Gender and Development Forum: Day 2

Joan May Salvador is Secretary General of GABRIELA Alliance of Women in the Philippines, the biggest and broadest women’s organization in the Philippines that has for nearly four decades worked for the promotion and defense of the rights and interests of women in all spheres.

She is also member of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD)’s Women Interrogating Trade and Corporate Hegemony (WITCH) Programme Organising Committee, which focuses on building the capacity of women’s rights organisations to understand the impact of trade and investments rules on women’s human rights; and increase the power of feminist movements to interrogate and halt the growing power of corporations.

Professor Corina Rodriquez-Enriquez, Economist at the University of Buenos Aires, MA on Public Policy at the Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands, PhD on Social Sciences in Flacso, Argentina.

Researcher for the National Council of Research (CONICET) at the Interdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Public Policy (CIEPP) in Buenos Aires. Co-director PhD Program on Political Economy, Interdisciplinary School of Social Studies (IDAES). Professor at National Universities in Argentina. Consultant for International Agencies. Executive Committee Member at Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)

Vanda Radzik is Co-founder of Red Thread. She is a Guyanese and Caribbean feminist, committed to Human Rights, Gender Equality and Climate Justice. She is a graduate of the University of the West Indies in Cave Hill. Expertise in Participatory Methodologies and Participatory Research for Action. Served as Country Coordinator - Canada-Caribbean Gender Equality Programme Fund and on the UN Women Caribbean Civil Society Advisory Group. Currently serving on Gender Technical Working Group of the "Spotlight" initiative. Conducted participatory Diagnostic Survey "Access to Justice" for Guyanese Indigenous Women.

Her REDD+ work focuses on its potential benefits and risks for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. Served on Multi-Stakeholder group of the Low Carbon Development Strategy; currently member of National Standard Setting Working Group for forest certification.

She is a Civil Society member of the Multi-Stakeholder Group of the Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative. Contributed to Iwokrama Centre for Rain Forest Conservation and Development and mechanisms for inclusive participation, representation, decision-making, benefit-sharing and gender equality with its Indigenous partners. Helped establish and is Trustee of Bina Hill Indigenous Youth Learning Centre. National Awards include Golden Arrow of Achievement (AA); Iwokrama for outstanding service and Woman of Distinction.

Aishu Balaji is the Coordinator of Research and Programs at Regions Refocus, which is the Co-Chair and Secretariat of the Gender and Trade Coalition.

She has also undertaken research on the development industry through a critical lens as a master student at the London School of Economics and a research assistant to development academics. Her areas of inquiry have included caste-intersectionality in the Indian women movement, the political organizing of asylum seekers, autonomous development in post-independence Somaliland, and the politics of return migration.

Nursel Aydiner-Avsar is an Associate Professor at Akdeniz University, Serik Faculty of Management, Department of Economics and Finance in Antalya, Turkey. Prior to joining Akdeniz University, she worked as a consultant for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Trade, Gender and Development Programme in Geneva, Switzerland.

Nursel research interests are in the fields of Development Economics, Labour Economics, and the Economics of Gender. One area of her research is centred on the labour market, including employment, wage inequality, working poverty, and education inequality; another area explores welfare issues from a gender perspective. During her time at UNCTAD, she specialized in gender and trade issues in the context of developing countries, contributed to international projects on Africa, Latin America and the Pacific, and drafted reports. She received a PhD in Economics from the University of Utah in the USA, an MA in Economics from Istanbul Technical University (ITU), and a BSc in Management Engineering from ITU in Turkey.

Aishu Balaji is the Coordinator of Research and Programs at Regions Refocus, which is the Co-Chair and Secretariat of the Gender and Trade Coalition.

She has also undertaken research on the development industry through a critical lens as a master student at the London School of Economics and a research assistant to development academics. Her areas of inquiry have included caste-intersectionality in the Indian women movement, the political organizing of asylum seekers, autonomous development in post-independence Somaliland, and the politics of return migration.

Dr. Azra Talat Sayeed is the Executive Director for Roots for Equity, an organization working for the rights of small and landless farmers, that include the rights of women farmers and agriculture workers.

