Deputy Secretary Beigun hosts a virtual event to highlight the new progress and partnerships of the women”s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, at the Department of State.
Transcript
Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us here at the State Department. I’m Kelly Currie, the ambassador at large for global women’s issues here, and it’s my pleasure to welcome you here to the department today as we recognize and celebrate the progress and partnerships achieved through the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative. It’s now my great honor to welcome, the deputy secretary of state and my friend Steve Vegan artist. Thank you, Kelly, for that kind introduction and good afternoon, everyone, Thanks for joining us here today. I’m here with adviser to the President Ivanka Trump and our national security adviser, Robert O Brien, as well as by neglect deputy administrator for U. S. A. I. D. In order to announce and celebrate an important new step for the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, or W GDP W GDP is the first whole government approach to helping millions of women around the world achieve their full economic potential. And today, 10 U. S. Government agencies air releasing their W GDP action plans to promote economic freedoms for women around the world. Here at the State Department, we’re advancing women’s access globally to employment, credit, land ownership through our diplomacy and public private partnerships and assistance programs, we will continue to advance thes foundational freedoms with other governments at the highest levels, while also working to achieve liberties thes same liberties with businesses, civil societies and women themselves. By empowering women in other countries, America benefits from the stability and prosperity that they bring to their communities and to their countries. For example, the Millennium Challenge Corporation has been working through W GDP with the Moroccan government to recognize the rights of all errors, including daughters to inherit and owned land. One woman, Samia Sabri of the Marrakech Safi region, will finally be legally able to inherit land passed down to her from her father. She will now have the right toe work, the land that her family has been farming for generations and use it to provide for her own family as a landowner. She’ll also have better access to capital to education and opportunity. Samarra will contribute to the prosperity prosperity of her nation and she will be economically self sufficient. We’re excited to see more women like Sameera. Succeed is the State Department works to improve women’s access to courts and co devoir EST Platini, South Africa, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea in Afghanistan and Pakistan to our bureaus air offering programs to educate women on their legal and inheritance rights. They should have the opportunity to earn toe, learn a skill, provide for their families, own property and contribute to their own communities. Thes activities are all a great expression of human dignity. Promoting women’s empowerment is also smart economic policy. Now more than ever. As we come back from Cove it, 19 pandemic women will be critical to the economic recovery. Already, women such as Ah Joe Azari have been leading the economic response. As the CEO of Alfie Designs, a clothing company in Ghana. Adieu and her mother have been creating employment opportunities in her community for decades. When the pandemic hit, A Joe, an alumna of the State Department Exchange Program and the recipient of a grant under W GDP from the U. S African Development Foundation provided Alfie designs production to focus on essential P P E. To date, the company has produced 720,000 cotton masks, 10,000 medical scrubs and 18,000 head covers. That’s an outstanding entrepreneurial vision in action with that please let me welcome a tireless champion of women around the world and of this critical initiative. She has inspired the advancement of women’s economic empowerment globally. She’s adviser to the president and a true role model herself with deep experience in business and in leadership. And she has been an incredible advocate and ambassador for the United States on women’s issues and has led the way for the W GDP Prosperity initiative to become a reality worldwide. Please join me in welcoming adviser to the president of the United States, Ivanka Trump. Thank you so much, Deputy Secretary. Begin for that incredibly gracious introduction and for your steadfast support of women’s economic empowerment of the State Department and around the world. I’d also like to thank national security adviser Robert O. Brien, deputy Administrator Bonnie Glick and Ambassador Kelly Currie for joining us in today’s event. The success of W GDP and our new announcements today would not be possible without your strong leadership and dedication. We thank you. I’d like to further recognize our private sector partners who are joining us today remotely. These include Wal Mart, MasterCard, Reconnect and the Reliance Foundation. Public private partnerships are a key component of W GDP success as they ensure long term sustainability and scalability of our programs. A combination of impactful programs, a whole of government