Melanne Verveer is the Executive Director of the
Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security. She
most recently served as the first U.S. Ambassador for
Global Women’s Issues, a position to which she was
nominated by President Obama in 2009. She coordinated
foreign policy issues and activities relating to the
political, economic and social advancement of women. She
worked to ensure that women’s participation and rights are
fully integrated into U.S. foreign policy, and she played
a leadership role in the Administration’s development of
the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace and
Security. President Obama also appointed her to serve as
the U.S. Representative to the UN Commission on the Status
of Women.
From 2000-2008, she was the Chair and Co-CEO of Vital
Voices Global Partnership, an international NGO that she
co-founded to invest in emerging women leaders. During the
Clinton administration, she served as Assistant to the
President and Chief of Staff to the First Lady. She also
led the effort to establish the President’s Interagency
Council on Women, and was instrumental in the adoption of
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. She is the
co-author of Fast Forward: How Women Can Achieve
Power and Purpose (2015).
Samar Minallah Khan, a Pakistani Pashtun documentary
filmmaker, journalist, human rights activist, and
anthropologist uses advocacy, documentaries, and other
forms of media to open the eyes of civil society,
policymakers, and human rights activists to
culturally-sanctioned forms of violence. In 2003, Samar
created a documentary on Swara, to raise awareness around
the horrific practice of compensation marriage in Pakistan
and to move policy makers to abolish it. Thanks in part to
Samar’s film, swara was made illegal in 2004. Through her
media initiative, Ethnomedia, Samar continues to shed
light on issues of human trafficking, dowry and acid
crimes, child domestic labor and forced marriage. To date,
she has reached more than 150,000 people through her work.
In 2016, Samar was appointed as one of the ten Child
Rights Commissioners in Pakistan, a committee presided
over by the President of Pakistan.
Globally minded, yet rooted in her community, visionary
entrepreneur Adimaimalaga (Adi) Tafuna'i works to build
sustainable economic opportunities for Samoan women and
families. Adi is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of
Women in Business Development Inc. (WIBDI), which
encourages women to take on business roles, with a focus
on village-based economic development. Determined to
enable women to earn an income in their local community in
order to educate, feed and care for their families, Adi
worked to leverage local resources to connect Samoan women
with global markets. In 2008, Adi negotiated a contract
with The Body Shop to buy organically certified virgin
coconut oil from Samoa. Since then, WIBDI has expanded its
scope to run projects in five other Pacific Islands
countries. With the support of the DVF Award grant funds,
WIBDI’s 2016 project in the Solomon Islands enabled 2,000
people to secure stronger livelihoods. Adi also sits on
the Global Agenda Council for New Growth Models for the
World Economic Forum.
For more than 15 years, former Congresswoman Gabrielle
Giffords has dedicated herself to public service. As the
youngest woman ever elected to the Arizona State Senate,
she represented her community in the Arizona Legislature
from 2000-2005, and then in Congress from 2006-2012. Her
success was credited to her reliance on kindness, candor
and hard, grueling work. On January 8, 2011, at a
“Congress On Your Corner” event in Tucson with her
constituents, Congresswoman Giffords was shot in the head
from near point-blank range. In stepping down from
Congress in January 2012, Congresswoman Giffords said, “I
will return, and we will work together for Arizona and
this great country.” In 2013, Congresswoman Giffords and
her husband, Navy combat veteran and retired NASA
astronaut Captain Mark Kelly, founded Americans for
Responsible Solutions as a way to encourage elected
officials to stand up for safer communities.
Focusing on the environment, health, hunger and water,
Becky Straw and Jody Landers created The Adventure
Project. This non-profit works with local organizations to
empower people with the tools and education to become
profitable entrepreneurs, so they can go on to serve their
own communities and improve local economies.
The Adventure Project believes that people want the
opportunity to thrive, not with a handout, but through
dignified work. In just six years, the organization has
employed over 1,000 entrepreneurs in India, Haiti, Kenya,
and Uganda, which include well mechanics, healthcare
workers, farmers and stove masons. Together, these
entrepreneurs serve over one million people each day.
Last November, The Adventure Project launched a new goal
of moving a million people out of poverty by 2030.
