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Ensuring that no one is left behind - Creating peaceful and more inclusive societies and empowering women and girls
Inclusion is a powerful concept, rooted in equality and safeguarded through effective and accountable institutions. In a truly inclusive society, no one is left behind. A dedication to inclusiveness denotes a commitment to addressing the challenges of the most vulnerable and marginalized in society and to pursuing policies that speak to the root causes of poverty.

The 2030 Agenda addresses the issue of inclusion in a number of different contexts. By incorporating the concept of promoting peaceful societies in the SDGs, the international community declared that peace and justice are critical for the eradication of poverty and the achievement of sustainable development. Violence and insecurity undermine people’s well-being in all nations, not just conflict-affected ones, and progress toward sustainable development can only be made when individuals can access an effective justice system when needed. In addition, no effort towards inclusiveness will be effective if it does not entail equal opportunities for women and girls and end to all forms of gender discrimination. Participation of women and girls in the economic, social, educational and public dimensions of life in their communities and their countries is vital. The international community clearly recognizes that only by advancing the health, safety, and equality of women, and enhancing their opportunities for leadership and economic empowerment, will the 2030 Agenda be achieved.

This session will address the issue of inclusion and inclusiveness, in the context of peaceful societies and in the context of empowering women and girls. Practical experiences will be shared and discussed with the aim to replicate and/or scale up impactful efforts, and ultimately, to begin to identify lasting solutions.

Possible questions for discussion:
  1. How do we ensure that indeed no one is left behind when creating peaceful societies with effective and accountable institutions?
  2. How can we achieve empowerment of women and girls in all aspects of life?
  3. How can data help to assess impact in both of these areas? Is there need to advance more disaggregated gender data to address the challenges of vulnerable populations, in particular women and girls?

Chair:
  • H.E. Mr. Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the UN and Vice President of ECOSOC

Moderator:
  • Ms. Irene Khan, Director-General of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO)

Panellists:
  • Ms. Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Deputy Executive Diretor of UN Women
  • Ms. Beatrice Ayuru, Founder of Lira Integrated School
  • Mr. Robert J. Berg, Chair of the Alliance for Peacebuilding and Trustee at the World Academy of Arts and Science

Lead discussants:
  • Ms. Anca-Ruxandra Gliga, Advocate at the United Network of Young Peacebuilders and UN Major Group for Children and Youth
  • Ms. Gaia Gozzo, Head of Governance at CARE International
Biographies
Mr. Robert J. Berg
Chair of the Alliance for Peacebuilding and Trustee at the World Academy of Arts and Science
Mr. Robert J. Berg

Chair of the Alliance for Peacebuilding and Trustee at the World Academy of Arts and Science

Mr. Berg founded the USAID's Office of Evaluation and was founding chair of evaluation for the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee. His past positions include, first senior fellow at the Overseas Development Council, President and chair of the International Development Conference, Senior advisor to four UN agencies (UNICEF, UNESCO, UNDP and the UN Economic Commission for Africa), and deeply involved with the development of the UN’s Millennium Development Goals as well as senior advisor to the World Federation of United Nations Associations. At present, Mr. Berg is the advisor to the board of the World Academy of Art and Science, chairman of the board of the Alliance for Peacebuilding, Distinguished Fellow of the Stimson Center, fellow of the Royal Africa Society, member of the Bretton Woods Committee and member of the Cosmos Club. He has served on numerous non-profit boards in international development, higher education, and community development.