effort and strong partners is having a major impact. I’m proud to share that. In the 1st 2 years, that W GDP Fund invested $200 million across more than 60 countries around the world and catalysed more than $400 million through more than 450 partnerships with the private sector, non governmental and local organizations as well as government cut country governments. Additionally, today we’re releasing interagency W GDP Legal Reform action plans, responding to the president’s directive to address the legal and cultural barriers, toe women’s full and free economic participation throughout the world. This is the type of bold action to expand the efforts of the federal government, the private sector and other partners that restrict women’s ability to participate in the local economies. That has been the American model for success. W GDP will reach 50 million women across the world by 2025 through three key W GDP pillars, enhancing workforce development, expanding entrepreneurship and critically ensuring economic equality for women under the law. The US has prioritized this work through W GDP, the first ever all of government approach to helping millions of women achieve their full economic potential. This critical work is now more important than ever as the world seeks to recover and rebuild from the pandemic, which has adversely affected women since launching w GDP less than a year ago. More than 12 million women have benefited today. I’m pleased that W GDP Fund is announcing 122 million in new partnerships and programs with unbelievable reach and potential for impact. This year, the W DDP Incentive Fund has already invested 34 million in 16 new activities across 43 countries. One of our incentive fund partners is here with us digitally today. Thank you to Walmart and CEO Doug McMillon for your dedication to facilitating market access for women owned businesses in Guatemala. Building on commitments towards Pillar one, we’re now launching round three of the Women Connect Challenge AH, $4 million challenge to support private led efforts to bridge the gender digital divide. We’re excited to partner with Reliance Foundation and founder need on Bonnie on this newest round of women connect challenge funds in India. We are also announcing a new $5 million partnership with Nike biker soft air bands that will work to extend high spirit broadband Internet connectivity and developing economies to millions of women over the next three years. Thank you to President Brad Smith of Microsoft for your partnership to continue our investment in entrepreneurship. We’re pleased to launch the $23 million W GDP Investment Women portfolio, which will work to promote systematic reforms in financial systems and encourage private sector investment in women through innovative blended finance approaches. We will also continue to work regionally, partnering, for example, with MasterCard in Colombia to approve access to markets and networks by equipping early stage women. FINTECH entrepreneurs with the direction needed to connect to MasterCard’s wider network will also be partnering with MasterCard to empower women owned small scale retailers in India to become part of the digital economy. Thank you to my friend CEO O’Shea, one of W. G P’s earliest advocates for the partnership to further build on these investments were expanding our partnership with We connect, interpret National and developing a multi lingual and multi functional artificial intelligence platform to connect women owned businesses with markets and investors. We have always viewed W. GDP is pillar three legal reforms, its foundational and are committed to evolving and expanding our efforts on this front. Programmatically and building on W GDP is legal action plans were investing $7 million in the W GDP Women’s Land Rights program to strengthen women’s land rights in Malawi, Mozambique, Ghana, Zambia and India. Finally, we are continuing to advance women’s economic empowerment worldwide. Pillar three efforts through the launch of W GDP is Grand Challenge. Women enabled in the economy is a multiyear effort that will grow in its goal of bringing together the most innovative ideas and partners and women’s economic empowerment. The activities we’ve announced today offer just a glimpse of the life changing in society shaping work the W GDP is doing around the world. The Trump Administration is proud to have developed the W GDP initiative, and we applaud all of our partners who continue to prioritize women’s economic empowerment and implement W GDP. I would now like to introduce the national Security adviser and good friend Robert O Brien, a staunch advocate for women both at home and abroad. Keep up good afternoon and thank you a bunker for that generous introduction. You’ve been a powerful leader on this issue. It’s great to be here with you at the State Department, and it’s great to be back home for me at the State Department and see so many friends and colleagues here. The evidence is clear. Women’s economic empowerment goes hand in hand with global peace and prosperity. Nations with greater balance of men and women in the workplace and workforce have greater growth, innovation and stability. Conversely, the larger on the opportunity gap between men and women, the more likely country