Gender Alliance

Gender AllianceGender AllianceGender AllianceGender Alliance

Gender Alliance

Gender AllianceGender AllianceGender Alliance

Accelerating Gender Equality

Accelerating Gender EqualityAccelerating Gender EqualityAccelerating Gender Equality

Collaborating across networks

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Who are we

The Gender Alliance is a cross-network initiative bringing together feminists from the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt's  Responsible Leaders Network, the Global Diplomacy Lab, the Bosch Alumni Network and Global Leadership Academy Community (by GIZ)


All members work probono and are creating their own workstreams of collaboration.


Join us here (only network members please)

Picture Credit - BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt

Our Team

The team behind this initiative are

ElsaMarie DSilva

Eirliani Abdul Rahman

Chi Nguyen

Colette Mazzucelli

Carolina Sheinfeld

Armin Pialek

Chris Fowler

Imran Simmins

Julie Smith

Julia Profeta Johansson

Mina Lopez Lugo

Nappinai NS

Trinidad Saona

Patrick Mpedzisi

Thandi Dyani

and More....

Feminist Manifesto

1. We are promoters of gender equality. In each of our respective roles, personal, family, professional, as members of the BMW Foundation Responsible Leaders Network, we push for a Feminist Agenda to foster gender equity and work actively in closing gender gaps in line with Sustainable Development Goal 5. (Call to Action)

2. We advocate for a gender inclusion perspective. With the aspiration, as articulated in the 2030 Agenda that no one is to be left behind, we affirm that women must have more spaces of representation and participation in contributing to the realization of the 17 SDGs. (Values)

3. We champion gender equality regardless of sexual identity. The gender issue is one that masculine, feminine, common, and neutral involving persons of all ages who must be actively engaged to close the gender gaps. (Values)

4. We support each other as Responsible Leaders. We encourage each other in the suggestion and scale up of ideas to achieve gender equity. (Values)

5.  We aim to foster an empathetic approach to feminism. We acknowledge beginning without a common understanding and strive to create a broader foundation to include others without prejudice. (Values)

6. We call for an agenda to make the next decade a transformative one to achieve feminist goals. We strive in a transversal way to reach a comprehensive understanding of gender equity that is cross-cutting, diverse, intercultural, and interdisciplinary. (Agenda)

7. We believe that gender balance in all sectors is one of the main keys to transforming the current economic systems, which are broken, by leveraging the complementarity of skills and perspectives among diverse genders. (Call to Action) 

8. It is our goal to engage with a gender focus throughout 2020 and beyond when hiring, developing new programs, and initiating projects, in funding and other areas of work to accelerate closing the gender gap. (Call to Action) 

9. We nurture an understanding of gender equity that is cross-cutting, interdisciplinary, and holistic with awareness of religious pluralism, social prejudice against the disabled, and class inequalities. (Call to Action)  

Gender Alliance Summit

Picture Credit - BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt

Join us for the Summit on 26-28 Aug

What is the overall design/intention of the summit?

We’re building on and launching from the first in-person session in Merida where about 30 BMW RLers identified that a community effort focused on gender equality would be of value. This summit is the first working session where we are looking to hash out how we could use the superpowers and strengths across these networks to individually and collectively move us forward on global efforts towards gender equality. 

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Check our schedule

About the Summit

Across six sessions, including the opening and closing sessions, we’re looking to all participants to roll up their sleeves. We want to create the framework and loose structure that will allow us to learn together, to support each other’s work, to share resources and successes and to help others to join us in working on gender equality. 


The opening and closing sessions are designed to bring together as many of the summit participants as possible. 

The four thematic sessions are an opportunity to hear from leading experts and to then undertake some mapping to see where collaboration, learning and joint projects/actions could emerge. 


Sessions are an opportunity for members to put up their hands to share collaborative ideas/proposals, request for supports, look for peers to share in their experience, gain a stronger understanding of gender equality work (in their own context and across communities). 

