Welcome: Michaela Bergman, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Michaela Bergman is a social annthropologist and lawyer, with 20 years’ work experience with multi-lateral,

International Financial Institutions, bi-laterals and civil society in over 40 countries, including East and Central

Europe, Central, East and South Asia and the Middle East. Her expertise and experience lies in policy and project

related activities related to gender, involuntary resettlement, poverty alleviation, protection and empowerment of

vulnerable and socially excluded groups, Indigenous Peoples, community development, disability, provision of

community based services, support of civil society, human rights and labour laws; particularly in post-conflict

countries and transitional economies. Ms Bergman joined EBRD nine years ago. As Chief Counsellor for Social

issues she is the most senior and experienced social specialist of the Bank and as such provides support and

strategic advice to the institution, Environment and Sustainability Department, Banking, Office of the Chief

Economist, Clients and Human Resources and clients on gender and social issues. The Chief Counsellor for

Social issues also heads the Gender team which is responsible for delivering the Bank’s Strategic Gender

Initiative.

DAY 1 – MONDAY, 2 JUNE

WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS

Opening Remarks: VP Stephen Groff, ADB

Stephen P. Groff is Vice-President (Operations 2) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). He assumed office in

October 2011. Mr. Groff is responsible for the full range of ADB's operations in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the

Pacific. Mr. Groff supports ADB's President in managing ADB's overall operations, represents ADB in high-level

multilateral fora, and contributes to managing its relationships with its 67 member country shareholders, other

multilateral financial institutions, and key government, private sector, and civil society partners. Prior to joining

ADB, Mr. Groff was Deputy Director for Development Cooperation at the Paris-based Organisation for Economic

Co-operation and Development (OECD). He also served as OECD's envoy to the G20 Working Group on

Development and was a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council. Prior to this he was the

Deputy Vice-President for Operations at the Washington-based Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). Prior

to MCC, Mr. Groff held several staff positions at the ADB. Before this, Mr. Groff was the deputy director and chief

economist on a large U.S. Agency for International Development, a Program Director for the U.S. Refugee

Program, and a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer. Mr. Groff has worked across Asia, Africa, and Latin America and

writes regularly on development issues. He also serves on a number of advisory boards for development-related

organizations. Mr. Groff holds a Master's degree in Public Administration from Harvard University and a Bachelor

of Science degree in Environmental Biology from Yale University.

Welcome Address: Sec. Corazon Soliman, DSWD Philippines

Corazon "Dinky" Juliano-Soliman is a social development professional with over 30 years of experience as a civil

society leader and community organizer. Currently, she is a member of the Cabinet of the President of the

Philippines. Having served as Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) from

2001 to 2005, she was reappointed by President Benigno S. Aquino III to the same post in 2010. As the DSWD

Secretary, she spearheads projects for poverty reduction and social protection. She is the National Project

Director for both the Kalahi-CIDSS-NCDDP (Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan or Linking Arms to Combat Poverty -

Comprehensive Integrated Delivery of Social Services - National Community Driven Development Program) and

the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program or the Philippines' conditional cash transfer program, a five-year

poverty reduction program of the Philippine Government that is funded by the World Bank and ADB. She also

spearheads the Bottom-up Budgeting and Local Poverty Reduction and Action Planning process which

institutionalizes civil society participation in the budget and poverty reduction planning processes of the Philippine

government. She has also led projects and programs for the International Center on Innovation Transformation

and Excellence in Governance (INCITEGov) in areas of social protection and empowerment of the people. She

has designed and implemented programs to enhance social accountability with civil society organizations as

Program Coordinator of the World Bank to Cambodia.

SESSION 1: GENDER, VOICE AND AGENCY

Chair: Shireen Lateef, ADB

Shireen Lateef is Senior Advisor (Gender) in the Office of Vice-President Knowledge Management

and Sustainable Development. She was the architect of ADB’s Policy on Gender and Development

(1998) which provides the guiding framework for ADB’s gender and development activities. Over

the years, her tasks have included oversight of policy implementation; advice to Management on

gender-related matters; policy and program advice to operational departments; coordination of

ADB wide gender programs; resource mobilization for strategic initiatives, and; coordination with

government agencies, development partners, international and regional NGOs. She is currently

the Chair of ADB’s Gender Equity Community of Practice. Prior to this position, she was Director,

Social Sectors Division in the South East Asia Department. In this role she worked directly in

operations – managing project processing and implementation of social sector projects spanning

education, health, water supply and sanitation, tourism and urban development sectors in

Cambodia, Lao PDR, Indonesia, Philippines, Viet Nam. Until June 2012 she was the Chair of the

Multilateral Development Bank’s Working Group on Gender. She has a PhD in Social

Anthropology from Monash University, Melbourne Australia.