is to suffer from economic deprivation or to be involved in violent conflict. So not only is empowering women the right thing to do, but global peace and prosperity require. President Trump has recognized this necessity, which is why he has made women’s economic empowerment a top priority for his administration. Women’s empowerment is enshrined in President Trump’s 2017 national security strategy, and it’s also reflected the national Security set council staff whose leaders for the first time ever are half women. The president appreciates all of you being here from Secretary Vegan, acting deputy director of U. S A. A d my good friend Bonnie Glick, Ambassador Curry. And, of course, Ivanka. There’s been a true champion for women internationally and here at home. Together we are executed on President Trump’s vision. As Ivanka noted, W GDP has already positively impacted 12 million women in its first year and is on track to reach 50 million women into the developing world by 2025. These actions we’re announcing today, which are designed to improve women’s ability to access institutions, build credit, manage property, travel freely and work in the same sectors and jobs as men will accelerate our progress significantly. According to the White House Council of Economic Advisers. If nations around the world addressed these five foundational areas of legal reform, we would add up to $7.7 trillion to the annual global GDP. And that’s something we need now. More than ever is we recover from this covenant China virus. As President, Trump knows removing barriers to women’s full and free participation in the economy is not just the right thing to do. It’s a smart it’s smart economic policy. It’s smart national security policy and its smart foreign policy with that I’d like to turn it over to Bonnie. Click are fantastic. U S A. I D deputy director and longtime friend. Thank you. And body welcome. Robert. Steven. Ivanka Kelly. Thank you all so much for the warm welcome here to bringing U. S. A. I d. Along with the rest of the conversation about the importance of women’s global development and prosperity initiative at U. S. A. I. D. We believe that the contributions of women are critical to a country’s political, economic and social development. That’s why women’s empowerment is at an integral part of U. S. A. I. D. S work. Investing in women is not only the smart thing to do. It’s a priority for countries around the world because engaging with women can unlock human potential on a transformational scale. Our mission at aid is to build a more free, stable and prosperous world. Our assistance lifts lives, bolsters communities and advances women as integral members of their communities along those countries journeys to self reliance. But it would be a fool’s errand to think we can achieve all of this without full inclusion of half the world’s population. Some of the biggest returns on investment of US foreign assistance come from our efforts to ensure that women achieve their full economic potential. This not only spurs economic growth and eradicates extreme poverty, but it also contributes to global peace and security, which is why investing in women’s economic empowerment is more important now than ever. W GDP is the first ever whole of government approach to advance global women’s economic empowerment, and I think adviser Trump for her leadership on this initiative. The W GDP fund at U. S. A. I D. Now into its second year, has reached $200 million made investments in more than 60 countries. We expect to catalyze upwards of $400 million from the private sector and other partners such as NGOs and host governments. While these investments demonstrate the scale of W GDP, the rial story lies with the individual women. We support their women like Francine Munyaneza, CEO of Moon Yaks Echo, a Rwandan solar energy company that sells water and solar heaters and other products. With W GDP support, Francine’s employees are enhancing their skills to compete in the male dominated energy sector. Francine is also hosting W GDP supported apprentices and providing them with hands on work experience to jump start their careers As we enter the second year of W GDP fund at U. S. A. I d. I know that the best is yet to come. We’ve just announced plans to release the W GDP Pillar three action plants and I couldn’t agree more with Adviser Trump without pillar threes. Focus on a proper enabling environment for women in the economy. R W GDP efforts cannot achieve maximum sustainable results. Women cannot prosper in the workplace or succeed as entrepreneurs until we break down the legal policy and social barriers that inhibit their full economic participation. W GDP taps into local new and underutilized networks. We’re also engaging more with the private sector, shifting toward enterprise driven development as a more sustainable way to empower communities. The private sector has the capital, the innovation and the scale to shape solutions that achieve sustained impact. In short, private enterprise is the most powerful engine for lifting people out of poverty. In fact, the W GDP fund at U. S. A. I. D. Is planning to work with more than 50 private sector partners as roads as a result of today’s announcements take a few minutes to talk about a few seconds to talk about a few in particular who will be hearing from shortly here in Guatemala. We’re excited to be working with WalMart to facilitate access to new and expanded markets for women owned businesses. Wal Mart CEO Doug McMillon will talk to us more about this new and ever. We recently signed an MOU between Microsoft’s Air Band initiative and the W GDP Fund. Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, will tell us about how this partnership is bridging the gender digital divide by expanding Internet connectivity for women and ensuring they can fully participate in the global economy. Elizabeth Vazquez, CEO of We Connect, is joining us today to discuss our partnership to develop AH, multi lingual, Web based platform to connect women to new markets and investors and one partnership that we’re all particularly looking forward. Toa launching is with MasterCard. We’ll hear MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga share more about MasterCard’s commitment to W GDP principles and last but not least, we’ll hear from one of our newest W GDP partners. The Reliance Foundation founder and chairwoman Nita Ambani will talk about our work with her to Bridge, the gender digital divide in India were grateful for these partnerships and for the shared acknowledgement that both business and development interests are best served when women are empowered around the world. Successful women leading their communities are all the proof we need to demonstrate the significance of USA IEDs investments. So now let’s take a look at the video clip from our partners in the private sector describing these partnerships and a little bit more detail. We’re proud to support the women’s global development and prosperity initiative, particularly because it upholds values that are at the core of our camp. For a number of years, we’ve been making investments specifically aimed at supporting the economic empowerment of women. And we do that because we see how our business and the whole economy thrives when people have opportunities to grow and are inspired to reach their full potential. And today we’re announcing a new W GDP program and collaboration with U. S. A. I D. In Guatemala. W GDP made it possible for we connect international toe work with U. S. A. I D. To establish an alliance with S, a P, a, Reba, IBM, Exxon Mobil, Procter and Gamble and Accenture to develop We Community, a multifunctional and multi lingual global online platform to help women owned businesses connect with member buyers. This W GDP funded U S A. I D alliance will make it easier for women business owners, especially in developing countries toe access, qualified buyers with over a trillion dollars in annual purchasing power. I think that the issue that this initiative is designed to address the issue of prosperity and opportunity for women around the world when it comes to technology is one of the issues of our And that’s why I’m excited on behalf of Microsoft, for our company to step up and be a part of it, even us. For the first time, we can address both of these things with so many other partners with leadership from the United States government in the unified and more cohesive way. So when so much in our lives is that to stop now, by the way, is exactly the time to go full speed ahead on this effort. Because supporting Boone supporting that businesses and making them economically resilient pays off for everyone, for their families, for their communities, for the larger economy, perhaps most importantly for themselves. And that is why MasterCard is proud to be partnering redundant GDP and U. S. A. I d. To advance women’s economic opportunities and to be fostering a more inclusive visual economy through so many different efforts. We’ve already brought founded 1,000,000 people into the formal economy where foots like these for the past five years and I aiming for a total of one billion included by 2025. I’m delighted and proud to announce that Drew Lines Foundation is joining forces with W GDP throughout partnership, but U. S C. Together we shall launched a W GDP remains connect challenge across India in the fall of 2020. At the heart of this partnership is have a shared goal to help bridge both the gender divide and the digital divide in India. Thank you, Deputy Secretary Vegan Ambassador O’Brien, Adviser Trump on a assistant administrator. Like for joining us here today. I really wanna given a special thank you Teoh adviser Trump, who has been such a champion of women’s economic empowerment around the world for joining us. Thank you. This next Both step represents to me as a human rights lawyer. The one day, women will finally have the opportunity to fully participate in their economies and build a brighter future for themselves, their families and their communities worldwide. From Jordan, with women such as Mayada Abu Jabbar, who is at the forefront of removing restrictive laws from against women to Burma, where women such as Sand Army OH are breaking down barriers for women in major sectors such as agriculture. The partnerships and commitments we have made here today will change the world. Thank you again for joining us today, and now with your permission, I will take some questions. Actually, I need to grab my I need it. So first, let’s go to condition