Picture Credit - BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt

Register for the 2020 summit

If you are a member of the BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt Responsible Leaders, Bosch Alumni Network, The Global Diplomacy Lab or Global Leadership Academy Community (by GIZ), please register here.


All times are in CET so please do check local times. If you need further information do get in touch with elsa@reddotfoundation.org


Please find the Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3 summaries



This Summit is brought to you in partnership with Red Dot Foundation, Bosch Alumni Network's Online Activities 2020 Grant and BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt.

Gender Alliance Summit videos

Keynote by Ambassador Louise Blais

Keynote by Ambassador Louise Blais

Keynote by Ambassador Louise Blais

Ambassador of Canada to the United Nations, Louise Blais shared her personal and professional journey of breaking glass ceilings and dealing with unconscious bias. Do check her inspiring keynote address.

Inclusive Diplomacy (Part 1)

Keynote by Ambassador Louise Blais

Keynote by Ambassador Louise Blais

Carolina Sheinfeld, Dalya Salinas and Trini Saona helped us think through the new form of Diplomacy 4.0 (GDL) and apply it to current times. Dr Ines Kappert introduced the concept of Time to Care which was thoughtprovoking.

Inclusive Diplomacy (Part 2)

Keynote by Ambassador Louise Blais

Inclusive Diplomacy (Part 2)

Feedback from the breakout sessions in the Inclusive Diplomacy session. This session put Time to Care at the centre of the discussion with a powerful keynote by Dr Innes Kappert.

Women, Peace and Security

Investing in Women Led Business (Part 1)

Inclusive Diplomacy (Part 2)

This session was organised by Nappinai NS and Colette Mazzucelli to discuss the importance of security. It has significant gender impacts, and in the age of the pandemic, these have become even more devastating. 

Ms Penny Abeywardena, the New York Commissioner for International Affairs gave the keynote address. 

Investing in Women Led Business (Part 1)

Investing in Women Led Business (Part 1)

Investing in Women Led Business (Part 1)

Less than 4% of global investment goes to women led businesses. This session explored the challenges and opportunities to drive more equity, promote more women led businesses and challenge the status quo. The session was organised by Sylvia Mukasa, Rania Reda and Gaurav Mehta with support in the breakouts from Pratima Kirloskar, Vera Futorjanski and Rosa Madera.

Investing in Women Led Business (Part 2)

Investing in Women Led Business (Part 1)

Investing in Women Led Business (Part 1)

In the breakouts, summit participants explored some of the significant challenges being faced as women entrepreneurs. This include having less access to knowledge about potential funding opportunities, resources; access to peers or mentors to help them be supported to sustain and grow their opportunities; explicit and implicit sexism and more.

Engaging Men in Gender Equality

Recap of the Gender Alliance Summit

Recap of the Gender Alliance Summit

Mina Lopezlugo, Julie Smith and Imran Simmins led us in a session on Engaging men in Gender Equality using the "Barber Shop Series" toolkit. This allowed us to question and reflect on our unconscious bias regarding gender norms and stereotypes.

Recap of the Gender Alliance Summit

Recap of the Gender Alliance Summit

Recap of the Gender Alliance Summit

Raju Hittalmani graciously created this summary of the Gender Alliance Summit. 

GENDER ALLIANCE DEMO DAY

Gender Alliance Summit sparked new ideas and collaborations. We have 9 projects that have emerged from the 3 days of co-creation and are ready for the pitches. 


  1. The Woman Fund - Sylvia Mukasa
  2. Care4Diplomacy - Carolina, Trini and Dalya
  3. Transformative Lifeskills for Children - Tanya Maringo
  4. Dignity Media Fellowship - Raju Hittalmani
  5. Global Peace Champions for UNSCR 1325 - Harun Mwadena
  6. Tech Innovators - Kami Adjahossou
  7. Alliance to prevent GBV & FGM in women and girls - Hussein Ahmed
  8. The Sophie Chan Project - Andrea Bury
  9. Gender, Peace and Security So White - Miriam Muller


Please check the padlet for more details.


