Gender-Based Violence: We Need to Act kicks-off the United States Institute for Peace's (USIP) three-day international conference, Women and War, commemorating the anniversary of UNSCR 1325. USIP, with the support of partner organizations, brings together a number of high level policymakers and international development officials to explore the role of gender in war and conflict. To register for non-Bank sponsored conference events, please visit the conference registration site.
Event Description
Margot Wallström, UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict
Marking the 10-year anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (UNSCR 1325), the Social Development Department in partnership with OPCFC and PREM Gender are proud to host Gender-Based Violence: We Need to Act. This half-day symposium addresses the devastating impacts of gender-based violence (GBV) on development, and explores the issue within the context of the World Bank's work. The event opens with a keynote address on the impacts of sexual gender-based violence in conflict environments by Margot Wallström, UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. The following session features a lively moderated discussion on the role of partnerships and collaboration in strengthening the World Bank's contribution to effective prevention as well as its response to GBV in conflict and post-conflict settings. Esteemed panel members include: Sanam Anderlini, Executive Director, International Civil Society Action Network; Gary Barker, Director, Gender, Violence and Rights, International Center for Research on Women; Lisa Davis, Human Rights Advocacy Director, MADRE; Stephen Ndegwa, Lead Specialist, Public Sector Governance and 2011 WDR on Conflict, Security and Development, World Bank; Pia Peeters, Senior Social Development Specialist, AFTCS, World Bank; and Sudhir Shetty, Director, The 2012 WDR on Gender Equality and Development, World Bank as a moderator.
Women and War, The Washington, D.C. Celebration of the Tenth Anniversary of UNSCR 1325
The Symposium closes with the World Bank premier of Weapon of Warwhich has been awarded Netherland's Gouden Kalf award for best short documentary Film. The film unveils what lies behind military use of rape as a weapon and follows a perpetrator as he seeks absolution from one of his victims.
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Pamela Aall is Provost of the U.S. Institute of Peace's Academy for International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. Her research interests include mediation in inter- and intrastate conflicts, the role of nonofficial organizations in conflict management and resolution, civil-military relations, and the role of education in exacerbating conflict or promoting reconciliation. She is the author and editor of a number of books and articles on international conflict management and mediation. Pamela is the past president of Women In International Security (WIIS).
Inger Andersen
Ms. Andersen, a Danish national, became Vice President of Sustainable Development at the World Bank in July, 2010. As such, she has overall responsibilities for the organization's global work in agriculture, environmental, infrastructure, urban, and social development, along with global public goods issues in those areas. Prior to her appointment, she was Director of Sustainable Development in the Africa Region, where she oversaw a significant expansion in energy and agriculture programs, tackling the ambitious and complex development agenda while also leading the Bank's work in the region on mainstreaming climate action.
Ms. Andersen joined the World Bank in 1999 working on international waters in the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Vice Presidency. In 2001, she moved to the Africa region where she subsequently was named Sector Manager for Water and Urban Development. In 2005, Ms. Andersen moved to the Middle East & North Africa region as Director for the Rural Development, Water, & Environment Department and in 2006 assumed the leadership of the new Sustainable Development department for the region. In 2008, she returned to Africa as Director of Sustainable Development.
Ms. Andersen is a water and environment specialist with special focus on hydro-diplomacy and leadership of trans-boundary water initiatives and investments. In this capacity, she has worked on the negotiation of complex international waters treaties, including the Niger, the Senegal, and the Nile as well as work with the Israelis, the Jordanians, and the Palestinians on trans-boundary water-related activities.
Prior to joining the World Bank, Ms. Andersen worked at the United Nations in New York between 1987 and 1999 in a variety of positions. Among them, she managed projects addressing global environmental concerns, international waters, and renewable energy/climate change in the United Nations Development Programme's Regional Bureau of Arab States (1993-1999) and in the United Nations Drought and Desertification Office. While at the UN, Ms. Andersen also served on the organization's three-member delegation to the Middle East Multilateral Peace Talks. Ms. Andersen has extensive country experience, notably in Sudan where she worked from 1983 to 1987, including three years with a non-governmental organization.
Ms. Andersen received her Master's Degree in Development Economics and African Politics from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies. She is fluent in English and Danish, and proficient in Arabic and French.
Gary Barker
Gary Barker is director of gender, violence and rights at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). In this role, Barker oversees ICRW's research, policy analyses and programmatic work to develop solutions that address the underlying causes that lead to violence against women, including the involvement of men and boys.
Barker is a social scientist with more than 15 years of experience researching gender equality, men and masculinities, sexuality and HIV/AIDS. He also is an expert in exploring the links between men and violence in conflict and post-conflict settings in parts of Latin America, the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Prior to joining ICRW in 2008, Barker was founding executive director of Instituto Promundo, a nongovernmental organization based in Brazil that works to promote gender equality and reduce violence against children, youth and women. Barker also has served as a consultant to the World Bank, the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP and the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.
