Al-Mashat: Gender Gap Accelerator to Boost Inclusion, Diversity

Minister of International Cooperation Dr. Rania Al-Mashat participated on Tuesday in the Horasis Extraordinary Annual meeting in the plenary “Nurturing Inclusive Leadership”.  The meeting discussed how to continue to deploy international leadership amid the COVID-19 pandemic and implement novel business models for deep social cohesion.

The global meeting gathered around 1,000 of the most senior members of the Horasis Visions Community, including several heads of governments and key ministers, including Princess Märtha Louise of Norway, Director-General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) António Vitorino, and Founder of the Thinking the Unthinkable Nik Gowing.

Al-Mashat declared the years of 2020-2021 as the years of multilateralism, noting that the Ministry of International Cooperation focused on strengthening economic diplomacy through three principles: regularly organizing multi-stakeholder platforms to ensure that all projects between development partners are streamlined and effectively coordinated; adopting a consistent Global Partnerships Narrative People&Projects&Purpose (P&P&P), and mapping ODA financing to SDGs for all projects with multilateral and bilateral development partners.

On promoting inclusion and persity, the minister referred to the “silver lining” in the pandemic - that it accelerated reforms. One of the reforms in Egypt that have been accelerated is “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator” to include more women for the country’s productivity, job creation, and economic empowerment.

There were also many policies taken to support women during the pandemic and facilitate a remote working environment to sustain jobs, such as allowing working mothers with children under the age of 12 and mothers with children with disabilities to have the right of paid leave following the suspension of schools and universities.

"Nurturing inclusive leadership will require the leaders of tomorrow to lead with creative imagination to push forward through the crisis, as it can provide new momentum for economic growth and job creation, including women and youth, and provide solutions to the biggest global challenges such as poverty eradication," Al-Mashat added.

Horasis is a global visions community that provides a unique platform for companies from emerging and developed markets to globalize their organizations.