Annual Meeting of High Level Advisory Group for WMU Empowering Women Programme
On 31 January, the World Maritime University (WMU) - Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute hosted the third annual meeting of the High Level Advisory Group for the Empowering Women for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development Programme.
The session was opened by WMU President, Dr. Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, who reflected on the achievements of the Empowering Women Programme to date, highlighting the two well-attended Side Events hosted at the 2022 United Nations Oceans Conference in Lisbon. President Doumbia-Henry congratulated the research team, Ms. Ellen Johannesen, Ms. Renis Auma Ojwala, and Dr. Mariamalia Rodriguez Chaves on their findings and outputs to date. Dr Doumbia-Henry also reflected on the challenges that women in the maritime field face daily and highlighted that United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5, focused on gender equality, is key in achieving the aims of the other 16 Goals.
The purpose of the High Level Advisory Group is to provide additional expertise and feedback for the research team. This includes a key output of the programme which is the development of a framework Strategy and Action Plan for ocean-related international institutions to make practical and policy relevant recommendations for empowering women in ocean science and science dependent governance systems in the context of the Ocean Decade.
Dr. Mariamalia Rodriguez Chaves shared her draft of the Strategy and Action Plan for empowering women within ocean-related international institutions which generated fruitful discussion with invaluable recommendations from the members of the High Level Advisory Group. Presentations on research achievements and progress to date were well received and made by Ms. Ellen Johannesen on the topic of “Understanding the role of gender in the Practice of International Marine Science”, and Ms. Renis Auma Ojwala on the topic of “Gender Equality in Ocean Science for Sustainable Development: Analysis of Ocean Science Institutions in Kenya”.
The meeting was held in hybrid format, both on site in Malmö and with members of the High Level Advisory Group attending virtually from across the globe. The members represent a wide range of sectors including governments, United Nations entities and intergovernmental organizations (IGO), academia, industry, non-governmental organizations (NGO), civil societies, and philanthropic foundations.
About the DFO-WMU Empowering Women for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development Programme
The purpose of the Empowering Women Programme is to advance an alternative, inclusive model for the sustainable governance of ocean spaces and maritime activities that duly takes into account the need to ensure effective gender equality and the empowerment of women at all levels in order to ensure the sustainable management of the global ocean. The Programme is endorsed by IOC-UNESCO as a Decade Action and will play a central role in supporting the Ocean Decade mission to catalyze transformative ocean science solutions for sustainable development. The Empowering Women for the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development Programme is generously funded by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) with additional support from The Nippon Foundation.
About the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute
The vision of the WMU-Sasakawa Global Ocean Institute is to act as an independent focal point for the ocean science-policy-law-industry-society interface where policy makers, the scientific community, regulators, industry actors, academics, and representatives of civil society meet to discuss how best to manage and use ocean spaces and their resources in accordance with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Institute was inaugurated in May 2018 and made possible through generous support from The Nippon Foundation of Japan, the Governments of Sweden, Canada, and Germany, as well as the City of Malmö.
