MEDIA & EVENTS

Events

GFW's parallel event at the UN Commission on the Status of Women

Breaking the Poverty Cycle: Inclusion of Widows and Their Dependents

March 15, 2024 at 8.30 am
8th Fl, 777 United Nations Plaza, NYC Church Center for the U.N. (CCUN)
Speakers:
Dianah Kamande, founder of Come Together Widows Organization
Ms. Kamande is a devoted activist against Gender-Based Violence prompted by her traumatizing experience as a survivor. She is a widow passionate about widow’s rights and empowerment. She is the founder of ComeTogether Widows Organization. Her passion for widows’ empowerment propelled her to organize widows of Kenya into small groups in every ward to enable them to access funding. She also realized the gender gaps contributing to widows’ abuse and drafted a Bill to bridge the Gaps. She has also linked the widows’ groups with the Ministry for Gender to help widows get a platform to articulate their issues. In December 2018, she was feted by President Uhuru Kenya with a Head of State Commendation (HSC).She has also won local and international awards such as the Above & Beyond Award by Black Women Widows Organization in North Carolina, USA, Global Goodwill Ambassador by Atlanta Georgia, USA, I Am Africa Award by I Am Africa Community, Dakar, Senegal, Unwavering Advocacy Award by Global Fund for Widows, New York, USA, Life Time Achievement Award by Top Women inBusiness, Kenya and Changing Lives for Better Excellence Award by Ladies of AllNations International, UK. She is currently pursuing a degree in Governance, Peace and Conflict Studies at Africa Nazarene University and holds a diploma in Women in Leadership and Governance in Africa from UoN.

Margaret Owen, OBE, Founder of Widows for Peace through Democracy
Margaret Owen is an experienced human rights lawyer who specializes in advocating for women’s rights, with a particular focus on regions affected by conflict and fragility. Her work also encompasses the rights of widows, migrants, refugees, and women living in societies marked by racism and misogyny. She is the founder, former Director and now President of the London based NGO Widows for Peace through Democracy (WPD). She has been a stalwart campaigner for widows' rights for over 30 years. 

Elena Saenz Feehan, Director of Programs and Advocacy at Global Fund for Widows
Elena Saenz Feehan is the Director of Programs and Advocacy at Global Fund for Widows (GFW), the world's largest nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering widows and female heads of households. As the Director of Programs and Advocacy, Ms. Saenz Feehan oversees the operations of GFW’s Country Programs while championing the rights of widows at the local, national, and international levels. Before her role at GFW, she worked as the Program Manager for Peace, Security, and Defense at Friends of Europe, a leading, independent think tank based in Brussels. She also served as a member of the board at Women in International Security (WIIS) Brussels, an organization dedicated to advancing the leadership and professional development of women in the field of international peace, security, and defense. Ms. Saenz Feehan holds a bachelor’s degree in Political and Public Administration Sciences, and a master’s degree in International Conflict Studies from King’s College London.  She speaks English and Spanish.   

Emelda Ndinjiakat, Founder of Grace Gardens Women’s Health Association 
Emelda Ndinjiakat holds an Associate Degree in Law and Political Science from Dschang University-Cameroon and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) from the University of Texas atArlington (UTA). Emelda is currently enrolled in the Pediatric Nurse Practitioner- Acute Care (PNP-AC) program at the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). Her ultimate goal is to become a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Oncologist. She belongs to the following Honor Societies: Phi Kappa Phi, Sigma Alpha Lambda, and Golden Key International.
As the treasurer and Board of Director of Faith Gardens Medical Foundation International (FGMFI), a pediatric nurse, and a cervical cancer survivor, Emelda is both diligent in advocating for the sick and educating women in medically underserved regions of the world about female cancers and preventive healthcare. She started the Foundation together with her husband Dr. Samuel Ndinjiakat in 2013 and three years later, Grace Gardens Hospital Ndop-Cameroon was created under the FGMFI. Emelda’s main area of practice has been pediatric nursing for the past 13 years, but she became passionate about women’s health and the plight of widows after her cervical cancer diagnosis in 2019.
After going through three major surgeries and multiple rounds of radiation and chemotherapy, Emelda has made it her lifelong goal to educate women across the globe, mostly in Africa her continent of origin. She spearheaded the creation of Grace Gardens Women's Health Association (GGWHA) in June 2021after her first Breast and Cervical Cancer Conference in Ndop-Cameroon and eventually created Widows of Grace (WoG) in 2022. Today, the Association has over 300 registered women and 106 widows who meet twice a month at Grace Gardens Hospital. The women are being taught how to make local soap, antiseptic soap, glycerin, bleach, perfume, and vaseline and take care of their health from the proceeds. Emelda is married to her wonderful husband Dr. Samuel Ndinjiakat who is the Founder/CEO of Faith Gardens Medical Foundation International and together, they have six amazing children. Samuel Jr., Princess, Leilani, Jesse, Nathan & Leah. In her spare time, she loves to travel to learn about other cultures, watch Korean dramas, and socialize with close friends and family.