She has taken part in developing and implementing political education centered on equity and equality of marginalized communities especially women and girls in the rural communities and urban squatter settlements. She is currently the Chairperson for the Asia Pacific Research Network (APRN) as well as the International Women’s Alliance (IWA).

Azra has served on the regional council of Asia Pacific Forum on Women Law and Development for many years. She is also one of the two facilitators for the Women’s Constituency of the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) lodged in the United Nation’s Committee on World Food Security (CFS).

Pauline Vande-Pallen, Programme Officer with Third World Network Africa based in Accra, and also current Convenor of the Network for Women's Rights in Ghana

Kai-Ann Skeete is a Trade Research Fellow of the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services based at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, Barbados.

Dr. Skeete lectures on Research Methods for Trade as well as Regional Integration and Development within the Masters for International Trade Policy, as well as a compulsory post-graduate course called CARICOM and the CSME. Her research interests include CARICOM’s Forward Trade Agenda, Caribbean Regional Integration, Contingent Rights, Latin American Foreign Policy, Security Studies and Regional governance systems. 

Dr. Gillian Marcelle, leads Resilience Capital Ventures LLC, a boutique capital advisory practice specializing in blended finance.

She has a proven track record in attracting investment and focuses on telecoms, fintech, renewable energy and regenerative agriculture. Her specialty is the design and implementation of blended finance strategies that often involve partnerships, ecosystem strengthening and designing architectures for transformational change.

Dr Marcelle includes among her clients and partners: MPC Capital AG, Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT), AfriBio and the Clinton Foundation. She serves on the Advisory Board of Marketspace USA, and has guided numerous ventures in the role of Senior Advisor. Prior to this assignment, she was the Executive Director the UVI RTPark and previously held staff roles development finance with the International Finance Corporation, equity capital markets at JP Morgan Chase and M&A with British Telecom. Her earlier Board roles include serving as non-Executive Director with South African fintech Tafari Capital and on the UN ICT Task Force. Her academic career includes teaching and research as a tenured Associate Professor at Wits Business School in Johannesburg, South Africa and teaching at the University of East London and City University in London, England. She is a published research scholar and maintains active academic networks; in the US, with MIT and Penn State; in Europe with SPRU, University of Sussex; across the African continent and in the Caribbean.

Her educational background includes earning degrees in Economics from the University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago, and the Kiel Institute of World Economics, Germany; an MBA with a specialization in high technology management from the George Washington University and a doctorate in innovation policy from the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit, SPRU, University of Sussex.Dr Marcelle developed the Triple B Framework to improve flows and allocation of capital in its multiple forms; this provides a platform for engaging in the finance and investment world, where her contributions and perspectives on diversity, inclusion, accountability and alignment with the SDGs are becoming influential. Her international public service includes appointments with the United Nations and the World Economic Forum, Global Future Council on SynBio.

Attiya Waris is the first female Director of Research and Enterprise at the University of Nairobi. Attiya is the only Professor of Fiscal Law and Policy in Eastern and Central Africa. She holds a PhD in Law and is a specialist in Fiscal Law, Policy and Development.

She is an advocate, company secretary and arbitrator of over 20 years standing and was the founding Chair, Fiscal Studies Committee from 2017-2020. She spearheaded the first agreement on sharing of data between a University and a revenue agency globally in 2016.

She teaches at the Law School, University of Nairobi, Kenya and has previously taught in South Africa, Rwanda, Malaysia and the United Kingdom. She has researched and published on global, African, Asian, European as well as Latin American issues. Her book 'Tax and Development in 2013 is the first publication globally that links the areas of tax and human rights and her more recent publication Financing Africa is the first publication globally to map out African fiscal systems. She was a nominee in 2017 for the position of UN Special Rapporteur on Development. She is the current UN Independent Expert on Foreign Debt and other related international financial obligations of States on Human Rights (August 2021-2024) and is an Observer to the UN Tax Committee.

Kristina Hinds is a the Head of the Department of Government, Sociology, Social Work and Psychology at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus and a Senior Lecturer in Political Science in the same university.

She holds a PhD in International Relations (LSE), an MA in International Relations from the University of Kent, a PGDip in University Teaching and Learning from the University of the West Indies and a BA in International Development Studies from the St. Mary’s University.

