On-site event | Cities Summit - Women’s Economic Empowerment & the Digital Transformation
April 26, 2023
Denver, Colorado
Within the framework of the Cities Summit of the Americas, CAF – Development Bank of Latin America- and the Inter-American Dialogue invites you to this working session, that will engage mayors of cities with varying sizes and diverse geographies, civil society leaders, private sector representatives, and other key stakeholders from across the hemisphere to build consensus and collaboration for effective advocacy, policies, and programs that promote women’s economic empowerment via robust participation in an inclusive and equitable digital economy at the subnational level.
Over the next decade, productivity gains from adopting digital technologies are projected to generate 70 percent of new value creation in the global economy. Despite calls for an inclusive recovery, women across the hemisphere are being left behind, in large part due to limited access to the digital economy.
Mayors and other local leaders have demonstrated that they are uniquely positioned to transform a structure of discrimination and exclusion into one that empowers women. As key players in the digital transformation, local decision-makers across the hemisphere are moving key city and social services online, combatting predatory online practices, and implementing creative online programs for financial inclusion.
Subnational actors are leading on digital capacity building programs to increase women’s workforce marketability and create a foundation for online entrepreneurship. Cities are also directly providing equipment and broadband services to their citizens, increasing internet and technology access for the most marginalized.
By leveraging the ongoing work of CAF and the Inter-American Dialogue on gender and cities, this session expects to:
- Generate understandings amongst policymakers, civil society, and NGOs, of the key role that women must play in the post-pandemic economic recovery, particularly in the realm of digital transformation
- Shift an inclusive digital economic recovery to the forefront of subnational policy agenda.
- Share of best practices regarding subnational approaches to effectively engage and empower women’s participation in the digital transformation.
- Create and strengthening relationships among key subnational stakeholders in hemisphere-wide efforts to scale successful local-level models of women’s economic empowerment through an inclusive and equitable digital transformation.
Date: Wednesday, April 26th
Time: 10:00 A.M. - 11:30 A.M. (MST)
Place: Grand Hyatt Denver (Pinnacle Club)
Agenda
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Welcome Remarks
- Rebecca Bill Chavez President & CEO, Inter-American Dialogue
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Cities as Catalysts for Change: Why Here, Why Now?
- Nina Hachigian US Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy
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Introduction & Session Overview
Moderator: Barbara Kotschwar, Executive Director, Visa Economic Empowerment Institute
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Women’s Economic Empowerment & the Digital Transformation - Open Style Workshop
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Executive Summary
Moderator: Barbara Kotschwar, Executive Director, Visa Economic Empowerment Institute
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Closing Remarks & Send-Off
- Rebecca Bill Chavez President & CEO, Inter-American Dialogue
- Ana María Baiardi Manager for Gender, Inclusion and Diversity, CAF-Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean-
Speakers
Rebecca Bill Chavez
President & CEO, Inter-American Dialogue
Rebecca Bill Chavez
President & CEO, Inter-American Dialogue
President and CEO of the Inter-American Dialogue. She is a member of the Truman Center for National Policy Board of Directors, the Leadership Council for Women in National Security (LCWINS) Steering Committee, the Princeton University Institute for Regional and International Studies Advisory Board, and the Foreign Policy for America Advisory Board. Chavez served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs from 2013 until 2016 where she prioritized Women, Peace, and Security initiatives, combatting the militarization of law enforcement, and expanding defense institution building programs
Nina Hachigian
US Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy
Nina Hachigian
US Special Representative for City and State Diplomacy
First U.S. special representative for city and state diplomacy. In this role she seeks to bring benefits to, and learn from, local leaders in the United States, and connect them to counterparts around the world. Before rejoining the Department, Ambassador Hachigian served as the first Deputy Mayor for International Affairs for the City of Los Angeles. From 2014 to 2017, Ambassador Hachigian served as the second U.S. Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). She was awarded the State Department’s Superior Honor Award for her service. She is also a founder of WASA, Women Ambassadors Serving America and of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security (LC-WINS). Earlier, Hachigian was a senior fellow and a senior vice president at the Center for American Progress focused on Asia policy and U.S.-China relations. Prior to that, Hachigian was the director of the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy for four years. Ambassador Hachigian served on the staff of the National Security Council in the Clinton White House from 1998-1999.
Ana María Baiardi
Manager for Gender, Inclusion and Diversity, CAF-Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean-
Ana María Baiardi
Manager for Gender, Inclusion and Diversity, CAF-Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean-
Ana María Baiardi Quesnel has several postgraduate degrees from the University of Perugia, Complutense University of Madrid, the Institute for Advanced Strategic Studies and Long Island University, and a diploma in Equality Agent in the framework of the Master's Degree in Interdisciplinary Intervention in Gender Violence and Equality Agent from the International University of Valencia, Spain. She was the minister of Women of Paraguay and vice president of the International Commission of Women of the OAS between 2013 and 2018. She has served as Ambassador of Paraguay in Peru and Italy as well as a representative to MERCOSUR and FAO. She has published various works on Gender Equality, Gender-based Domestic Violence, Violence against Women in the business environment, among others.
Bárbara Ubaldi
Head of the Data and Digital Government unit of the OECD
Bárbara Ubaldi
Head of the Data and Digital Government unit of the OECD
Acting Head of the Open and Innovative Governments Division, and Head of the Digital Government and Data Unit, within the OECD's Directorate of Public Governance.
Barbara leads work on the strategic use of digital tools and data to improve openness, efficiency and innovation in the public sector. Among his responsibilities are the development of studies on Digital Government and Data of the member countries and partners of the OECD, the monitoring of the application of the OECD Recommendation on Digital Government strategies and the development of the OURdata Index and Digital Government. Index, the OECD's measurement tools for open data and digital government.
Barbara worked for eight years as a program officer in the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. He accumulated extensive experience working in digital government, ICT and knowledge management for development. A Fulbright Scholar, Barbara has a Master of Public Administration from Northeastern University in Boston. In the years 2018 and 2019 Barbara was included by Apolitical among the 20 most influential figures in Digital Government in the world.