Speakers:

Jeni Klugman, The World Bank

Jeni Klugman is the Director of Gender and Development at the World Bank Group, where she

serves as lead spokesperson on gender equality issues, and is responsible for developing strategic

directions to promote the institution's gender agenda. She also serves on several advisory boards,

including that of the World Economic Forum's on Sustainability and Competitiveness, and those

related to the work of the Council on Foreign Relations, Plan International, International Civil

Society Network, and the Global Forum on Women in Parliaments, as well as a European Union

research program on GDP and beyond. Her previous roles include serving as the director and

lead author of three global Human Development Reports published by the United Nations

Development Programme: Overcoming Barriers: Human Mobility and Development (2009); The

Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development (2010); and, Sustainability and Equity:

a Better Future for All (2011). Klugman has published widely on topics ranging from poverty

reduction strategies and labor markets to conflict, health reform, education and decentralization.

She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Australian National University, as well as postgraduate

degrees in both Law and Development Economics from Oxford University, where she was a

Rhodes Scholar.

Dr. Attiya Inayatulla, Member of National Assembly, Pakistan

Attiya Inayatullah is Chairperson, Organization of Women Parliamentarians in Politics (OWPP),

Chairperson of Rehnuma Group (Social Development Consultants), Director Kashf (micro credit for

women) and member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council of Pakistan. She has

thrice served as Minister for Women’s Development, Population Planning and Social Welfare, and

has been the country’s longest serving female parliamentarian with a record of initiating woman-

and child- related legislation. As President/Chairperson IPPF, she has led the Family Planning/

Population movement internationally and at home, she is also a former elected Chairperson of the

UNESCO Executive Board. A prominent sociologist, she obtained a master’s degree in sociology

and anthropology from Boston University, a PhD in social demography from the University of the

Punjab and Diploma from the Institute of Development Studies Sussex.

Keiko Nowacka, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Keiko Nowacka leads the gender programme at the OECD Development Centre, where she is

currently responsible for the 2014 update of the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) and

the online knowledge-exchange platform, Wikigender. Prior to joining the OECD Development

Centre, she worked at the Culture Sector of UNESCO, specialising in gender, the creative

industries and culture and development; she has worked extensively on indicator development for

the cultural sector. In addition, she is also one of the editors of the first UNESCO report on Culture

and Gender Equality (due 2014). Ms Nowacka has worked for an international NGO focusing on

girls’ education in sub-Saharan Africa. She has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and was a

doctoral fellow at King’s College London. She is an Australian citizen.

SESSION 2: LEGAL FRAMEWORKS AND INSTITUTIONS

Chair: Imrana Jalal, ADB

Ms. Imrana Jalal is a Senior Social Development Specialist (Gender) at ADB. She has Bachelors

and Masters degrees in law from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and a Masters degree

in Gender Studies from the University of Sydney, Australia. She is a lawyer by profession, and was

formerly a Commissioner of the Fiji Human Rights Commission. Imrana is the author of Law for

Pacific Women, and architect of the Family Law Act 2003, which removed formal legal

discrimination against women in Fiji. Law for Pacific Women is a recommended textbook at the law

school of the University of the South Pacific. Imrana is a founding member of the Pacific Regional

Rights Resource Team (RRRT), which in 1998 received the UNICEF Maurice Pate Award for its

cutting edge work in women’s rights. She has also served as a barrister and solicitor in the Attorney

General's Office of Fiji, as Public Legal Advisor, as a social/political columnist in the daily

newspaper, The Fiji Times, and as an advisor to many UN agencies. She is a founding member of

the NGO, the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement. Imrana is also a member of the regional networks -

Women Living Under Muslim Law, and the Asia-Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development.

She is also a Commissioner on the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists, as one of

its 60 Commissioners, and continues to sit on it Executive Board.