Ms Irene Khan
Director-General, International Development Law Organization, (IDLO), Bangladesh
Ms Irene Khan

Director-General, International Development Law Organization, (IDLO), Bangladesh

Ms. Khan is Director-General of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO). The first woman to hold this office, she was elected by Member Parties on 17 November 2011 and took up her position formally on 1 January 2012 for a term of four years. She is an international thought leader on human rights, gender and social justice issues. Ms. Khan was Secretary General of Amnesty International from 2001 - 2009. Prior to that, she worked for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for 21 years at headquarters and in various field operations. She was Visiting Professor at the State University of New York Law School (Buffalo) in 2011. Ms. Khan is a member of the World Bank Advisory Council on Gender and Development. She sits on the boards of several international human rights and development organizations. Ms. Khan received the Sydney Peace Prize in 2006 for her work to end violence against women and girls. Her book, “The Unheard Truth: Poverty and Human Rights” has been translated into seven languages.

Born in Bangladesh, Irene Khan studied law at the University of Manchester and Harvard Law School.

Ms. Anca-Ruxandra Gliga
Advocate at the United Network of Young Peacebuilders and UN Major Group for Children and Youth
Ms. Anca-Ruxandra Gliga

Advocate at the United Network of Young Peacebuilders and UN Major Group for Children and Youth

Ms. Gliga is a youth advocate from Romania, with a background in peacebuilding, advocacy and, more recently, the refugee response in Europe. As a member of the Youth Advocacy Team of the United Network of Young Peacebuilders, she has worked for the first Global Forum on Youth, Peace and Security that took place in Jordan last year, and towards the recently adopted UN SCR 2250 on Youth, Peace and Security. Ms. Gliga has worked in the refugee crisis in Greece, on the island of Lesvos and at the Greek-Macedonian border, focusing on most vulnerable cases, particularly women and children. Previously, she has worked as European Coordinator for Peace Revolution, an international peace education project and as Project Coordinator for the Peace Action, Training and Research Institute of Romania – PATRIR, on a nation-wide educational campaign on the Millennium Development Goals.

Ms. Beatrice Ayuru
Founder of Lira Integrated School
Ms. Beatrice Ayuru

Founder of Lira Integrated School

Ms. Ayuru founded the Lira Integrated School located in the Northern Region of Uganda in 2000. The second of six children, Beatrice Ayuru grew up in Lira, an underserved community in rural Uganda. She was the first female University graduate from her family and the first woman admitted to the University of Makerere. Beatrice had a strong vision of building a school on her own to combat illiteracy, eradicate poverty, and fight for girl child rights. So she began to grow and sell cassava. She then used the profits to buy and rent out wheelbarrows to local workers, reinvested her profits in a canteen, and then used those profits as collateral to build the Lira Integrated Nursery, Primary and Secondary School. The school is funded, in part, by agricultural and aquaculture ventures that teach entrepreneurship skills to students and members of the Lira community. The school provides nursery, primary, secondary, vocational, and agricultural educations to over 1,500 students. In 2010, Beatrice won UNCTAD´s Empretec Women in Business Award. In 2011, the U.S. awarded her Ugandan Woman of Courage in Education, and the Federation of Uganda Employers awarded her Employer of the Year. In 2012, Lira Integrated School was ranked by AFROEDUCARE as the only 3 star private schools within the district.

Ms. Gaia Gozzo
Head of Governance at CARE International
Ms. Gaia Gozzo

Head of Governance at CARE International

Ms. Gozzo has more than 15 years of experience working in the NGO development sector. She has extensive experience in supporting governance programmatic work in Latin America, Africa and Asia. She has wide experience in working with civil society organizations, and in providing capacity building, especially around local participative development, citizens and women ‘empowerment, social accountability and advocacy. She holds a MA in Governance at the Institute of Development Studies – Sussex University.

Ms. Lakshmi Puri
Assistance Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, India
Ms. Lakshmi Puri

Assistance Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, India

Ms. Puri is Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, where she leads the Bureau for Intergovernmental Support, United Nations Coordination, and Strategic Partnerships. Prior to joining UN Women, Ms. Puri was the Director of the UN Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States in New York and Director of UNCTAD’s Division of International Trade in Goods, Services and Commodities in Geneva. Ms. Puri joined the United Nations after a distinguished career with the Indian Foreign Service.

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