time. Um the Afghan ambassador, Roya Rahmani, pointed out in an op ed this week in foreign policy that roughly 1/4 of the Afghan workforce is women. But she expressed concern that women would not have enough of a say in the peace talks that are coming up. The Trumpet head administration hasn’t made women’s rights a very public part of what they’re driving for in these talks, So can you assure Afghan women that you’re really behind their rights in this process? Moving forward, I actually have spoken with Ambassador right Lonnie a couple of times this week, in fact, and we are working very closely with her. I work directly with her through the U. S. Afghan Women’s Council, which is a great legacy program that we have here is a public private partnership, or we help to support Afghan women working and a whole host of feels and help develop do economic development projects in Afghanistan and partnership with US leaders and U. S private donors. And we’ve leveraged. I don’t even I’ve lost track of how much money and how many projects we’ve leveraged in Afghanistan through that initiative. But I would actually say that overall, we are working very hard to ensure that women have a full and meaningful role in the future of Afghanistan and that their rights are protected. It is through US engagement with the parties that we have. We believe that there was a lot of pressure. I know that there was pressure from our side to ensure that women were present at the negotiating table and we’ve seen that the Afghan government has has appointed women to be negotiators. We’ve seen women appointed governors or deputy governors all around Afghanistan recently by the government, but we continue to see huge challenges. Just this week, there was an incident in the loya jirga that we were horrified to see. A woman who raised questions about some of the president released was physically assaulted and another prominent minister in Afghanistan was physically or was physically and verbally assaulted in the loya jirga. This is unacceptable behavior, but this is, you know, it is upto Afghan men also to carry the load here, we will do what we can, Aziz involved as we are. We will continue to press for the rights and the dignity of Afghan women and for all the citizens of Afghanistan to be able to live and dignity and prosperity, but that the people of Afghanistan have also got to step up and take responsibility for ensuring that women are able to walk around in the loya jirga and not be threatened and assaulted by their colleagues. That is just not acceptable. Thank you. To carry the biggest criticism to the W GDP initiative since its launch has been the fact that it ignores women, reproductive rights and maternal health, uh, rights. And at this point, particularly under the pandemic, when many countries health systems are overwhelmed and maternal and reproductive health chair is more difficult to access for women. Can you explain how the W GDP can continue to work to promote women’s economic interests If you continue to ignore maternal and reproductive health? W GDP is a very focused program. It is focused on a targeted approach that’s intended to create lasting change. And by focusing the limited resource is that we have at our disposal and continuing to utilize our diplomatic and programmatic tools at our disposal to drive women’s ability to participate in the economy fully. We believe that this is the best way that we can use. The resource is we have to address the barriers that are holding back. Women were really focused on achieving reforms in five foundational areas for women legal reforms on things like their ability to inherit property or their access to capital or their ability. Teoh I work in the same jobs and sectors has been thes air, really, truly foundational issues that keep women from fully participating in the in their economy. They’re also very consensus based. There is not an argument about them. They are there areas where everybody should be able to agree and get behind and push on these issues. And we’re committed to building the kinds of safeguards into our programs to ensure that women and girls who participate in them are have appropriate protections. And we fully agree that when women and girls are healthy and educated and able to freely engaged in their work forces and run their own businesses, their economies were stronger. But we’re asking, as you point out, this is a time of limit. And in covert where economies air cratering, the fiscal condition of many states and governments is very limited. We’re looking at what we think are low cost, high impact solutions. They don’t require large outlays of funds from governments to remove these barriers. But they do offer the potential for governments to enjoy enormously improved prosperity and their economies and allow women to make more decisions about their own lives. And so we feel like this is the best approach that we can take, and by targeting on the things that we’re targeting on entrepreneurship in the enabling environment for entrepreneurship that were advancing America’s national interests at the same time that we’re building up a world where more women can live in peace and dignity and prosperity. Thanks for doing this. Um, could question just on the State Department