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Event Highlights – Session Seven – A More Inclusive World

Event Highlights – Session Seven

A MORE INCLUSIVE WORLD

As we turn the page on the most tumultuous year in modern history, lingering disparities in health, access to education and human rights across nations, genders and ethnicities are slowing efforts to repair the global economy. Healing these fissures in society will be key to avoiding the mistakes of the post-2008 recovery.

Speakers included:

  • Baroness Valerie Amos, Master of University College, University of Oxford
  • David Beckham
  • Ursula M. Burns, Former Chairman and CEO, Xerox Corporation; Former Chairman and CEO, VEON Ltd.
  • Hillary Rodham Clinton, 67th Secretary of State, The United States of America
  • Didier Drogba, Vice President, Peace and Sport
  • Aisha Hussein al-Fardan, Personal Advisor to the Chairman, Alfardan Group Holding; Vice Chairwoman, Qatari Businesswomen Association
  • Dana al-Fardan, Qatari composer, songwriter, singer and symphonic artist
  • Atifete Jahjaga, Founder and Chair, Jahjaga Foundation; 4th President of the Republic of Kosovo
  • Graça Machel, Chair, Graça Machel Trust
  • Louise Mushikiwabo, Secretary General, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie
  • Fred Swaniker, Founder and CEO, African Leadership Group
  • H.E. Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice Chairperson and CEO, Qatar Foundation
  • H.E. Hassan al-Thawadi, Secretary General at Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, The State of Qatar
  • Masai Ujiri, President and General Manager, Toronto Raptors

Bloomberg moderators included:

  • Michael Barr, Host, Bloomberg Radio
  • Jan Bratanic, Reporter, Bloomberg
  • Simone Foxman, Middle East Correspondent, Bloomberg Television
  • Scarlet Fu, Anchor, Bloomberg Television
  • Caroline Hyde, Anchor, Bloomberg Television
  • Jason Kelly, Chief Correspondent, QuickTake, Bloomberg
  • Zain Verjee, Host and Executive Producer, Qatar Economic Forum
  • Amb. Melanne Verveer, Co-Founder and Chair, Seneca Women

Below are some highlights from the session.      

Hillary Rodham Clinton, 67th Secretary of State, The United States of America and H.E. Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice Chairperson and CEO, Qatar Foundation discussed a bold agenda for female leadership to support the disproportionate number of women who lost their jobs during the pandemic lockdowns, or were forced to try to sustain a job without the support of a school or a childcare center. “We impose a penalty on many women for trying to fulfill their own potential while also wanting to be wives and mothers and caregivers and we need to figure out how to better organize our societies and our economies so that more people, particularly more women, have a chance both to fulfill their own aspirations, but equally if not more importantly, to fulfill their personal goals and desires of being embedded in a family and a community,” explained Clinton.

Thani said, “Understanding how to create an environment for learning post pandemic will be important to ensure what worked prior and during the pandemic. At the same time, I would like to also add, that one thing I noticed in my own children is a sense of calm because I was around more, and so again understanding how to allow parents to be part of the school culture and building that community around the school is critical.”

As the first black female CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Ursula M. Burns, Former Chairman and CEO, Xerox Corporation; Former Chairman and CEO, VEON Ltd. shared her views on racial and economic justice, and how greed is threatening democracy around the world. She said “Gender around the world, I know it’s tied up with a lot of tradition and religion, et cetera, but half the world, everywhere you go in the world is women and having them actionably excluded from participating broadly in the economy is not a very good thing. There’s work that has to be done there.”

Atifete Jahjaga, Founder and Chair, Jahjaga Foundation; 4th President of the Republic of Kosovo spoke about Kosovo’s progress since declaring independence from Serbia in 2008. “100 countries around the world” now recognize Kosovo as a sovereign state. And echoed her frustration regarding the ongoing conflict with Serbia. “Serbia has a chance and should have a chance to open a new chapter in our relations, in our future. Kosovo’s independence is irreversible and we are here to stay. When Serbia decides to recognize this reality, it will free the entire region, the whole region in itself and it will truly unleash our potential as the region in general,” she said.

