LPHF Director Speaks at World Summit on Women & Girls
LONDON, UK, November 6th–8th — Alexia Cito, Executive Director of LPHF, spoke as a panelist at the World Summit on Women & Girls, convened by the Justina Mutale Foundation, at the House of Lords, Westminster, UK Houses of Parliament.
The 3 day World Summit on Women & Girls is an intergenerational dialogue with world leaders, that brought together women and girls and their male allies from across the globe to commemorate the United Nations International Day of the Girl Child. The 2024 Summit addressed opportunities, challenges, emerging issues, and realities on the ground impacting on the girls’ agency, leadership, and potential. Speakers and participants highlighted the importance of investing in a future that believes in girls’ agency, leadership, and potential and the need for female leadership and decision-making in the digital age.
Check out our video recap of the summit below:
The summit convened world leaders and influencers from government and community, as well as representatives of businesses from the private and public sectors, including entrepreneurs, investors, innovators, tourists, exhibitors, fashion enthusiasts, information seekers, the media and the general public from all of the world and all walks of life. They exchanged and shared with each other good practices, ideas, hopes, aspirations, and lived experiences with the goal to mentor, educate, empower, inspire and motivate one another to raise the voices of women and girls to become effective leaders in the decision-making process in the digital age.
During her time there, Alexia connected with many of these inspirational leaders, sharing on the necessity of the world connecting in the principle of oneness of humanity to make an impact, learning from each other, and while respecting our differences, bringing unity, collaboration, advocating on behalf of one another, and how we can each make an impact, lifting each other up.
One day 2, Alexia spoke as a panelist at the panel, “How We Can Support Girls’ Vision for the Future”. See an excerpt of her speech in this video:
In her interview, Dr. Mutale shared on the necessity of clean water and education in rural communities, and the ripple effect that it has, not only on the trajectory and quality of life of the individual – especially girl children – but also on the community, on a local to global scale, by empowering them to contribute to the world.
Dr. Mutale shared, “Those children in the village, it’s not that they are incapable, they have just not been given an opportunity to prove what they are capable of. I believe that every child has potential, and every child can succeed at something, you just have to give them an opportunity to stimulate their talent, to stimulate their mind, their imagination, so that they can contribute to the world. They say that if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will fail. But if you throw it into the water, it will swim. So we have to find what talents lie in that village that the world can benefit from.”
Dr. Mutale is also the Founder & President of the Justina Mutale Foundation and its Scholarship Programme for underprivileged young women and girls from Africa to access tertiary education around the world. Dr Mutale also serves as Chairperson of the National Alliance of Women's Organisations (NAWO). She has for years, consistently advocated for gender equality, diversity and inclusion, and the empowerment of women and girls. In the process, she has won global acclaim as one of the most influential women of African origin having in 2012 been named “African Woman of the Year”, sharing a platform with many African Heads of State. Dr Mutale sits on the Board of the World Leaders Forum Dubai and serves as Global Envoy for Gender Equality and Spokesperson of the International Women's Think Tank. She leads and serves on several other Boards across the globe. Dr Mutale has been honored with numerous international awards and featured in the 100 Most Reputable People on Earth and 100 Most Influential Women with an induction into the World Book of Greatness. Dr Mutale is bestselling author of “The Art of Iconic Leadership: Power Secrets of Female World Leaders”.
Check out Alexia’s other interviews at the summit: 1) with Queen Nafisa Abdullahi here. 2) with Business Leader Dr. Genevieve Pearl Duncan Obuobi here. 3) with International Regulatory Lawyer Monica Maghami here. 4) with Jeremy Blain Chief Executive of Performance Works International Australia/UK here.
Queen Nafisa Abdullahi is a model, aspiring diplomat, and passionate advocate for women and girls empowerment. Originally from Nigeria, Nafisa is committed to advocating for dignified employment opportunities for women. She believes that empowering women through economic independence is key to addressing issues such as gender-based violence, exploitation and Human trafficking. Her vision is to become a Diplomat, representing Nigeria internationally and fostering change through her work. She is driven by a desire to inspire and uplift the next generation of women.
Dr. Genevieve Pearl is the Lead Consultant of Tarragon Edge Limited. She previously worked with Fidelity Bank Ghana Limited. She is listed as one of the 100 most impactful change makers in Africa and 40 most influential female leaders in Ghana 2020. Dr. Genevieve is an alumnus of the Swiss Business School Zurich, Switzerland where she earned her Doctorate in Business Administration, and the University of Ghana, Legon where she had her Master's Degree and GIMPA for her Bachelors in Business Administration.
Monica E. Maghami is an EU and Brazilian international regulatory lawyer, focused on technology, sustainability and human rights. Due to her interest in human rights, bridging digital divides between the Global North and South, tackling the triple planetary crisis and contributing to the Pact for the Future, Monica has been a speaker at the G20 IF forum, Summit of the Future side events and key webinars, as well as a board member of NAWO (National Alliance of Women Organization) and IEF (International Environment Forum). Monica has recently convened working groups at the UN in Geneva for the Beijing +30 forum, participated at COP28 and the UN Nairobi conference, and is working towards CSW69 and COP30 by using her background and experience in law and technology to advance worthy causes that improve the rights of women and girls and protect the environment.
Jeremy Blain is an International change influencer at strategic and operational levels enabling boards, executive leaders and organizations to succeed in a digital world. He is the multi award-winning Chief Executive of Performance Works International (PWI), a modern leadership consultancy and is also Co-Founder of the social enterprise, DiversiTy-Talent. Jeremy’s core purpose is to champion diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces and advocated for greater gender balance in boardrooms, leadership suites and senior management.