Barker was elected as an Ashoka Fellow in 2007 and awarded an Individual Projects Fellowship from the Open Society Institute. He is a founding co-chair of MenEngage, a global alliance of international organizations that work to engage men and boys to promote gender equality.
Mayra Buvinic
Mayra Buvinic, a Chilean national and internationally respected expert on gender and social development, is the Bank's senior spokesperson on gender and development issues. Before joining the Bank in 2005, she was Chief of the Social Development Division at the Inter-American Development Bank and the IDB's Special Advisor on Violence Prevention. Prior to this, she was a founding member and President of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) in Washington, D.C. Ms. Buvinic holds a Ph.D. and a master's degree both in social psychology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Lisa Davis
Lisa Davis is the Human Rights Advocacy Director for MADRE. She received her J.D. from CUNY Law School, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the New York City Law Review, and her M.A. in International Policy from American University. For over ten years she has worked as an advocate for human rights and has written extensively on international women's human rights issues, including on LGBTQ rights. Lisa currently serves as the Coordinator for the Lawyers' Earthquake Response Network (LERN) Gender Working Group. She is a member of the New York City Bar Association's International Human Rights Committee and the National Lawyers' Guild Working Group on Haiti. Lisa recently returned to CUNY Law School as an Adjunct Professor of Law for the International Women's Human Rights Clinic.
Elisabeth Huybens
Elisabeth Huybens is the Sector Manager for the Social Development Department of the World Bank's Sustainable Development Network (SDN). The Social Development Department offers advisory and operational support, research and innovative thinking in social sustainability, focusing on what makes societies cohesive, inclusive, resilient and accountable. Ms. Huybens manages the overall department and leads research on successful public institutions in fragile and conflict-affected situations. She is a member of the Bank's Global Expert Team on Fragile and Conflict-affected Situations.
Ms. Huybens joined the Bank in 2000 as an Economist in the Africa Region and has since held various positions, including that of Country Economist for Chad, Country Manager for Timor-Leste and Lead Country Operations Officer for South East Europe.
Ms. Huybens, a Belgian national, has a Ph.D in Economics from Cornell University.
Sylvie Maunga
Sylvie Maunga is a trained lawyer and works with seven organizations in the fight against sexual violence of women in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). She is coordinator of a program against sexual violence and provides counseling and legal services to victims of rape and sexual violence. She works as well among the ethnic conflicts within communities in the province of South Kivu and has facilitated dialogue between different groups which has enhanced communication and tolerance. Sylvie has also served as a radio correspondent for the French/Swahili service of Voice of America, covering local women's peacebuilding initiatives and issues of women's leadership.
Mahmoud Mohieldin
Mr. Mohieldin has served as the Egyptian Minister of Investment since 2004. As minister, he designed and led a comprehensive structural and regulatory reform program to modernize and liberalize the Egyptian economy in three critical areas - leveraging private investment for growth and job creation; enhancing access to non-bank financial services; and implementing a successful asset management program of public enterprises. He has established a global reputation for effective and strategic management and built an outstanding record of results: creating an effective single regulator for the non-bank financial sector; building a stock-market for small and medium sized enterprises; consolidating and liberalizing the insurance sector and enhancing its regulatory framework; developing the mortgage finance market and launching Egypt's first liquidity facility for mortgage refinance; creating the first Institute of Directors in the Arab World, and producing the first Arabic Code of Conduct for corporate governance and introducing guidelines for corporate social responsibility. As a result of his leadership, Egypt was named Top Reformer for four years in the Doing Business Report and was top regional recipient of FDI.
Prior to his position as Minister of Investment, Mr. Mohieldin served as Senior Adviser to the Minister of Trade, and before that as Senior Economic Adviser to the Minister of Economy and Trade, and Minister of State for International Cooperation. A member of the Commission on Growth and Development, chaired by Professor Mike Spence, he has served on several boards and committees, including the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Egypt. He was selected by the World Economic Forum as Young Global Leader, co-chaired the OECD-MENA Investment Committee, and served as the Alternate Governor of Egypt to the African Development Bank and the Islamic Development Bank.
Mr. Mohieldin holds a Ph.D.in Economics from the University of Warwick, UK; a Masters in Social and Economic Policy Analysis from the University of York, UK; a Diploma of Quantitative Development Economics from the University of Warwick; and a B.Sc. in Economics from Cairo University. An active member in numerous research institutions and think tanks, Mr Mohieldin served as a Professor in Economics at Cairo University and has published widely on international economics, finance, prudential regulations, private sector development, competition policy, and corporate governance.
Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini
Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini is the co-founder of the International Civil society Action Network (ICAN), a US-based NGO dedicated to supporting civil society activism in peace and security in conflict affected countries. For over a decade she has been a leading international advocate, researcher, trainer and writer on conflict prevention and peacebuilding. In 2000, she was among civil society drafters of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security. Between 2002-2005 as Director of the Women Waging Peace Policy Commission, Ms. Anderlini led ground breaking field research on women's contributions to conflict prevention, security and peacemaking in 12 countries. In 2008, she was appointed as Lead Consultant for a new UNDP global initiative on the “Men and the Gendered Dimensions of Violence in Crisis Contexts”. In 2009, she was appointed as a personal representative of the UN Secretary General to the Advisory Board of the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF). In 2010, she was appointed to the Civil Society Advisory Group on Resolution 1325, chaired by Mary Robinson. She has written extensively on women and conflict issues. Her latest book, Women Building Peace: What they do, why it matters was published by Lynne Rienner in 2007.
Stephen Ndegwa
Stephen Ndegwa brings practical and academic expertise on governance, political economy, and public sector capacity-building to the WDR core team. He is a Lead Specialist in the Africa Region of the World Bank and has previously worked in East Asia and Pacific region and in the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network.
Since 1992, Stephen has conducted research work in several African countries on topics related to NGOs, land reform, electoral systems, institutions and governance, and AIDS policy. He has also undertaken consulting assignments on democracy, governance, and evaluation reviews for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). His most recent assignments at the World Bank included work on Zimbabwe and Sudan.
Ndegwa is the author of The Two Faces of Civil Society, and editor of A Decade of Democracy in Africa, as well as co-editor (with York Bradshaw) of The Uncertain Promise of Southern Africa. He is a non-resident Visiting Scholar at UCLA, Globalization Research Center and holds a PhD in political science from Indiana University.
Pia Peeters
Pia Peeters is a Senior Social Development Specialist at the World Bank. She is currently responsible for managing the Learning for Equality, Access and Peace (LEAP) Program. The program supports gender and conflict work in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). It focuses on four themes: gender sensitivity in D&R programs, gender-based violence (GBV), women associated with fighting forces (WAFF), and young men at-risk of engaging in conflict. She manages a project on addressing sexual gender based violence in South Kivu, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In addition, she manages projects in Rwanda and Burundi on Demobilization and Reintegration of ex-combatants and Community Driven Development in Burundi.
Sudhir Shetty
Sudhir Shetty is currently Co-Director of the team preparing the World Bank's 2012 World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development. Until June 2010, he headed the Poverty Reduction and Economic Management (PREM) department in the Africa Region of the World Bank. He previously managed the Bank's central Poverty Reduction group and prior to that held a number of positions as an economist in both the Africa and East Asia and Pacific regions of the Bank.
Mr. Shetty has a Ph.D. in Economics from Cornell University. Before joining the Bank in 1987, Mr. Shetty was an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Economics at Duke University.
Wegger Chr. Strommen
Wegger Chr. Strommen is the Ambassador of Norway to the United States. He came to Washington, D.C. in 2007, after serving as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva since 2005. He was Norway's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 2002-2005, served on the Security Council during Norway's tenure from 2000-2002 and as Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister from 1999 - 2000. Ambassador Strommen joined the Norwegian foreign service in 1984 and has also practiced as an international lawyer. He is married to Reverend Doctor Cecilie J. Strommen and they have two daughters.
Margot Wallström
Ms. Wallström has been a long-time advocate of the rights and needs of women throughout her political career -- first as Swedish Minister and later as Environment Commissioner and Vice-President of the European Commission.
Since her appointment to the European Commission in 1999, she has been actively engaged in promoting the participation of women in peace- and security-related issues, most notably the injustice and violence faced by women during armed conflict. Since 2007, she has served as Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders Ministerial Initiative, where she actively promoted the appointment of women to positions of responsibility. Ms. Wallström also played a leadership role in raising awareness about the urgency to implement United Nations Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008).
Ms. Wallström has had a long career in politics, which began when she served as a Member of the Swedish Parliament from 1979 until 1985. Her ministerial career began in 1988 when she was appointed Minister of Civil Affairs, responsible for consumer, women and youth matters. She subsequently assumed the position of Minister of Culture, and then Minister of Social Affairs. In 1998, she retired from Swedish politics to become Executive Vice-President of Worldview Global Media, a non-governmental organization based in Colombo, Sri Lanka. In 2004, when the Barroso Commission took office, she was appointed first Vice-President responsible for Inter-Institutional Relations and Communication.
She has received several honorary doctorates and awards for her work on sustainable development and climate change, and has also done extensive work to endorse a European Union-Africa partnership on renewable energy, and to champion equal opportunities. She was also co-founder of the European Union inter-institutional group of women and a key supporter of the 50-50 Campaign for Democracy by the European Women's Lobby, where she worked to promote a more gender-balanced European Union.
Ms. Wallström's other distinctions include being voted “Commissioner of the Year” by the European Voice newspaper in 2002. She has received numerous awards on rights, as well as environmental and European issues, including the Monismanien Award for Freedom of Speech (2009) and the Göteborg Award on Sustainable Development.
Born in 1954, Ms. Wallström is married and has two children.
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