She has published a book, Civil Society Organisations, Governance and the Caribbean Community, as well as journal articles and book chapters on a variety of topics relating to Caribbean governance and International Relations/Political Economy. Hinds has served on several bodies within the International Studies Association (2015-2021) and as the Caribbean Studies Association’s Programme Chair (2019-2021).

She is one of the hosts of “Down to Brass Tacks”, a Barbadian current affairs radio show; has represented Barbados as national Field Hockey Goalkeeper; and has served as the Female Vice-President of the Barbados Hockey Federation (2016-2018).

Dr. Angelique V. Nixon is a Lecturer and Researcher at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago.

She is a Bahamas-born and raised, Trinidad-based writer, artist, scholar and activist. Also, Angelique is the director of the feminist LGBTI civil society organisation CAISO: Sex & Gender Justice in Trinidad and Tobago.

Her research and creative work are widely available; she is author of the poetry and art chapbook titled Saltwater Healing and the award-winning scholarly book titled Resisting Paradise: Tourism, Diaspora, and Sexuality in Caribbean Culture. For two decades, Angelique has worked in social justice movements and civil society and community organisations regionally and internationally.

She is fiercely committed to intersectional queer feminist praxis, decolonial politics, and Black liberation.

Dr. Leith Dunn, a Jamaican Sociologist and Gender Specialist, graduated from the University of the West Indies Mona (BA, MSc) and the London School of Economics and Political Science (Ph.D.)

She worked with the UN, Commonwealth and is former Head of the UWI IGDS Mona Campus.

Her policy research/publications and teaching, have focused on gender mainstreaming: in the household, trade and economic development, the care economy, child labour, human trafficking, migration, climate change and disasters. She has received several awards for her work on gender and development from international regional and national institutions. In 2019 APolitical.com naming her among the 100 most influential persons globally promoting gender equality and gender policies.

Pamela Coke-Hamilton has served as Executive Director of the International Trade Centre since 1 October 2020. She joined ITC from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), where she was Director of the Division on International Trade and Commodities.

Ms. Coke-Hamilton has a breadth of experience and expertise in trade-related capacity-building and sustainable development. She served with the Jamaican Government, the Caribbean Forum in trade negotiations, and multilateral institutions, including the Organization of American States and InterAmerican Development Bank. She previously served as Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, strengthening the private sector and micro, small and medium enterprises through investment promotion.  

She has a deep understanding of the challenges faced by vulnerable economies such as the small island developing States and least developed countries. Ms. Coke-Hamilton has worked extensively with the private sector across African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and academia to build trade-related institutional strength within member States. She also established the Women Empowered through Export (WeXport) platform to address the disadvantages that women-owned firms experience in accessing markets. 

Ms. Coke-Hamilton holds a Juris Doctor in Law from the Georgetown University School of Law in Washington, DC, and a BSc in International Relations and Economics from the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica.

Diyana Yahaya is a Feminist Activist, Trainer, Researcher, Advocator and Mobilizer.

Diyana, has worked for more than a decade at local, national, regional and global level to undertake research, carry out advocacy on laws and policies, build capacity and strengthen movements to understand, challenge and develop alternatives to the traditional model of economic development and for human rights. She has carried out and advanced feminist and gendered analysis of the impact of trade, finance and investment rules through engagements with grassroots communities, fellow activists and civil societies, UN agencies, government officials and trade negotiators. She has also authored several briefs, reports, toolkit, and publications on various issues such as trade, economics, and feminist alternatives and demands.

Nadira Bayat is a gender specialist she provides technical support to the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) cross-regional programme on gender and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA). In her previous position as Gender and Trade Expert with the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Nadira led the approach to gender mainstreaming in AFCFTA National Implementation Strategies.

Nadira has a background in international law and over 20 years that combine wide-ranging expertise across key policy areas on the sustainable development agenda, including in gender equality and women economic empowerment.

Nadira has served in various roles in other UN agencies, including at the International Court of Justice, UN Transitional Administration in East Timor and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. She has also held senior positions in the South African Government, including as Counsellor: Multilateral at the Embassy of South Africa in Washington, DC.