Jacques Charmes, Consultant, EBRD

Jacques Charmes is an economist and statistician, currently emeritus director for the French

Scientific Research Institute for Development (IRD). He was previously director of the Department

of Social and Health Sciences at this institute and professor of economics at the University of

Versailles. Involved in the design and analysis of many labour force, living standards, informal

sector and time-use surveys with special focus on gender in sub-Saharan Africa, and in the MENA

region, he has participated in many UN, ILO, OECD programmes and activities on these topics,

especially: the UN World's Women statistics compilations (1995, 2000), the ILO/WIEGO “Women

and men in the informal economy”, in 2002 and 2012. Recently he has worked for the UN

Economic Commission for Africa on the African Gender and Development Index (AGDI) applied in

more than 30 countries, the “Guidebook for mainstreaming gender perspectives and household

production into national statistics, budgets and policies in Africa”, the compendium for gender

statistics and the program on time-use surveys. He co-authored recently a book on women’s

participation and empowerment in Algeria. He is one of the founding members of the international

network WIEGO (Women in the Informal Economy: Globalizing and Organizing) in 1997.

Speakers:

Shireen Lateef, ADB

Gisela Geisler, African Development Bank (AfDB)

Gisela Geisler is a Chief Gender Specialist in the Bank’s Gender and Social Development

Monitoring Division. She is responsible for assisting the mainstreaming if gender in operations

through tools, knowledge products and training. Gisela has worked in AfDB since 2000 in different

operational and policy departments, including with country economists, transport, agriculture,

energy and governance sectors. Prior to working with AfDB, Gisela worked as a researcher in a

Norwegian Research Institute, where she worked on gender relations in Africa and as a Professor

of Anthropology at a South African University. Gisela holds a M.A. in Anthropology and a Ph.D. in

Sociology from the University of Muenster in Germany.

SESSION 3: FREEDOM FROM VIOLENCE (A)

Chair: Jeni Klugman, The World Bank

Lucia Hanmer, The World Bank

Lucia Hanmer is a Lead Economist in Gender and Development Unit at the World Bank.

Previously she was a senior economic advisor for the Economic Empowerment Section at UN

Women and a senior economic advisor in Chief Economists Office at the UK’s Department for

International Development. She has also been the Country Representative for the World Bank in

Guyana. Before moving into development policy she was a researcher at the UK’s Overseas

Development Institute and taught economics at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. She

has worked on growth diagnostics, poverty reduction strategies and the PRSP approach,

inequality and attaining the MDGs, and gender and development. Much of her work has been in

sub-Saharan Africa. She has a Ph.D in Economics from the University of Cambridge.

Speakers:

Andrew Morrison, IADB

Andrew Morrison is Chief of the Gender and Diversity Division at the Inter-American Development

Bank. Prior to joining the IDB, he worked at the World Bank as a Lead Economist in the Gender

and Development Group and as the Regional Gender Coordinator for Latin America and the

Caribbean. He also has worked as an associate professor of economics at Tulane University and

the University of New Mexico. He has written books and articles in the area of gender equality,

international migration, labor markets and violence prevention. He has a Ph.D. in economics from

Vanderbilt University.

Mary Ellsberg, George Washington University

Mary Ellsberg is the Director of the Global Women’s Institute at the George Washington

University. She has more than 30 years of experience in international research and program work.

Before joining the University in August 2012, Dr. Ellsberg served as vice president for research

and programs at the International Center for Research on Women. Dr. Ellsberg’s deep connection

to global gender issues stems not only from her academic work but also from living in Nicaragua

for nearly 20 years leading public health and women’s rights advocacy. She was a member of the

core research team of the World Health Organization’s Multi-Country Study on Domestic Violence

and Women’s Heath, and she has written more than 20 books and articles on gender-based

violence and methodological aspects of violence research. Dr. Ellsberg earned a doctorate in

epidemiology and public health from Umea University in Sweden and a bachelor's degree in Latin

American studies from Yale University.

SESSION 4: FREEDOM FROM VIOLENCE (B)

Chair: Andrew Morrison, IADB

James Lang, Partners for Prevention

James Lang is the UNDP Regional Advisor for Ending Violence against Women and Girls in the

Asia-Pacific region. He currently serves as a technical advisor to the DFID flagship global

programme “What Works to Prevent Violence” and is a member of the Sexual Violence Research

Initiative (SVRI) coordination group. He has nearly twenty years of professional experience

working with international organizations on the issues of gender, violence and engaging boys and

men in gender justice. From 2008-2014, James served as the Coordinator of “Partners for

Prevention”, a UN regional joint programme focused on gender-based violence prevention in Asia-

Pacific. James has also worked with various NGOs and UN agencies including Futures Without

Violence and Oxfam Great Britain. He is an active researcher, writer and trainer and has published

numerous articles on gender, masculinities and violence prevention.

