Evidence suggests that unless we end violence against women and girls (VAWG) globally, we won’t achieve at least 14 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Set in 2015, against a global agenda for 2030, we are at the halfway mark, and the time for action is now.

Join us for a compelling discussion exploring the links between VAWG and education. In partnership with UNICEF and The Equality Institute, this webinar, moderated by Dr Emma Fulu (Executive Director, The Equality Institute) brings together global perspectives from guest speakers Sheena Hadi (Aahung), Lauren Rumble (Associate Director, Gender Equality, Programme Division, UNICEF), Alessandra Guedes (Gender and Development Manager (Research), UNICEF) and Dr Sarah Homan (Senior Research Associate, The Equality Institute).

It will adopt an intersectional, gendered lens to explore how these issues intersect, and what solutions and recommendations must be prioritised in order to end violence against women and girls, promote safe, accessible, education for all, and enable us to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

DATE: 7th December
TIME: 11:30pm AEDT
WHERE: All registered participants will receive a Zoom link prior to the event

About our Speakers

Dr Emma Fulu, Executive Director, The Equality Institute (moderator)
Dr Emma Fulu is a feminist activist, social entrepreneur and one of the world’s leading experts on violence against women. She is the founder and Executive Director of the Equality Institute, a global feminist agency working to advance gender equality and end violence against women and girls. She is also the co-founder of VOICE, a non-profit organisation that partners with women and girls in conflict and disaster settings to amplify their solutions to violence in their own communities. Before that she worked at the United Nations and led the ground-breaking UN Multi-Country Study on Men and Violence, the findings of which have been featured on BBC, Al Jazeera, and CNN. Emma is Co-Chair of the Gender and Rights Advisory Panel of the World Health Organization, and a member of the Global Women’s Institute Leadership Council. She has a PhD from the University of Melbourne, is the author of Domestic Violence in Asia, and publishes widely on gender, violence, masculinities and feminist leadership. The mother of three young children, Emma lives in Melbourne Australia.

Lauren Rumble, Associate Director, Gender Equality, Programme Division, UNICEF
Lauren Rumble, PhD has been working as a child and women’s rights advocate with the United Nations and other organisations for the past 15 years. She is passionate about using evidence to influence policy and leverage greater investments for women and girls, including to end poverty and violence. An experienced feminist leader of people, she enjoys the challenge of creating lasting solutions across teams to translate powerful ideas into practical action.

Alessandra Guedes, Gender and Development Manager (Research), UNICEF
Alessandra has dedicated 20 years of her professional life to promoting children’s and women’s rights and health, including working intensively to end violence against children and against women. She joined Innocenti in 2019 to lead the development and implementation of a research programme to address key issues and constraints to achieving gender equity within child protection, with a particular focus on addressing the interlinkages between violence against children and violence against women. Prior to joining UNICEF, Alessandra served as the World Health Organization’s Regional Advisor for the Americas on family violence prevention (2009-2019) and as the co-chair of the Sexual Violence Research Initiative’s Coordinating Group, a role she continues to occupy. Alessandra holds a Master of Science in Public Health for Developing Countries from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a Masters of Arts in Art Therapy from the George Washington University.

Sheena Hadi, Executive Director, Aahung
Sheena Hadi is the Executive Director of Aahung, the Karachi-based NGO working to improve the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) of people. In 2017, she was conferred the Joan B. Dunlop Award by the International Women’s Health Coalition (IWHC). Sheena travels abroad regularly for her work in strategy, planning, financial and human resource oversight and international fund-raising. She is also on the gender advisory panel of the World Health Organisation, and is involved in assorted United Nation processes which entail negotiations, donor liaisons, and attending and networking at international conferences.

Dr Sarah Homan, Senior Research Associate, The Equality Institute
Sarah is the Senior Research Associate at The Equality Institute (EQI), that works to advance equality and prevent violence against women globally through scientific research and innovation. Having trained as an anthropologist, her PhD focused on how social norms around honour and shame relate to gender-based violence in Nepal. Having experience in both academic teaching fields, as well as practical research, she possesses a sound knowledge of gender in development, as well as the various social norms and attitudes that underpin violence in different contexts. Sarah has led on a number of stakeholder trainings, policy briefs, fieldwork projects and research for the EQI, including as lead author on the Sustainable Development Goals and Violence Against Women and Girls paper.

For those who can't make it, a recording will be sent following the event.

And we encourage you, in the meantime, to access our 2021 paper on Sustainable Development Goals and Violence Against Women and Girls, online and share this with your networks.