Women, Faith and Development Blog

Thoughts from Member of Leadership Council

 

During an intermission featuring musicians from around the world, we spoke with Mahnaz Afkhami, founder of the Women's Learning Partnership for Rights and a member of the Breakthrough Leadership Council. Afkhami said that the message the Summit hoped to send to the world's impoverished women was one of hope and resolve. Afkhami added that through sharing knowledge, women living in poverty could multiply their strength and create a better future. "The most important thing is to help women get their own dignity, their own agency, their own determination to connect with other women," she said. "There's nothing women can't do."

Afkhami believed this Summit is unique in that it unites the women's rights, faith, and development communities together in the fight against poverty for the first time. "Poverty is a scourge, there is nothing inevitable about it," Afkhami said. "The connection between the three areas will help bring about the political will to help end it."

The participating organizations of the Summit have made a variety of commitments to help amplify their impact on female empowerment. "My organization will train hundreds of thousands of women, who will in turn train millions of women in leadership skills," Afkhami said. "Female leadership is at the heart of decisions which can change society."

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