She Leads in Crisis: Supporting Women’s Leadership and Resilience

10 March 2020, Ottawa, ON -  FAO North America and CARE Canada cohosted a breakfast briefing for policymakers on Parliament Hill in Ottawa entitled She Leads in Crisis: Supporting Women’s Leadership and Resilience on the Front Lines of Climate Change and Humanitarian Crises. This event represented FAO North America’s first-ever formal activity in the Canadian Parliament. Despite the event’s early morning start and poor weather, well over 100 persons attended including 10 Senators, many staff working for various Members of Parliament, as well as senior officials from Global Affairs Canada and key Canadian civil society organizations.

The event was sponsored by three Senators, each of whom made opening remarks and attended the entire session, including: Ratna Omidvar, Independent Senator from Ontario; Mike Lake, Shadow Minister for International Development, Conservative Party of Canada; and Heather McPherson, Deputy House Leader, Critic for International Development, Deputy Critic for Foreign Affairs. Together, the three Senators represented all of the major Canadian political parties. Attendees and the Senators themselves repeatedly noted how rare it is for Senators from all three of Canada’s major political parties to participate together in an event, underscoring the strong bipartisan engagement and interest in the work of FAO and CARE Canada. MP Kamal Khera, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development, also delivered opening remarks at the event and attended for its duration. 

Vimlendra Sharan, Director of FAO North America, provided a thorough overview of FAO’s work around the world to achieve Zero Hunger, as well as the Sustainable Development Goals. He expressed appreciation for Canada’s robust support for FAO and for its long-standing partnership with the Organization dating back to its founding in Quebec City, Canada in 1945. He also highlighted FAO’s priorities going forward under the leadership of Director-General Qu Dongyu, including the Hand-in-Hand Initiative. Jessie Thomson, Vice President of International Programs at CARE Canada described the NGO’s work around the world aimed at promoting women’s leadership and resilience, particularly in the face of climate change and other humanitarian crises. She also announced CARE Canada new initiative and report entitled She Leads in Crisis: Stand with Women on the Front Lines of the Climate Crisis.

This was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Tom Pesek, Senior Liaison Officer at FAO North America. There were four speakers on the panel, including:

• Malual Bol Kiir, South Sudanese Refugee and Founder, African Youth Action Network (AYAN)
• Andrea Rodriguez, Recent Graduate, International Development and Gender Studies, Trinity Western University
• Luisa Veronis, Associate Professor and Graduate Chair in the Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Ottawa; and
• Maxime Michel, Head of Humanitarian Programs, CARE Canada

Each of the panelists highlighted different complexities at the intersection of global efforts to promote women’s leadership and resilience amid the growing impacts of climate change, other humanitarian crises, as well as international migration and displacement. These issues included, efforts to save livelihoods, particularly for youth, as well as how women experience climate change and displacement differently, and therefore what a gender-responsive approach entails.