In the last session of our summit, Vital Voices President and CEO, Alyse Nelson, invited partners in government, media, and the corporate community to the stage for the announcement of future commitments to advance women’s leadership in Asia.
Melanie Bixby and Saba Ghori of the U.S. Department of State announced the commitment of U.S. Embassies in delegate countries to engage summit attendants through free monthly entrepreneurship seminars, media interviews and networking opportunities. Our valued partners in the embassy world will make a concerted effort to organize country delegates for occasional meetings to consider progress made and new avenues for collaboration across sectors.
Our Vice President for Human Rights, Cindy Dyer, was proud to announce, alongside Carol Kurzig of the Avon Foundation for Women, the award of three challenge grants of $10,000 each to the three Indian NGOs represented by delegates of our summit, who are also members of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Women, a public-private partnership launched in March of this year by Vital Voices, Avon Foundation for Women, and the U.S. Department of State.
Meg Jones, women and trade program advisor for the International Trade Center, announced a partnership with delegates of countries represented at our summit to match entrepreneurs and artisans with corporate and government buyers.
Thomson Reuters Foundation representative, Jui Chakravoty, deputy bureau chief of Reuters in Mumbai, made a commitment to provide communications and media training to 25 journalists in Asia in the course of the next year. Women will take part in practical reporting exercises, as well as trainings on fostering transparency and ensuring accountability.
We’re so excited by the connections we’ve observed delegates make over the past three days; confident that we will only strengthen ties established in Delhi, we have appealed to delegates to join us as a united collective as we expand our presence in the region.
We’ve been honored to have Zain Verjee, CNN International Anchor, join us as summit moderator during our time in Delhi. In a generous show of her support for the women of our network of women leaders, not only in Asia but around the world, Zain made a commitment of her own:
“I would like to commit to at least once a month focusing on some of the issues that I have heard discussed here. These are some of the most important stories, which sometimes get lost in all the noise – I will highlight these issues and provide a platform for them.”