Radha’s Message for June 2013
June is off to a busy start for the Alliance Secretariat team. I’ve just returned from Women Deliver’s 2013 Global Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the health and well-being of women and girls are at the center of every conversation, event, and networking opportunity. Thousands of public, private, and nonprofit leaders from every corner of the globe were in attendance!
In addition to participating on a women and energy panel, hosting a side-event breakfast on the clean cooking issue and the Alliance, and connecting with participants, I was honored to co-host a dinner with Kathy Calvin, the UN Foundation President and CEO, and a very special guest, His Royal Highness Raja Doctor Nazrin Shah ibni Sultan Azlan Muhibuddin Shah, The Regent of the State of Perak of Malaysia.
Thought leaders and influencers joined us over an intimate dinner for an in-depth conversation about our issue, the Alliance and its partners, and how we can increase our efforts to raise awareness about this silent killer.
During my remarks at the dinner, I was pleased to announce the first round of Alliance Spark Fund award winners, which you can read more about inside this month’s newsletter.
Leaving Malaysia, I am confident that the issue of dangerous and inefficient cooking practices is better understood as a major women and girls issue.
In addition to the suite of activities at Women Deliver, the Alliance had a presence at the Clinton Global Initiative’s mid-year meeting, the Carbon Expo in Barcelona, and the Global Bioenergy Partnership Conference in Berlin last week, and is currently on the ground in Bangladesh, where local stakeholders are finalizing their country action plan. Before long, we’ll be departing for Bonn, where we look forward to participating in the International Cooking Energy Forum that we are co-hosting with GIZ.
Inside June’s newsletter, you’ll read about: two active funding opportunities we have relevant to health, gender, and livelihood issues in the Andean region; the ongoing ISO process and how your organization can be a part of it; the Partner Country Toolkit tailored to help the Alliance’s partner countries catalyze their efforts to create clean cookstove and fuel markets; our partner Ecofogao’s work in Brazil; and as usual, new Alliance partners, upcoming events, and media highlights – including an important new paper, Household Air Pollution in Low and Middle Income Countries: Health Risks and Research Priorities.
Regards,
Radha