security Policy. After the creation of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the diplomatic service of the EU, in 2011, Ms. Schmid became its Deputy Secretary General and Political Director. In September 2016, High Representative Federica Mogherini appointed her as Secretary-General of the EEAS.

Dr. Rima Tarabay’ s field and academic work has led her to propose to emerging countries the implementation of an environmental and sustainable development policy, which would guarantee stable growth and balanced relations with their respective populations. She holds a PhD in Geography : Sustainable Development  and Environment from the Paris IV Sorbonne University, which she passed with honours, a Professional-master in Clinical Psychology and Pathology at USJ (Beirut – Lebanon) and an advanced DEA diploma in Political Science from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris IEP. In 1985, she was in charge of communication and relations with the Lebanese diaspora within a political group and in 1990 a senior reporter at L’Orient-Le Jour. In 1992, she was appointed by Rafik Hariri Prime Minister of Lebanon as advisor and established his press and communication office, as well as his relations with the Lebanese Diaspora. In 2002, she launched with Hariri the NGO Bahr Loubnan, of which she is Vice-President, which addresses the issue of coastal pollution in Lebanon. Rima Tarabay is currently in charge of relations with the French and European Parliaments within Lebanese PM Saad Hariri’s team. She is also the president of ECOTOWN, a NGO she launched in France in 2010 to implement the ecological village concept she developed in her Sorbonne PhD thesis. They have today a ressort of 5 villages starting in Lebanon, Marocco, Egypt, France, Slovenia. The aim is to have an Ecovillage, set up as an example to follow, in each country along the Mediterranean basin.   http://ecotowns.org/

Sarah Toumi was born in France; her father was Tunisian while her mother was French. While living in Paris in 2008, Sarah Toumi founded Dream, a networking scheme and incubator for environmental students. After she returned to Tunisia in 2012, she founded the Acacias for All project, which sought to fight the ongoing desertification of the country. Sarah had been inspired after visiting Bir Salah, where her grandfather lived, and seeing the difference over a prolonged period of time that desertification and a lack of water had on the surrounding land. She saw the effect this had on local women, who were driven to work in poorly paid jobs in cities. After the Ministry of the Environment rejected the plan, she crowdfunded for money, gaining 3,000 Euros. Although the initial farmers were all women, Sarah realized that she wanted to see equality between both. For her work on this project, she was named as the only Arab or African person on the list of Forbes 30 entrepreneurs under 30 for 2016. The project has subsequently been called 1milliontrees4Tunisia, with Toumi becoming one of 30 winners of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise in 2016, the first time any Tunisian had won the prize. Follow Sarah on @SarahToumi 

Dr Andreas Ullrich MD, MPH, former Adviser to the WHO Assistant Director General Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health (NMH cluster) at WHO Headquarters Geneva and WHO liaison officer with the International Agency on Research of Cancer (IARC). He is currently coordinating the Mediterranean network for women cancer prevention and control in partnership with the Union for the Mediterranean, the WHO, WHO Collaborating Center for Cancer Screening Turin/Italy and the Department for Gynecology University Hospital Charité Berlin/Germany. It is in this context that Dr Ullrich has paved the way for a close partnership between WHO and the Union for the Mediterranean to support women empowerment in the Mediterranean Region by improving health. Dr Ullrich specialised in Internal Medicine and Public Health and joined WHO at Headquarters Geneva in 2001 with its cancer control program. During his career at WHO he has shaped the WHO global cancer control strategy with the development of an organization-wide cancer prevention and control technical network which is engaging all relevant WHO programs at Headquarters and Regional Offices and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in responding to the needs of cancer control in low-and middle-income countries. One major focus of Dr Ullrich’s work is building bridges between strategies and partners in women cancer and adolescent and reproductive health. He initiated the UN wide partnership on cervical cancer, the Global Joint Program on cervical cancer (WHO UNFPA UNICEF UNAIDS UN Women), which is providing technical support to countries in process to develop national women cancer programs.

Ambassador Katri Viinikka holds the position of Ambassador for Gender Equality at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland since September 1, 2018. Before that, she was Ambassador of Finland to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Permanent Representative of Finland to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) from 2015 to 2018. Earlier, Ambassador Viinikka served as Director for United Nations and General Global Affairs at the Political Department of the Finnish MFA from 2010 to 2015. She has also held the position of Chief of Cabinet of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and served at Finnish embassies in Brussels, Berlin and Bonn. She began her career at MFA of Finland in 1992. Ambassador Viinikka has been active in promoting mediation, co-chairing the Group of Friends of Mediation at the UN at Senior Officials level from 2011 to 2015. She attended the Swiss Peace Mediation Course 2014. Ambassador Katri Viinikka is married with one daughter.  She holds the degree of Master of Political Science from University of Helsinki, Finland.

Leila Younis is president of Croatian Organization Status M. Status M is a non-profit organization with the aim of raising awareness, questioning and deconstructing prevailing social norms and stereotypes. Through non-formal education and grassroot activism, Status M strengthens and encourages, primarily boys, men and marginalized members of society, to actively contribute to the transformation of society. By informing the public, strengthening experts and advocating for the improvement of public policies and practice, Status M is building a non-violent, inclusive, and gender-equal society. Along with gaining MA degree on Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, Leila has accomplished various non-formal education courses such as Peace studies, trainings for trainers in human rights, trainings for project cooperation in MENA region as well as British Council and Aspen Leaders courses. She has acquired experience of work in CSO sector being project coordinator and trainer on national and international levels, amongst which were COE and Euro-Arab youth educational projects, European Commission projects (FP7,REC), Erasmus+ (Grundtvig programmes) as well as placements of policy research intern in Youthpolicy.org in Berlin and project assistant in Trialog as part of CONCORD in Brussels. She has been involved in policy research with focus on marginalised youth groups in several major programmes. She is president of Status M since 2015, within which she is as well member of the MenEngage Europe Steering Committee and working groups of Young men initiative led by CARE International Balkans.

Sarah Zouak, social entrepreneur and documentary filmmaker. Co-founder and director of the feminist and anti-racist association Lallab, whose aim is to make the voices of Muslim women heard in France. She directed the Women SenseTour in Muslim Countries documentary series to meet inspiring Muslim women around the world. Graduate of a Master II Marketing and Innovation Business School (ESCEM) and a second Master II in International Relations and Project Management IRIS, Sarah is committed everyday to defend an intersecting feminism.