Speakers:

Shamima Ali, Fiji Women’s Crises Centre

Shamima Ali is the Coordinator of the Fiji Women's Crisis Centre (FWCC), the Chair of the Pacific

Women's Network Against Violence Against Women and the Chair of the NGO Coalition on

Human Rights. Shamima has been the Coordinator of FWCC since 1986, and is responsible for

the overall management, coordination and planning for all FWCC services. Shamima is a

feminist, human rights activist, Political activist, trained counsellor, trainer and advocate,

community educator and administrator, with 30 years experience in gender violence issues across

the Pacific Region. Shamima is a past Fiji Human Rights Commissioner (2004 - reappointed

2006); a member of the UN Expert Group on the Girl Child (October 2006); the UN Expert Group

on 'Prevention of Violence against Women and Girls (June 2012); a recipient of Amnesty

International NZ's inaugural Human Rights Defender Award (2009) and a Paul Harris Fellow

(Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, 2009). She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from

the University of the South Pacific and has also attended the Institute of Women's Studies at St.

Scholastica's College, Philippines, and the Women's Human Rights Institute at Rutgers University,

New Jersey. Shamima is a founding member of the "16 Days of Activism Against Gender

Violence" campaign.

May Ali Babiker, AfDB

May Ali Babiker is a national of Sudan. She is an Economist and Anthropologist by training. She

also holds a MSc in Gender and Development. She has been working in the field of gender and

development since 2000. She started as a Lecturer of women and gender studies, combining

teaching with research and training. She has a passion on developing and delivering training

modules, as she believes development starts with capacity building and skills development.

During her 14 year career she had a wide range of experiences in designing and implementing

gender responsive projects and programs, as well as action research and policy documents in the

fields of poverty dynamics, gender equality and inclusive growth, gender mainstreaming in national

policies, population &reproductive health, women’s political participation and gender issues in

labour and employment, especially in post-conflict contexts. She also worked extensively with

government and civil society organizations both in the Arab world and Africa region. She worked

for Ahfad University for Women, UNDP, UNFPA and currently she is working for the African

Development Bank as Principal Gender Specialist/Socio-economist. In August 2009, she joined

the Human Development Department where she was responsible for the integration gender

equality in projects’ design, implementation and completion. In October 2010 to the present she is

working in the Gender and Social Development Division, focusing more on development of gender

responsive tools, capacity building and development of policies and guidelines on gender

mainstreaming in the Bank.

Dee Jupp, Consultant, World Bank

Dee Jupp is currently based in Jakarta and leading a DFT funded project to develop qualitative research

expertise within Indonesian research organisations. She has lived and worked for extensive periods in

Bangladesh and Jamaica, helping governments, NGOs, Social Movements and community-based

organisations to adopt participatory approaches. She has led participatory research and training in Ghana,

Tanzania, Kenya, Malawi, PRC, Indonesia, the Caribbean, Nepal and Bangladesh. Her recent work has

focused on enhancing citizens' voice and understanding the perspectives of people living in poverty

through Views of the Poor and Reality Check Approach studies which involve immersion in rural villages.

She led a mixed methods study with Nepali colleagues on gender and public transport in Kathmandu

Valley in late 2013. It is this study which she will share in her presentation.

DAY 2 – TUESDAY, 3 JUNE

Ferdousi Sultana, Bangladesh

Ferdousi Sultana is an expert is social development and gender in Bangladesh. She worked with ADB’s

Bangladesh Program since July 1999 to September 2013 and was responsible for mainstreaming gender

and social development concerns. She also was the Civil Society Anchor of Bangladesh Program. Prior

to ADB, Ferdousi worked with Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and several national

development institutions of Bangladesh. She also worked in the Asia Branch of CIDA in Ottawa as gender

equity Specialist. At the national level she has contributed in promoting gender equality and women’s

advancement and as a member of Core Group for Beijing Follow up contributed in the process of

formulating the Policy on Women’s Advancement 1997, the National Action Plan 1998 and supported

mainstreaming gender in the Five Years Plans. She has also supported the Bangladesh Government in

preparing the submissions for the review of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

Against Women (CEDAW). Most recently Ferdousi has Supported the Government in conducting the

national review of Beijing +20 for submission to UN. She has 35+ years of professional experience. She

a Master of Arts in Economics from University of Dhaka and a number training at home and abroad on

development issues.

