GDL Members Hosted a Night Owl Session at Bled Strategic Forum
2 to 3 September 2019, Bled
For the fourth year in a row, the Global Diplomacy Lab was invited to host a session designed and led by its members at the 14th Bled Strategic Forum (BSF), which took place from 2 to 3 September 2019 in Bled, Slovenia.
Under the title (Re)sources of (In)stability, the conference examined the role of the (re)sources of peace and security, sustainable development and economic progress. The sources of global instability have become more complex, dispersed and unpredictable. Effective management of strategic resources maintains stability, reduces security risks and improves living standards – whereas uneven and unjust distribution leads to inequality and the concentration of resources in centres of power.
Focusing on the creation of a resilient and inclusive democracy from a gender perspective, GDL members Cecilia Barja, Elizabeth Maloba and Elsa Marie D’Silva hosted a Night Owl Session at which participants were invited to discuss the role of women as stabilisers for democracy and a (re)source of peace, stability and sustainability.
Jointly organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia and the Centre for European Perspective, the BSF was launched with the vision of bringing together decision-makers from different fields, encouraging open debate on contemporary political, security and development challenges, and searching for new ideas and solutions. After more than a decade of annual gatherings, the forum has evolved into a leading international conference in Central and South-Eastern Europe. It draws together regional and global actors from the spheres of diplomacy, policy, business, science and innovation for the purpose of finding answers to the burning challenges of today and tomorrow.
Further Events
Cecilia Barja Chamas has led political processes and cross-sector alliances in Latin America and the United States for 20 years. In 1999, she co-founded the political party “Movimiento Sin Miedo” and was elected to the office of councillor for La Paz at the age of 23. In 2008, she coordinated Magis Americas in New York, mobilising resources for “Fe y Alegría”, a Jesuit network of 3000 schools in 17 Latin American countries.
From 2010 to 2016, she was a member of Fundación Avina in Colombia, leading cross-sector alliances in six Amazonian countries and the peace process in rural areas of Colombia. Since September 2017, Cecilia has been part of the North Carolina Congress of Latino Organizations, affiliated with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), a grassroots network that builds relationships between races and religions on issues of common concern such as housing and education. She has a Master’s in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School.
Cecilia currently works for the Listening and Dialogue Section of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and FADCA Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities, since 2021. In addition, she is the Vice-president of El Futuro, which is a mental health clinic for immigrants. Furthermore, she is a board member of Nativa, Naturaleza Tierra y Vida (Gran Chaco Biome) and of the Immaculate Conception Church. Cecilia is also a community organizer of several local/state faith organizations, like North Carolina Congress of Latino Organizations, Durham CAN -IAF. Besides that, she contributes to Bolivian magazines.
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Read more about her vision of the GDL's communication strategy on our blog.
Elizabeth has twenty years’ experience in addressing complex challenges. She works in cross-sectoral, trans-professional, multi-stakeholder settings, providing support in problem solving and decision making processes and facilitating learning and the exchange of ideas and information. She has extensive experience in international cooperation, development cooperation, and private sector development.
Elizabeth is active in cross-cultural groups, from grassroots level to global platforms, assisting in the professional development of leaders and the formation of, teams, policies, strategies, plans, and business models that contribute to addressing development challenges. She brings skills in capacity building, knowledge management, facilitation, conflict resolution and management, as well as experience as an entrepreneur gained through a wide variety of assignments. She lives in Nairobi, works across the world, and speaks English, Swahili, German and French.
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Find out more about her engagement here and in this interview. Furthermore, Elizabeth reflected on inclusion here.
Elsa Marie D’Silva is the founder of Red Dot Foundation Global (Safecity), a platform that crowdsources personal experiences of sexual violence and abuse in public spaces. Since Safecity started in December 2012, it has become the largest crowd map on the issue in India, Kenya, Cameroon, Nigeria and Nepal.
She is an advisor to Women 7 (W7) under the German Presidency and part of the working group on Ending Gender based Violence. The W7 is a group of civil society organizations who come together to promote proposals on gender equality and women’s rights to governments within the Group of 7 (G7). At the same time, Elsa is a D&AD Awards Jury member for Impact (2021, 2022) and Future Impact (2021) and an Impact Council member.
Elsa Marie is an alumna of the US State Department’s Fortune Program, Stanford CDDRL as well as the Swedish Institute Management Program. She is a fellow with Gratitude Network, International Women's Forum, Yale World, Rotary Peace, Aspen New Voices , SE Forum, Vital Voices, Fast FWD Philadelphia, Chevening Gurukul at Oxford and a Reagan Fascell Democracy Fellow at NED. Moreover, Elsa is a BMW Responsible Leader, Bosch fellow and is listed as one of BBC Hindi’s 100 Women. She has won the Female Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the SheThePeople’s Digital Woman Award in Social Impact and the Vital Voices Global Leadership Award.
Prior to Safecity, she spent 20 years in the aviation industry, where she worked with Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines. In her last role in aviation, she was Vice President Network Planning.
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Read more about Elsa's work at Safecity and see for yourself in this documentary. She also has a very clear vision for the Global Diplomacy Lab.
