Founded in 2007, Women Deliver is a global advocacy organization that “champions gender equality and the health and rights of girls and women” according to their website. Every three years, the organization hosts a conference to bring individuals and activists from around the world together to connect and work on revolutionary ways to address gender equality and women’s issues.
This year, the Women Deliver conference was held in Vancouver, Canada and was attended by 8,000 delegates. Opened by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the conference featured speakers such as the CEO of the World Bank Kristalina Georgieva, president Kenyatta of Kenya (who announced a ban on single use plastics) and a host of other women’s advocates and activists. Each and every one of the speakers addressed the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through a gender lens.
The robust four-day program featured many events, one of which was a panel opened by the Canadian Minister for Small Business Mary Ng and hosted by WE Empower lead partner BMO (Bank of Montreal). On this panel, the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability's WE Empower United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Challenge was featured. The speakers focused on the theme of women entrepreneurs as drivers of sustainability solutions. Attendants were about 300 strong and featured individuals such as ASU Wrigley Institute Hawaii and Asia Pacific Executive Director Amanda Ellis, WE Empower Challenge 2018 awardee Shimrit Perkol-Finkel, Vital Voices CEO Alyse Nelson, GroYourBiz founder and CEO Barb Mowat.