Edmé Domínguez R. is Chairwomen of GADIP (Gender and Development in Practice) and Associate Professor in Peace and Development Studies, and member of the board of WIDE+, where she also coordinates the working group of Gender and Trade.

She was born in Mexico, but resides in Sweden, she has a BA in International Relations from El Colegio de México and a PhD from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (IEP), Paris, France. At present she works as lecturer in Latin American Studies, Gender studies and Global Political Economy at the School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg.

During the last 20 years she has been working and publishing on the social and gender implications of NAFTA for Mexico, on gender issues related to citizenship, political participation, labour, transnational activism and free trade agreements particularly in the case of Mexico, El Salvador and Bolivia.

Maureen Penjueli is the Coordinator for the Pacific Network on Globalisation. A Regional NGO based out of Suva, Fiji Islands that works to promote and support the right of peoples to be self-determining (politically and economically).

Maureen has over 20 years experience in the NGO world focused on environmental, social, political and economic justice issues that affect the lives of Pacific peoples and communities. PANG is involved in research and analysis to build knowledge systems to support, build capacity, empower communities and NGOs to engage policy process at the national, regional and global level to bring about transformative change.

Simonetta Zarrilli is the chief of the Trade, Gender and Development Programme of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), a programme she launched in 2010 and has been leading since. Under her leadership, the Programme provides analytical, policy and capacity-building support to member countries on the gender implications of trade policy.

Prior to leading this work area, Ms. Zarrilli worked on several trade and development related topics and carried out analytical, intergovernmental and technical cooperation activities in those areas.

Ms. Zarrilli was educated in law and international relations at the Università degli Studi di Siena in Italy, at the College of Europe in Belgium, at the Université de Strasbourg in France and at the University of Dundee in Scotland.

Dr. Michelle Rufaro Maziwisa is a postdoctoral researcher at the Dullah Omar Institute for Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights.

She is an admitted attorney, and advocates for multi-disciplinary approaches to economic development, taking into account the gendered dimensions of economic governance.

Dr Maziwisa holds a Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the University of the Western Cape, Master of Laws (LLM) from the University of Cape Town and Bachelor of Laws from Nelson Mandela University. She has been awarded research fellowships from the University of Hamburg (Germany) and has presented in national and international conferences.

Her areas of expertise: are public law, multilevel government law and policy, international trade and investment law, business and human rights, constitutional law, women's rights, including feminist trade justice, feminist tax justice.

Nicole Bidegain Ponte is Social Affairs Officer, Division for Gender Affairs of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

Ms. Bidegain contributes to ECLAC intergovernmental work particularly at the Technical Secretariat of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. She has expertise on the links between gender equality and trade and fiscal policies.

She also supports technical cooperation activities and research analysis in these areas. Author and collaborator to several publications on women’s human rights, development and gender equality public policies, including “The 2030 Agenda and the Regional Gender Agenda: synergies for equality in Latin America and the Caribbean”. Ms. Bidegain is a sociologist from the University of the Republic in Uruguay and holds a Masters in Contemporary Latin American Studies by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Before joining the UN, as a member of regional and global civil society networks, Ms. Bidegain actively participated for more than a decade in following up on the commitments of the United Nations Conferences on women's rights, population, financing for development, education and sustainable development.

Dr. Jan Yves Remy is the Director of the Shridath Ramphal Centre for International Trade Law, Policy and Services (the SRC), the premier trade institution of the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, Barbados, dedicated to training, research and outreach on issues of regional and international trade. She coordinates and lectures under in the SRC flagship Masters in International Trade Policy (MITP) programme and writes frequently on issues arising under Caribbean development and trade law. She holds the position of WTO Chair at the University of the West Indies (Barbados), under the WTO Chair Programme.

Jan Yves holds an undergraduate degree in law from the University of the West Indies (Hons); a masters from the University of Cambridge (Hons); and a PhD (summa cum laude) from the Graduate Institute of Development Studies on the Role of the Caribbean Court of Justice in Caribbean integration.

She previously worked as Senior Associate at Sidley Austin LLP (Geneva and Washington D.C.) and before that as Legal Officer at the Appellate Body of the WTO.