Aisha Hussein al-Fardan, Personal Advisor to the Chairman, Alfardan Group Holding; Vice Chairwoman, Qatari Businesswomen Association said, “The roller coaster feeling in the past 18 months had showed us a good thing can come out of the most difficult of situations. The digitalization and flexible working arrangement enable more female’s participation and gave many women the ability to start new jobs or businesses. Working from home made us work harder yet made most of us happier.”

On the World Cup 2022 and Beyond, H.E. Hassan al-Thawadi, Secretary General at Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, The State of Qatar spoke about emerging from the shadow of the pandemic, how the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar will create a lasting legacy for a fractured world and Qatar’s continuous commitment to progress to break down stereotypes and preconceived notions about the region’s culture. “This tournament is an opportunity for building bridges. it’s an opportunity for the outside world to know who we are. Not only is Qataris, but essentially as the Middle East and the Arab world,” he said.

David Beckham applauded the transformational power of sport and shared his unique journey from football player to Inter Miami CF owner and investor. “No matter what the world is going through, no matter what individuals are going through, when you’re watching a soccer game, when you’re watching the Olympics, nothing else matters for that amount of time and that’s why sport is so strong.”

Masai Ujiri, President and General Manager, Toronto Raptor is uniting the youth of Africa through basketball. He discussed how the ‘Giants of Africa’ program is playing through the pandemic and the NBA’s journey into Africa. Zain Verjee, Host and Executive Producer, Qatar Economic Forum, asked Ujiri about the gender recovery and challenges girls face on the continent. “This brings confidence, this brings, them being even more vocal on what their ambitions are, their passions are and what they want to do. The programs we’ve really aligned with not only The Giants of Africa girls, but even in places like the Samburu Girls Foundation is such a joy for us to go fight their fight of mutilation, early marriages, all the things that young women are fighting on the continent,” said Ujiri.

Education and the digital divide. Children were forced to learn remotely during the lockdown, using laptops, iPads and unfortunately millions of children living in poverty who didn’t have access to the internet were left out. Fred Swaniker, Founder and CEO, African Leadership Group said, “As we rebuild the world post-Covid, we have to really ensure that we address as much of this digital divide as possible. That means government’s investing a lot more in broadband to make sure that we can close this gap. It means global organizations, those who are giving aid, thinking about how do you actually close the digital divide, because if we can do that, it can really actually accelerate the pace of which education happens.”

On the test for global education, Baroness Valerie Amos, Master of University College, University of Oxford and Louise Mushikiwabo, Secretary General, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie discussed their response to the pandemic, global education recovery efforts. Mushikiwabo explained how The Francophone Institute for Education, which is based in Dakar, Senegal, quickly developed educational programs for youth not connected to the internet and vulnerable women who lost their jobs. “It became very difficult because, of course, lack of tools, lack of connection, large families sharing one TV or one radio, one computer, and so forth. Another thing we did quickly was to respond to the economic side of things and we put together within months a fund that would come to support women who lost their livelihoods just because they could not go out and work,” said Mushikiwabo.

Amos addressed global cooperation and the long-term effects of vaccine diplomacy on young people as they seek higher education. “It’s not just about individual countries seeking influence, it needs to be the world working together and that’s what our young people are fighting for. If you look at the way that they have been active around things like Black Lives Matter, around climate change, around Me Too, they are using social media and their power to act collectively across the world. The governments are coming in behind that, they’re much slower. Our young people are going to look to faster action from their governments or they’re going to do it themselves,” she said.

Graça Machel, Chair, Graça Machel Trust highlighted the importance of empowering our youth. In the interview with Zain Verjee, Host and Executive Producer, Qatar Economic Forum, Machel expressed her concerns for the next generation. “About 20 million girls are at the risk of not coming back to school. And you can imagine what it means losing an opportunity of becoming part of the 21st century. 1.01 Twenty million girls who are our children,” she said.

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