SESSION 5: FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT

Chair: Michaela Bergman, EBRD

David Margonsztern, ADB

David is an urban planner specialized in urban transport, with a BSc in Political Science and a MSc in

Urban Planning and Management. A national of France, he's been working in development in Asia for

more than 12 years. In ADB, he was with the Urban and Water Development Division of the South Asia

Department for almost 4 years, where he delivered and led sustainable urban transport projects in Nepal,

Bangladesh and India. He then joined the Urban and Water Development Division of the Central and West

Asia Department in 2013, where he develops the urban transport portfolio, notably in Pakistan and

Azerbaijan. He is also an active member of ADB’s Transport Community of Practice. Prior to joining ADB,

he was working in Vietnam as a Director in Ho Chi Minh City's Urban Development Management Support

Center, where he defined and delivered institutional support on public transport, urban planning and urban

design. He also worked as Director in Institute of Urban Matters in Hanoi, where he was in charge of

conceiving, launching and directing cooperation program in the field of urban planning and public

transport.

Elena Ferreras Carreras, EBRD

Elena M. Ferreras Carreras joined the gender team at EBRD, as Senior Gender Adviser more than one

year ago. She is a sociologist and gender expert with a background on policy dialogue and projects

development. Prior joining the EBRD she has been working for the African Development Bank and the

Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development. She has more than 15 years’ experience

on the field in different countries of Africa, Asia and South America. Her expertise includes gender

mainstreaming into operations and policies, masculinities approach, gender-based violence prevention

and fight, and voice and accountability. Elena holds a Master's degree in Sociology from the University of

Granada, and a Magister in Gender and Development from the University Complutense of Madrid.

Shanny Campbell, ADB

Shanny Campbell is a Senior Social Development Specialist in ADB’s Central and West Asia

Department. She has 19 years experience in gender and social development spanning every ADB

geography and sector. She is passionate about Gender and Development, particularly innovations

and methodologies to meaningfully empower women.

SESSION 6: WOMEN’S ACCESS AND CONTROL OF LAND AND PRODUCTIVE RESOURCES

Chair: Gisela Geisler, AfDB

Maria Hartl, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Maria Hartl is covering social targeting, gender equality and women’s empowerment in programme

design, appraisal and implementation of operations supported by IFAD loans and grants

worldwide. As Technical Adviser on Gender and Social Equity in IFAD’s Technical and Policy

Advisory Division, she is responsible for the Gender Task Group and leads global networks,

involving IFAD partners at regional, country and field level. Her assignments include the

strengthening of partnerships (UN-IANGWE, OECD-DAC) and knowledge management through

communication and outreach. She was the IFAD coordinator for the WB-FAO-IFAD Sourcebook

on Gender in Agriculture (2009) and produced studies on gender and desertification, water, rural

finance and labour saving technologies. Prior to IFAD, she worked at the UN Division for the

Advancement of Women in Vienna and New York covering women’s human rights, health,

HIV/AIDS, science and technology, education and training. The organization of the Fourth World

Conference on Women (Beijing 1995) and its follow-up remain the highlight of her career. She

holds a Master of Arts in research methodology from Brighton University, Sussex (Great Britain)

and a Master of Arts in social science from the University of Munich (Germany). Before joining the

United Nations, she worked with the Council of Europe and the European Commission on

international youth exchanges.

Speakers:

Marsha Caddle, CDB

Marsha Caddle is an economist from Barbados working in the Technical Cooperation Division of

the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) on issues of governance, gender and regional

integration. She currently leads the Bank’s research project on gender and economics in

collaboration with the Gender Advisor. Prior to this appointment, Marsha served as Programme

Manager, Poverty Reduction with the UNDP Sub-regional Office for Barbados and the OECS. Her

work there covered programming in gender, fiscal equity and economic governance for human

development; achievement of the MDGs and setting of the international sustainable development

agenda post-2015; and the collection and analysis of socio-economic data and poverty

measurement in middle-income SIDS. She has also served as Programme Specialist for

Economic Security and Rights with UN Women, then UNIFEM. Marsha is a member of the

International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) and the International Working Group on

Gender and Economics (GEM-IWG), and holds a Masters in Economics from the Universidad

Católica Santo Domingo.

