CHOGM Women’s Forum’s first day’s sessions today

Dr. Lakshmi Puri, the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, will deliver the main address today

The official opening and first day of sessions of the first ever CHOGM Women’s Forum, running parallel to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), begins today at 9.00 a.m.

Phyllis Muscat, head of the 2015 CHOGM Taskforce, Amelia Kinahoi-Siamomua, head of the Gender Section, Commonwealth Secretariat, Dr. Claire Cassar, Chair of the Women’s Forum Subcommittee and Michelle Muscat, spouse of the Maltese Prime Minister, are billed to speak. 

The opening day’s main address will be delivered by Dr. Lakshmi Puri - Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women. 

In the first panel session, entitled ‘Women in Leadership’, the lead speaker will be Margeret Wilson, Professor of Law and Public Policy, New Zealand (the first woman speaker of New Zealand’s Parliament)  

The moderator for the session will be Prof. Tagaloatele Peggy – Dunlop, Aukland University of Technology, New Zealand. 

The following are the panel topics and their respective speakers. Women Political Leadership: Dr. Josephone Ahikire, Assistant Professor, Makerere Universtity, Uganda, Ms. Joanna Maycock, Secretary General, European Women’s Lobby; Women’s Corporate leadership:  Dr. Saheena Janjuha-Jivraj, Co-founder Boardwalk and senior lecturer of the Henley Business School; and Women in the Judiciary: Dr. Karen Brewer, General Secretary, CMJA.

The second session, scheduled to start after the tea and coffee break, is on ‘Women, Media and Technological Development’. The lead speaker of this session is Jackie Leonard, a presenter for the BBC World Service. The moderator for this session is Dr. Carmen Sammut, Head of Department, International Relations, University of Malta. 

The following are the panel topics and their respective speakers. Women Media and Communication: Barria Alamuddin, Foreign Editor of Alhayat newspaper, Dr. Breda Murphy, Senior Lecturer, Gender Studies, University of Malta;  Women’s Technology and Innovation: Dr. Bola Olabisi, CEO Global Women Inventors and Innovators Network, Doreen Bogdan Martin, Chief Strategic Planning, International Telecommunication Union and Elvia George, Chief Finance Officer, Bank of Valletta.

There will be a question and answer session after the speeches. 

After the lunch break, the ambassador for women and girls, Australia, Natasha Stott Despoja AM, is billed to speak. And Lesley Rudd of Infant Trust and Nicole Mamadi of Kids R Special, two women living very different lives in the UK and South Africa, will describe how they came to work together on a cross commonwealth basis to protect children from abuse.  

The third and final panel session – under the title ‘Women in Social Development’, the lead speaker will be Khadija Gbla, anti-FGA campaigner, the moderator will be Dr. Marceline Naudi, Head Of Department, Gender Studies, University of Malta. 

The following are the panel topics and their respective speakers. Women and Education: Dr. Winsome Gordon, CEO Jamaica Teaching Council, Jude Kelly, Women of the World Festival; Women in Social Enterprise: Christine Wilson, Head of Research and Engagement, Society British Council, Dr. Lena Wilson, Chief Executive Scottish enterprise, Baroness Sandip Verma, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State sat the Department  for International Development. 

After the speeches a questions and answer session will take place. Finally, the drafting committee will review the Women’s Forum Outcomes Document.  A gala dinner will follow the first day’s program at Fort Elmo Valletta. 

(The writer, Charnika Imbulana, a veteran journalist and author, is a delegate representing the Royal Commonwealth Society, Sri Lanka at all CHOGM events. She is also  serving as a member of the international media at CHOGM events serving as a Special Correspondent to Daily FT and as Special Correspondent to Sri Lanka President’s Media Division for CHOGM. She is slotted in the Women’s Forum in Group One, in the workshop session on Women’s Political Empowerment).