WEP Asia fellows participates in the first workshop hosted at the Ban Ki-moon Centre

October 1, 2019

“Change-makers, motivation, and peace. Everything you just said are the definitions of global citizens,” said BKMC CEO Monika Froehler.

The Women’s Empowerment Program fellows participated in an active workshop moderated by CEO Froehler at the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens office on October 1st, 2019. The group actively discussed the meaning of global citizenship, what are their favorite SDGs, and what they could do to achieve the Goals.

Co-chair Heinz Fischer also shared the history of women’s empowerment and what was the role of women in the development of the Austrian and European society.

“Today’s program was so useful for us because we found the SDGs and the connections between these Goals, and we could feel empowered to develop these Goals.” – Sohaila Rezaee from Afghanistan 🇦🇫

“The workshop today was very practical. It taught me skills in how to give my ideas in a structured and organized manner.” – Soo Min Jun from South Korea 🇰🇷

“I learned a lot about global citizenship, what it is to be a global citizen, and we had a lot of fun activities related to the SDGs. It is a very good opportunity to take time to talk about each one of them.” – Catherine Harry from Cambodia 🇰🇭

“I was worried that I felt far from the terms such as SDGs, Global Citizenship, and female leaders, but after this session, I found these terms to be fairly relatable to each one of us, to our countries and to our communities.” – Delgermaa Antangerel from Mongolia 🇲🇳

© BKMC / Eugenie Berger

Watch the video on #WEPAsia Day 2:

© BKMC / Angelika Lauber

BKMC launches the Women’s Empowerment Program (WEP) Asia!

September 30, 2019

The Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens together with the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna officially launched the Women’s Empowerment Program and welcomed the selected fellows from Asia tp Vienna on September 30th, 2019. Total 20 of the outstanding women leaders from Cambodia, Afghanistan, South Korea, and Mongolia were chosen to participate in the tailor-made fellowship training for the upcoming 2 weeks.

At the welcome event, Deputy Director Susanne Keppler-Schlesinger of the Diplomatic Academy said,

“the Austrian Empress Maria Theresia, a great  female leader herself, founded the Diplomatic Academy in 1754. She would be proud to see that today we are launching the Ban Ki-moon Centre’s Women’s Empowerment Program in the very institution that she built.”

The program will offer a unique opportunity to advance young international female global citizens’ potential to promote the Sustainable Development Goals and foster women’s empowerment in their countries of origin by training their communication skills, crisis management and mediation competencies at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.

“We received hundreds of impressive applications in the past months. You are the 20 Global Citizen Fellows that we have selected, and it is beautiful to see you gathered here today, already building international friendships and a network of change makers,” said the organizer of the program Viola Christian.

This fellowship training program will offer an environment in which young women can refine their ability to make sustainable change and grow their networks to become the leaders of tomorrow.

“In these two weeks,” said BKMC CEO Monika Froehler to the fellows, “you will further develop your skill-set to make sustainable development happen and to empower women globally.”

The fellows had the time to introduce themselves to each other and share their innovative ideas and initiatives to contribute to the sustainable development in our shared society.

Watch the video update of the WEP Asia on Day 1:

Learn more about WEP Asia: https://bankimooncentre.org/projects/wep

Photos by Eugenie Berger
Video by Angelika Lauber