Samar Samara, Project Manager, Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)

Samar Samara is in charge of mainstreaming gender in the Deprived Families Economic

Empowerment Programme (DEEP), a partnership between the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)

and UNDP. As the Gender Inclusion Coordinator she is responsible for defining obstacles that

exclude women entrepreneurs, women cooperatives and women owned MSMEs from economic

development business opportunities, in addition to conducting gender analysis, design,

implementation and M&E. Moreover, she is gender sensitizing and addressing specific poor

women interests in the business processes related to the DEEP targeting and analysis of

households, NGOs coaching, business plans development, implementation and monitoring. She

also facilitates knowledge management, capacity development initiatives, dissemination of

information and lessons learnt from the DEEP on women economic empowerment and inclusion in

business. Samar has extensive experience in gender mainstreaming in trade support institutions

and the private sector. Prior to her current work as a Gender Inclusion Coordinator she served as

the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for the joint six UN agencies MDG-Gender Equality and

Women Empowerment Programme. She holds a Master of Business Administration and a

Bachelor’s degree on Civil Engineering.

Michaela Bergman, EBRD

SESSION 7: IDENTITY AND CIVIL REGISTRATION

Chair: Betty Wilkinson, ADB

Ms. Wilkinson is a leading professional in financial sector development and public management,

with over thirty-five years of professional field experience worldwide. She is internationally

recognized for her expertise and innovation in financial inclusion, small business development,

public management systems, and rural development. Ms. Wilkinson has worked as a banker, a

donor representative, a field researcher and policy advisor, and a developing country government

senior official. She has collaborated with numerous governments, private firms, multilateral and

bilateral donors, and non-government institutions worldwide. Ms. Wilkinson is currently engaging

with her team in areas including SME finance for women, mobile banking regulatory environments,

unconditional cash transfers and potential replication of ultra-poor program pilots, technical and

vocational education for countries with high seasonal migration patterns, improving budget

investment efficiency in infrastructure, and policy reform to improve private sector investment

climates. She uses a participatory, inclusive style to successfully engage and support stakeholders

and key champions of reform. Her academic qualifications include a degree with honors in

business economics from the University of California, and graduate studies at Cornell University in

agricultural finance. Ms. Wilkinson is currently Director of the Public Management, Financial

Sector, and Trade Division of the Central and West Asia Department of the Asian Development

Bank and is on the management committees of Communities of Practice in Finance, Governance,

Education, and Poverty and Social Protection.

Speakers:

Kristen Wenz, UNICEF EAPRO

Ms. Wenz is the focal point for Civil Registration and Vital Statistics for UNICEF’s East Asia and

Pacific Regional Office based in Bangkok, Thailand. Before coming to Asia, she has worked in

UNCIEF HQ on high-level health initiatives such as Every Newborn, the H4+, and the UN

Commission for Life-Saving Commodities. She has worked for USAID in Washington DC and

Malawi as a technical advisor for Orphans and Vulnerable Children. She conducted research on

Violence against Children at Columbia University for the Millennium Villages Project.

Maria Tamargo, Consultant, IADB

María del Carmen Tamargo is a sociologist and specialist in gender and public policy, with

extensive public sector management experience. She has conducted studies for the Inter-American

Development Bank about the under-registration of births, with gender and ethnicity perspective in

Latin America and the Caribbean. She has also participated in the design and evaluation of

projects about reform and modernization of identity registration systems in several countries in the

region. Prior to working with IADB, she worked in public management in Argentina coordinating

social care programs for vulnerable groups. She was the General Coordinator of the Cash Transfer

Program for Human Development in Argentina, called “Families for Social Inclusion”. She has a

Master degree in Gender, Society and Policy, from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences.

Shazia Toor, Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) Pakistan

Shazia Toor is currently working in the Federal Government’s largest social safety net intervention,

BISP, as Director Beneficiary Services. She is a Civil Servant and has served at various important

assignments by the Government. Her present assignment is a key position in the social safety net

program, focusing primarily on the enrolment of the beneficiaries in the program by updating their

National Identity Cards in close liaison with the National Database Registration Authority(NADRA),

managing the grievance redresal system & liaison with various partner organizations involved in

the targeting survey and 3rd party evaluations. She also coordinates with the partner organization

for conducting targeting survey in the troubled area of South Waziristan for the first time in history.

SESSION 8: WOMEN’S VOICES IN GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES

Chair: Sonomi Tanaka, ADB

Sonomi Tanaka is Lead Social Development Specialist (Gender and Development), and is

responsible for overseeing and providing advice on ADB-wide operations in support of gender

equality and women’s empowerment. As Co-Chair of Gender Equity CoP, she facilitates

knowledge management on gender and development in ADB and coordinates gender-

mainstreaming initiatives across different departments and through different CoPs. Sonomi has

worked on gender and development, poverty reduction, social analysis, social protection, and

community participation issues in Asia and the Pacific for nearly 20 years. She has covered a

number of sectors including infrastructure, education, health, public sector management, finance,

and natural resources management. Prior to working with ADB, Sonomi worked in the World Bank

South Asia Department and in development institutions in Japan. She holds a Master of Arts on

Gender and Development from the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University and a

post- graduate diploma on development studies from the Institute of Developing Economies

Advanced School in Japan.

