To attend, some traveled for days and some even risked their lives. But all of the 80 women who came to the first Courage to Lead Summit in Geneva, Switzerland, Dec. 8-10 left with an incredible network of friends— a network that spans more than 30 countries around the world.
Organized by Allida Black, research professor of history and international affairs and director of GW’s Eleanor Roosevelt Project in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, the summit brought together female human rights defenders from around the world to tackle issues including human trafficking, violence against women and education.
“We wanted to develop leaders who can put together sustainable programs to protect, feed, house, educate and empower women,” says Dr. Black, who planned the conference to commemorate the 125th birthday of human rights activist Eleanor Roosevelt. “Eleanor Roosevelt believed in the power of women to bring about change, and she spent her life working to improve conditions for all human beings. This conference was our way of commemorating and extending her work.”
Held at the United Nations Office at Geneva and cosponsored by Vital Voices Global Partnership, the U.S. Department of State, the International Labour Organization and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the summit featured workshops, training exercises, networking and brainstorming sessions to help women develop strategies to employ in their own countries.
“This summit equipped emerging female leaders with the knowledge, skills, connections and international support they need to bring about change in their home countries,” says Dr. Black.
Approximately 500 people attended the closing ceremony on Dec. 10, which featured Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who accepted Eleanor Roosevelt Lifetime Achievement Award for Leadership in Human Rights via satellite for her devotion to “women’s rights as human rights.” Cambodian Parliamentarian and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Mu Sochua and Somali activist Asha Hagi, chairman of Save Somali Women and Children, also received Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Leadership Awards.
Other speakers included Kyung-wha Kang, the deputy high commissioner for human rights, and Patricia Viseur-Sellers, acting senior trial attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
For Dr. Black, the summit was the perfect venue to promote worldwide discussion on women’s leadership and human rights and to recognize the “extraordinary courage young women are showing around the world” in support of human rights.
“I’ve been to a lot of these kinds of conferences, but I’ve never been to one that changed so many people’s lives,” says Dr. Black, who planned the summit over a nine-month period. “The women told me it was the best leadership and skills event they’ve ever attended. It made my heart explode when I saw how visionary these women are, and how they risked their lives when they walk out the door, some traveling for more than six days to attend.”
One of these women was Fatuma Abdulkadir, founder and director of the Horn of Africa Development Initiative, which aids pastoralist communities in Northern Kenya. Dr. Black says Ms. Abdulkadir traveled in the back of a truck for five days before boarding a plane in Nairobi.
“These are women who do extraordinary things like stop wars, mitigate conflict and prevent human trafficking,” says Dr. Black. “And they were all different kinds of women, from ministers to nomadic women, but everyone immediately looked past racist, regional, religion and class backgrounds and became friends.”
Dr. Black says plans are already in the works for the next summit in summer 2011, which will feature workshops on health, fundraising and political empowerment. One of the most incredible takeaways from the summit, she believes, was the relationships that were built in only three days. “We created a huge, instantaneous network of women who will give each other love and support and awareness that there is a community behind them that they can reach out to, whether they’re in Rwanda or mountains of Kenya, or Dominican Republic,” says Dr. Black. “It was the most amazing experience of my life and it was beyond my wildest expectations— and I dream big.”