Agenda

Mrs. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful (MP) is the Minister for Communications and Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West Constituency within the Greater Accra Region in Ghana.  Mrs. Owusu-Ekuful is a lawyer, advocate for women and children’s rights and was the MD of WESTEL, the second  National Telecoms Operator, Managing Consultant with N. U. Consult, Legal, Governance and Gender Consultants and  Chairperson for the Social Development Committee –  which developed all social intervention policies and programs for women, children, persons with disability and the aged  for the NPP manifesto 2016. 
 
She is a member of the Ghana Bar Association, International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) and African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA), Co-Chair of the AU/EU Digital Economy Task Force, Broadband Commission and currently, plays a pivotal role in the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana through the introduction and supervision of various technical solutions for social and health continuity management. 

Honourable Ursula Owusu-Ekuful holds the following academic qualifications: 
An LLB from Ghana’s premiere University, University of Ghana, Legon, and was called to the Ghana Bar in 1990. 
A Masters degree in Conflict, Peace and Security from the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre 
A certificate in Government Integrity from the International Law Institute, Washington DC, 
A Project Management and Planning Certificate from the Ghana Institute for Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) 

Since January 2020, Sylvia Poll is the Head of the Digital Society Division in the Telecommunication Development Bureau of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). This Division focuses on digital inclusion, and digital innovation ecosystems. Before that, she was for five years the Head of the ITU Project Support Division.

Sylvia Poll was the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office in Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland from 2010 to 2014, where she was the main focal point for Costa Rica, on sport for development and peace, as well as ITU, WIPO, WHO and IOM. Prior to this position, she was the Latin America Regional Manager of Executive Programs at the INCAE Business School and a manager at a Costa Rican communications company.

Ms. Poll was also an accomplished elite swimmer. She represented Costa Rica in two Olympic Games, Seoul, Korea 1988 and Barcelona, Spain, 1992. She won a silver medal, the first Olympic medal ever at that time, for Costa Rica and Central America, in addition to winning over 600 medals at national, regional and world swimming competitions. She was chosen the Best Athlete in Latin America two years in a row, in 1988 and 1989. Since 2010 she is a Member of the international organization “Peace and Sport”, as one of their “Champions of Peace”, a special Sport Ambassador, to help build sustainable peace through sport. She has also written on sport in different media outlets and worked as an expert swimming commentator during the broadcasting of the recent Rio Olympic Games 2016. Ms. Poll holds a Master in Business Administration and an Executive Master in International Negotiations and Policy Making.

Cédric Wachholz heads the Digital Policies and Digital Transformation Section (CI/DIT) in UNESCO, Gender Equality being one of the Organization’s two global priorities. UNESCO’s DIT Section supports Member States in navigating human right-based digital transformations through national assessments of digital enabling environments, accompanied by policy advice for inclusive and multistakeholder driven digital governance. We enhance the capacities of governments to implement digital transformation initiatives across their executive, legislative and the judicial branches. DIT also facilitates digital cooperation through multistakeholder fora to develop capacities, exchange knowledge on good digital policy practices and enhance strategic foresight, including multiple Artificial Intelligence (AI) work streams.

With over 25 years dedicated to international digital development, Cédric previously served as Chief of the Executive Office of UNESCO’s Communication and Information Sector, after having been the coordinator of UNESCO’s World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) follow-up, covering a wide range of ICT issues in the fields of the Sciences, Culture, Education and Communication and Information, including also Internet Governance. Cédric is originally an e-learning specialist and headed before the ICT in Education Units in UNESCO’s Education Sector HQs, and previously in UNESCO’s Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok, Thailand.

Claire is Head of Digital Inclusion in the Mobile for Development (M4D) team at GSMA. She leads the Connected Women and Connected Society programmes which are focused on accelerating digital inclusion for the underserved in low- and middle-income countries. Connected Women has a specific focus on accelerating digital and financial inclusion for women. 
 
Claire has been working for over 25 years with public, private and international development organisations on social policy and service delivery with a focus on information and communications technology (ICT) policy and practice. She has developed, managed and implemented programmes in Africa, Asia and the UK. Claire holds an MSc in Social Research Methods and an MSc in Social Policy and Planning in Developing Countries from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Giuseppina has over 15 years of international affairs and government relations. An Italian national, she unfolded her professional path operating in different Countries. Prior to joining Millicom she was Director of International Affairs in Madrid for Vinces Consulting developing public and government affairs and operation strategies for businesses across Europe. She worked at AT&T developing the international regulatory affairs strategy covering Canada, Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean. Previously, she held the position of Chief of Staff to the Secretary General of the European People's Party in Brussels. She has a degree in International and Diplomatic Sciences from the University of Trieste and a Master of Arts in Nationalism Studies from the Central European University in Budapest. She speaks Italian, English, Spanish and French. 

Coach in collective intelligence, Benoît loves supporting and developing teams, with listening and empathy, towards the transformation of organizations and processes. Indeed, passionate about new technologies, curious, he proposes and leads changes within Orange Business Services. Creative, motivated by the resolution of complex problems, he loves multicultural environments and advocates gender equity convinced that diversity (gender, culture, …) and inclusion (origins, disabilities,…) in teams, projects, programs and organizations is a key to increased creativity, well-being and economic efficiency along with social responsibility. He is involved in multiple associations or boards on these subjects. 

Ms. Hélène Molinier is the Senior Advisor on Digital Gender Equality Cooperation and the Thematic Lead for the GEF Action Coalition on Innovation and Technology at UN Women. 

She has been the manager of the Action Coalition since 2020 and was the Substantive Lead for the 67th session of Commission on the Status of Women (CSW67). She is the author of the report of the UN Secretary General for CSW67 on “Innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls” and of the UN Women policy paper on “Leveraging Digital Finance for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment”.

Helene joined UN Women in 2018 and has over 20 years of experience with a number of organizations, including UNDP, WHO, UNICEF, The Global Fund, IDLO and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs where she successfully developed and implemented innovative programming initiatives, including digital tools for youth empowerment, innovative finance mechanisms for biodiversity conservation, innovative legal preparedness frameworks, interactive capacity building methodologies and innovative grant making for legal empowerment and access to justice for vulnerable women. Her experience includes providing support for policy and regulatory reforms; strategic programming support to country offices, leading the design and implementation of large multi-stakeholder partnerships, developing inclusive and gender-transformative digital tools, frontier technology and social innovation. She has lived and worked in Morocco, South Africa, Benin, Congo Republic, Switzerland, Sri Lanka and Netherlands.

A national of France, Hélène holds a master’s in International Law and a master’s in Diplomacy and International Relations from Paris XI University.