Md. Shafiqul Islam Akand, Local Government Engineering Department (LGED)

Md. Shafiqul Islam Akand is performing as a Project Director of ADB assisted Second Urban

Governance and Infrastructure Improvement (Sector) Project (UGIIP2). Mr.Akand has started his

career with LGED in 1988 and since then he has been associated in implementing various Rural,

Urban and Water resource sector projects as a field engineer and performed as project manager

for ADB, World Bank and JICA assisted infrastructure development projects. He has taken over

the charge of UGIIP2 as project director from 2011 and successfully steered the project activities

including gender mainstreaming and has been awarded by ADB as best project director in 2011

and 2013. Under his leadership, UGIIP2 has set examples to other similar projects in Bangladesh

in bringing gender responsive governance improvement and infrastructure development among

project municipalities. He is an active member LGED Gender Forum through which gender

mainstreaming has been institutionalized in LGED. He holds a Master of Science in Urban

Planning from Cardiff University from UK. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil

Engineering from Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh.

Pok Nanda, Women for Prosperity (WfP), Cambodia

Pok Nanda, founder and executive director of Women for Prosperity, a non profit, non-

governmental organization established in 1994 that seeks to empower women to exercise their

equal right as men. Mrs. Pok Nanda’s education background is in Psychology. She also obtained

several certificates such as in Management, Leadership Development, Community Development,

Gender and Development, Entrepreneur, and Governance. Her life experience is mainly with

NGOs, with over 30 years of experience. She ran as candidate for parliamentarian election in

1993, and established Women for Prosperity in 1993. She spent endless time and energy designs

training programs that empower women to take on leadership roles and responsibilities, and

become effective leaders, from local to national level of Cambodia’s society. One of her biggest

achievement in her career was her strong commitment and effort in working as partner and

collaboration with the Royal Government of Cambodia, political parties, civil society, community,

and Women & children, which result in the increasing of women representation in the decision

making in the Senate, Parliament, Government, sub-national level, commune/sangkats. In

addition, she helped village women to form different cooperative and small producer group,

working on different activities that generate income, so that they can become economically

independence and move out of poverty. Mrs Pok Nanda also owns Organic Agricultural Farm,

which includes the Number One Most Famous in The World “KOMPOT PEPPER”.

Speakers:

Gabriela Vega, IADB

Gabriela Vega is the Social Development Principal Specialist at the Gender and Diversity Division

of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). She has recently been working with governments,

CSO and academia to create integrated services for women, and to address violence against

women, adolescent motherhood and women’s leadership in Latin America and the Caribbean. A

Peruvian sociologist, she holds titles from Oxford and Cambridge in the UK, and the Catholic

University in Lima, Peru. Ms. Vega has over 30 years of experience in socioeconomic research

and project analysis in the fields of poverty, labor markets and gender issues. Before joining the

IDB she was a consultant on social safety nets for the World Bank and a researcher at the Central

Reserve Bank of Peru.

SESSION 9: WOMEN’S VOICES IN COMMUNITY-BASED GOVERNANCE STRUCTURES

Chair: Gabriela Vega, IADB

Maria Hartl, IFAD/

Maria Victoria Paz Hilario, Pambansang Samahan ng Kilusang Magsasaka (PAKISAMA)

Ma. Victoria Paz Hilario is the Area Management Team Coordinator for Northwestern Mindanao.

Prior to joining PAKISAMA-Mindanao, she was as a Policy Advocacy Specialist at Interface

Development Interventions, Inc. (IDIS). She worked in several NGOs including Cebu Biodiversity

Conservation Foundation, Haribon Foundation for the Conservation of Natural Resources. She is a

graduate of University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna with a Bachelor of Science degree in

Zoology.

Alice Omesa, Don Consult Ltd., Tanzania

Alice Omesa is responsible for overseeing and providing advice on Don Consult Ltd’s financial and

administration activities. As Finance and Administration Manager, she facilitates the well being of

all staff as well as coordinating and planning financial investment for the organization ensuring

transparency and accountability. She is an adviser to the Managing Director and other managers

on all matters relating to finance, investment and administration as well as financial management.

