Join our Kapuscinski Development Lecture with Bandana Rana live on 30 November

Scaling the summit for women’s rights

Join our #KAPTalks LIVE with Bandana Rana, who will discuss scaling women’s rights. Join us on 30 November at 18.00 CET / 17.00 GMT. The lecture is hosted by Aide à l’Enfance de l’Inde et du Népal (AEIN) and the University of Luxembourg.

For many women, finding their voice and identity in South Asia is like climbing Mount Everest. It’s not an easy task because of deeply embedded patriarchal values and gender norms. Violence against women, particularly domestic violence, is the biggest deterrent to women’s advancement and development. However, with a vibrant women’s movement and civil society activism, scaling this mountainous hurdle is possible.

Equality advocate Bandana Rana explores how a shared collective vision of inclusive development is required to make gender equality a reality.

This means breaking the culture of silence, harnessing the potential of the media and enhancing critical and collaborative partnership for transforming the roadmap to inclusive development. Her lecture will highlight experiences of linking efforts from local to global and global to local to scale the hurdles of rising inequality.

Background information

Bandana Rana’s experience spans three decades of active engagement in promoting women's rights and gender equality through the different organisations and networks she has founded and led. She has been a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women since 2017. She is also a member of the UNFPA High Level Commission on ICPD25. She has worked from grassroots to national, regional and global level leading advocacy, research, and public outreach and community mobilisation programmes. Her many years of dedicated work have been in the areas of violence against women, gendered conflict transformation, peace building and engendered media, particularly through the two organisations she co-founded and led: Saathi and Sancharika Samuha.

Ms Rana is the recipient of the Woman of Distinction Award 2016 conferred by the NGO CSW Committee for her dedicated work and contribution to gender equality globally. She was also a member of the UN Secretary General's High Level Advisory Group for the Global Study on the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

Ms Rana is the chair of the board of directors of the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) and former Chair of the Global Network of Women Shelters.

Register for the Kapuscinski Development Lecture

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