writ large, you’re obviously a female ambassador at the podium, which is great. But less than 20% of the ambassadors at the State Department are women. So, um, can you talk a little bit about any parallel efforts alongside the job w GDP to advocate for support of female diplomats in the American diplomatic corps to advance to the highest levels. And I have one more question. We’re actually really proud here at the State Department that 44% of our workforce is female, that we continue to expand the diversity of this of the of the workforce here at the department. This is a priority for the Secretary. I enjoy a wonderful amount of support and encouragement from him. He has been a wonderful boss for me. Personally, I have had three jobs in this administration, and each time I’ve had, uh, I’ve been really fortunate to serve, I think that we continue here at the department toe work through a whole host of initiatives to promote diversity inclusion in the department, and I would defer you to our undersecretary for management office for more detail. And I know that there’s a lot of information about those on our Web page. But I believe that with a 44% rate of of women working here in the department, we’re doing pretty well. And I like when I work when I walk around and I work with my colleagues at my level, the assistant secretary level and my colleagues. I worked with a number of incredibly strong, capable and extremely hard working women here at the department, and I’m honored to call them my colleagues. And I have tremendous amount of support from my male colleagues to, and I ask you one more question short. Um, well, okay. You talked about, um, the pandemic, obviously. And, um, you know, experts say that pandemics disproportionately affect women. Female entrepreneurs. So what are some specific things that W. D. D. P has done to morph its program and to provide extra support in the face of this economic challenge? Well, I’ll pull back a little bit because one of the things when the pandemic head and we started to realize the scope and scale of what was happening and to see the disproportionate impact that it was having on women in particular. You know, women in this country, one in three women are one and three essential workers in this country. Are is a woman. And we also, before this pandemic, the United States had the highest female workforce participation rate that we’ve had. We had just done a tremendous job of bringing women into the economy. And we saw it here in our own economy, how women are facing growing challenges as a result of the pandemic and have been disproportionately affected. And we see this across the world as well. But one of the things that really bothered me personally and some of my colleagues here when the pandemic began, we started to see a lot of the the statements about this fact about some of these fax couched in terms of that place women and a roll of victims who were sitting waiting for somebody to come and save them. And I So one of the first things we did was make sure that we were not talking about the situation in that way that we were talking about how women will be the drivers of this recovery, that women are the critical frontline workers in this situation and we need to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to enable them. And then we sat and looked at what we how we have designed W GDP. And again I came into this job in January’s. The program was designed a year before I showed up here in this job. But it’s a tremendously well designed program because what it does by looking at the enabling environment, we are focused on how the how the barriers toe women’s participation can be removed so that women can be full participants in the economy and how they can drive prosperity and growth. So by we we were able to use the tools that we have under W GDP and apply them to the current situation. I think very effectively we’ve expanded it. We’ve continued to expand women’s entrepreneurship support. You know, one of the biggest challenges for women is that they tend to work in the informal sector, especially and developing countries. And so you see that these these sectors have been very hard hit, especially also service sectors, tourism dependent sectors. So we’ve really looked at how we can expand the entrepreneurship, access to financing and the training and skills Building Skills Building is gonna be critical for women to be able to take advantage of new jobs and opportunities and to retool their own skills to be able to respond to the to the economic landscape as it evolves. So where we feel like we actually had a very well designed initiative that was able to be applied directly to the current context without too much adjustment, Obviously we’ve worked with some of the some of the from some of the beneficiaries who were you heard about today who have been doing some things to transform their own businesses to focus more on PPE or other service provision that they can do. And we’ve seen some really great stories around the world from some of our partners. But we’ve the initiative itself is really such a great platform for us to be able to work through these issues. And it’s been it’s great to have this tool already in our toolkit when this pandemic had right, Thank you