Alice Omesa has worked and or involved in the financial and administration issues including

budgeting, computerizing accounts, strategic planning, costing, fundraising, financial analysis,

financial reports, contract management, management reports, capacity building for communities

and organizations on financial matters. She has supported people and provided counseling

services to people under crisis in the organization, hospitals and schools. On her free time she

provides counseling and advice to couples as well as giving talks on marriage issues. She has

worked and supported various institutions including governments, departments and donors

including donor funded projects e.g., Monduli Project funded by AfDB, NETWAS International,

NESI from South Sudan. Her innovativeness has been felt in East Africa including Kenya,

Tanzania and Uganda for over 21 years. She holds a Masters’ Degree in Business Administrations

from Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI) Tanzania, and Bachelors

degree in Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting Option) from India. She holds Post Graduate

Diploma in Banking and Finance from India and holder CPA (II) from Kenya

Speakers: Elena Ferreras Carreras, EBRD

SESSION 10: DECISION-MAKING OVER FAMILY FORMATION

Chair: Mary Ellsberg, GWU

Sofia Naveed, Pakistan

Sofia Naveed is working with Plan International, Country Office –Pakistan as Country Gender

Advisor. She has 23 years professional working experience in the field of social development and

human rights sectors. She has done: M Phil in Political Science, Master in Political Science, MA in

history, LLB and enrolled for Ph.D. in Political Science and has submitted PHD thesis, her

research topic was: “Domestic Violence against Women in Human Rights perspective, a Case

Study of the Punjab”. She enjoyed the diverse experience of working throughout Pakistan on

different aspects of human development, gender and development, child rights and women rights.

She has facilitated seminars, given trainings, worked on Situational analysis, advocacy, human

rights issues, women and children rights, good governance, monitoring and evaluation, conflict

resolution, networking, communication and cross cultural issues. She has worked with different

national/international and Rights based organizations like ASR, Aurat Foundation, TAHAFFUZ as

well as South Asia Partnership-Pakistan. She has worked with Care International in Pakistan as

gender Mainstreaming Manager and Gender Specialist. She has also worked with UNWOMEN as

Gender Technical Consultant to Support of Provincial Disaster Management Authorities. She has

vast experience in developing a nexus between humanitarian and development. Her last job was

with International Rescue Committee, Pakistan as Deputy Gender Advisor.

Samantha Hung, ADB

Samantha Hung is the Senior Advisor to the Vice President for Administration and Corporate

Management (VPAC), who is responsible for the oversight of 5 institutional departments.

Samantha is also an active member of the ADB Gender Equity Community of Practice. She has

over 15 years of professional experience working on gender issues at policy, institutional and

program/project levels, including as a Senior Gender Specialist in the Regional and Sustainable

Development Department (RSDD) of ADB. Before joining ADB, Samantha was the Gender Advisor

for the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID), responsible for providing

leadership for implementation of the NZAID Policy for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of

Women. Her earlier posts include Gender Advisor for the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat where

she provided support for advancing gender equality across Pacific Island Countries. She has also

worked with the Australian Government Office on the Status of Women, UNICEF Vietnam, and

BRIDGE (briefings on gender-development) at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) attached

to the University of Sussex, UK. Samantha originally commenced her international development

career as an Australian Volunteer in Vietnam. Samantha is of Hong Kong Eurasian heritage and is

a dual national of Australia and United Kingdom. She holds a Masters in International Development

from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and Honors Law and Commerce degrees from

the University of Melbourne in Australia.

Speakers:

Kiran Bhatia, UNFPA Asia Pacific Regional Office

Kiran Bhatia is currently the Gender Adviser at the Asia Pacific Regional Office of UNFPA and has a

background in professional Social Work and gender. She is a development professional with forty

years experience on policy and programme development in gender mainstreaming, women’s and

children’s rights, violence against women and girls, advocacy and gender in humanitarian settings.

Kiran was founder director of Sanjivini, a pioneering mental health NGO in India and held regional

positions in South Asia with the Ford Foundation and UNICEF. Since 2004 she has worked with

UNFPA, first as the Adviser for Gender and Socio-cultural Research at UNFPA, sub- regional office

in Kathmandu, Nepal and currently with the Asia Pacific regional office in Bangkok covering 23

countries. Her key areas of work have included policy advocacy on harmful practices including

gender biased sex selection, child marriage and addressing prevention and response to violence

against women and girls.

DAY 3 – WEDNESDAY, 4 JUNE