The Demo Day was planned on 25th Sep 0330 - 0530 pm CET to showcase these projects and invite partners, Foundations and others to support in any way they can.  


Gender alliance at key events

Global Intrapreneur Week 2020

UNIDO Conference on Women in Industry and Innovation

UNIDO Conference on Women in Industry and Innovation

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Gender Alliance hosted an interactive session at the Global Intrapreneur Week 2020 on 11 June 2020.


ElsaMarie DSilva and Thandi Dyani welcomed everyone and explained the session. Colette Mazzucelli shared the Feminist Manifesto which was the first co-creation of the members under this banner.


We deep dived into the following thematic areas through breakout sessions:

  • Intrapreneurship in Government facilitated by Julie Smith 
  • Gender Equality – Perception or Reality? facilitated by Nappinai NS 
  • Investing in women led businesses facilitated by Julia Profeta Johansson
  • Ending Violence Against Women and Girls facilitated by Chi Nguyen


Eirliani Abdul Rahman harvested the feedback from all the breakout sessions.

UNIDO Conference on Women in Industry and Innovation

UNIDO Conference on Women in Industry and Innovation

UNIDO Conference on Women in Industry and Innovation

The Gender Alliance was invited to host a panel at UNIDO's Conference on Women in Industry and Innovation.


Inspired by the stories of female leaders and entrepreneurs, the panel focused on the individual experiences of our Responsible Leaders in their organizations and countries. The discussion was moderated by Elsa Marie D’Silva, Founder & CEO, Red Dot Foundation, and hosted the following members of the Responsible Leaders Network:

  • Louise Blais, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Canada to the United Nations
  • Sylvia Mukasa, Founder & CEO of GlobalX Investments Ltd/GlobalX Innovation Labs (Kenya)
  • Rania Reda, Founder of Augmania.com (Egypt/Germany)
  • Pratima Kirloskar, President of Innovations (Society), Kirloskar Brothers Limited (India)
  • Mina Lópezlugo, Founder, ProBono Venture Mexico

16 Days of Activism to end GBV (2020)

UNIDO Conference on Women in Industry and Innovation

16 Days of Activism to end GBV (2020)

On  9th December, The Gender Alliance and Red Dot Foundation organised a campaign for the 16 Days of Activism named “Gender Tech in Civic Issues”. 


The discussion was moderated by ElsaMarie D’Silva along with four phenomenal speakers, Sylvia Mukasa (Founder, GlobalX Investments Ltd/GlobalX Innovation Labs), Ritu David (Founder, The Data Duck), Janet Chapman (Chair, Tanzania Development Trust) & Ines Silva (CoFounder, Portuguese Women in Tech), who shared their insights on the issue.   


The session culminated with a conclusive statement, 'Feminist Problems need Feminist Solutions,' a concrete statement that was a definite step forward.

Media

Care and Inclusiveness as Values for Diplomacy by Carolina Sheinfeld, Rocío Cañas, Trini Saona and Dalya Salinas


How an alliance of Female Leaders is closing the Gender Gap by Sarah LeBrecque


How Female Role Models Inspire and Empower Younger Generations by Shahira Amin


“We want to influence policy to accelerate change.” by ElsaMarie DSilva


Empowerment through Knowledge by Nappinai NS


“I hope the Gender Alliance will leverage the potential of our individual work.” by Helene Wolf


Empowering Women in Impact Businesses by Julia M Profeta Johansson


Amplifying Change: How a DJ Bridges Society by Thandi Dyani


“I’ve benefitted from strong, female leadership.” by Chris Fowler


Breaking Down Societal Norms by Eirliani Abdul Rahman


“This fight is not equal by any stretch of the imagination.” by Imran Simmins


“An equal world is one where the social constructions fall away.” by Julie Smith


How We Can Build an Alliance to End Modern Slavery by Cecilia Oebanda-Pacis


“An equal world is when we do not have to fight for our place.” by Thandi Dyani


“A Place Where We Can Come Together and Support One Another” by Elizabeth Maloba


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