Organizers held the 2018 Beijing International Dialogue event from October 21-22 on the theme of "Belt and Road Initiative Cooperation with People's Livelihood".
As part of the event, attendees were able to participate in a sub-forum on Women and People's Livelihood, which was directed by (BWF) and hosted by Beijing Women's International Center.
Those taking part included delegates from women's federations, women's social organizations and enterprises in Beijing, Tianjin municipalities and north China's Hebei Province, along with representatives from 17 countries.
BWF vice president Zhao Haiying presided over the sub-forum and introduced its background.
"BWF has been long committed to improving women and children's livelihoods together with over 2,000 NGOs in China. The goal of this sub-forum is to build a platform for all NGOs to exchange and discuss their particular role in regard to promoting women's well-being,”said Cai Shumin, president of BWF, in her opening address.
"We expect all delegates to use this opportunity to establish a global NGO cooperative mechanism in respect of strengthening connections, driving resource sharing and promoting exchange and cooperation to collectively improve all women's livelihood and," Cai said.
Women's Livelihood to Be Improved
In the sub-forum, delegates discussed women's livelihood in the countries along the Belt and Road.
Zhou Xinyu, vice director of the Center for Public Diplomacy Studies of Beijing Foreign Studies University, gave an introduction on the livelihood of women in Belt and Road countries and said they suffer from inequality of income, opportunity and rights compare with men. He explained the importance of improving women's education and training in impoverished areas.
Aganaye Souad Oumkalthoum, a representative from the Embassy of Chad in China, talked about how African women faced the problem of poverty and the action taken by NGOs in the continent.
Cooperation
The sub-forum built an international platform for all NGOs to improve women's livelihood. Attendees said it is impossible for one country or one organization to achieve that goal. All countries should jointly promote a solution to this problem together.
Feng Xin, founder of Future News Workshop, presided over the discussion session. Delegates expressed their views and reached a consensus on how NGOs play a role in projects related to the Belt and Road initiative.
Guo Ruixiang, former project coordinator of UN Women, has taken part in projects related to women's poverty alleviation and anti-domestic violence many times. She noted that NGOs undertake the task of economic empowerment in such projects.
Hasina Kargar Husinpur, wife of the counselor of the Afghanistan Embassy in China, said education has played an important role in solving gender inequality by speaking about her own growing experience.
Long-term Mechanism
The sub-forum enabled delegates to exchange experience and achieve pragmatic cooperation. Many cooperative projects have been signed and fruitful results have been achieved at this forum. These include:
Under the initiative of BWF, Beijing Women and Children Development Foundation and Beijing Women's International Center signed a cooperative agreement to establish a special fund for women's foreign exchanges named "Mulan Power” and accepted the first donation from enterprises and charitable individuals.
BWF and Korea-China Cultural and Economic Friendship Association signed an agreement to strengthen women's livelihood cooperation between the two countries.
Beijing Women's International Center and the China-Islam Finance Club signed an agreement to establish the development and cooperative mechanism for women in Belt and Road countries.
The organizer spoke highly of the achievements made at the forum. Liu Yuhong, vice president of Beijing People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, said that forum helped attendees share experiences, reach consensuses, and gather strength to face the future.
It provided a guarantee for the common development of women's causes in different countries and established a long-term mechanism through a series of achievements.
The sub-forum provides a platform for global NGOs to communicate and cooperate. It reflected the "she power” of global NGOs under the framework of building a community with a shared future for humanity.
In future, BWF is willing to continue to work with women from various countries to play a more proactive role, said officials.
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