 



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Meet our Distinguished Guests of Honor

Chief Guest of Honor
Graca Machel
African stateswoman
Graça Machel is an African stateswoman whose decades long professional and public life is rooted in Mozambique’s struggle for self-rule and international advocacy for women and children’s rights. She is a former freedom fighter in Mozambique’s FRELIMO movement and that country’s first Minister of Education. 

In the years following her tenure in government, Machel produced a ground-breaking UNICEF report “The Impact of Armed Conflict on Children” that changed the way the United Nations and member states respond in conflict zones. Since then, she has worked tirelessly in support of global health, child welfare, and women’s rights and empowerment. 

Machel works through several regional and international development bodies to accelerate social transformation. Machel is a founding member and Deputy Chair of The Elders, and played a key role in establishing Girls Not Brides. She is a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Sustainable Development Goals Advocacy Group.

Machel lends her expertise to a number of organizations in a governance role. She serves as Board Chair of the Africa Child Policy Forum, Board Chair of the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes, Board Chair of United People Global as well as Executive Chair of the Mandela Institute for Development Studies. Machel is a Board Member of the South African Future Trust (SAFT), Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the Kofi Annan Foundation, and Education Above All. She is Board Chair Emeritus for the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH) and is a UNICEF Young People's Agenda Global Advisory Board Member. She is Chairperson of Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust and a Trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. She also sits on the Jack Ma Netpreneur Advisory Board. Additionally, she is the Chancellor of the African Leadership University.
Guest of Honor
H.E.M. Abdou Abarry
Permanent Representative of Niger to the U.N.
Ambassador Abdou Abarry, new Permanent Representative of Niger to the United Nations, presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Antonío Guterres on June 4, 2019.

Mr. Abarry was previously the Special Representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission and head of office in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since 2014.  Before joining that regional bloc, he headed its Liaison Office to the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS) in Abuja, Nigeria, beginning in 2011.

A career diplomat, Mr. Abarry was Ambassador to Belgium from 2003 to 2011, accredited concurrently to Greece, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. He also had accreditation to the United Nations Offices in Geneva and Vienna, the European Union Commission and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States.

Mr. Abarry was also Diplomatic Adviser to the President of the Republic of Niger and Director General of State Protocol from 1999 to 2003. He served as a Counsellor at Niger’s Permanent Mission in New York from 1992 to 1997.

Holder of a master’s degree in International Relations from the Ecole Supérieure d’Administration et des Carrières Juridiques de Lomé, in Togo, he also earned a diploma from the International Relations Institute of Cameroon.

Mr. Abarry received honorific distinctions such as Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite du Niger (1999), Grand-Croix de la Couronne du Royaume de Belgique (2011), Commandeur de l’ordre National du Niger (2014), Officier de la Légion d’honneur Française (2014)
Guest of Honor
Racey Muchilwa
Head of Novartis Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
Racey Muchilwa is the Head of Novartis Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), leading 46 countries. Since becoming the SSA Head in 2019, she has led a strategic business transformation, albeit during the COVID-19 pandemic, to integrate three major business divisions under one leadership and navigate a new strategic direction that focuses on patient reach, besides the traditional business metrics such as sales. SSA is home to one of the world’s largest underserved populations, hence the bold aspiration to accelerate access to healthcare and high-quality medicines to over 1B people in the region. Racey has over 20 years of experience in the Pharmaceutical industry across different multinationals. She began her career as a Medical Representative and has held varying positions of increasing responsibility within general management, marketing and commercial functions. In her previous role, Racey was the Head of the Novartis Africa Cluster, Pharmaceuticals Division (October 2018 to October 2019) and, prior to this, Country Group Head of English East and the Horn of Africa for about three years. She is a recipient of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) 2020 Leading Women Awards, for exemplary leadership during the COVID-19 crisis. Racey holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry -Zoology from Egerton University in Kenya and a Master’s in Business Administration (International Business Management) from the University of Nairobi (U.O.N.) in Kenya.
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