-A CSW59 best practices roundtable hosted by Metropolis, the City of Barcelona and the Brussels-Capital Region

On March 11, 2015 -- in conjunction with the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action -- Metropolis, the City of Barcelona and the Brussels-Capital Region have the pleasure of hosting a best practices roundtable on the topic of “Urban Digital Women: Digitally empowering women for positive urban transformation."

This unique event, co-chaired by Ms. Bianca Debaets, Secretary of State for Equal Opportunity of the Brussels-Capital Region, and Ms. Francina Vila, Councilor for Civil Rights and Women for the City of Barcelona and President of the Metropolis International Women Network, is an official side-event of CSW59 / Beijing+20 (2015) and will explore the following topics:

• Challenges facing cities and their women
• Challenges facing women, particularly in urban centers
• Opportunities for digitally empowering women to positively shape the urban landscape

10:00-10:10 - Welcome Message

10:10-10:30 - Keynote Speech: Ms. Esther Roure Vila, Cisco, 2015 European Digital Woman of the Year (DLI)

10:30-12:15 - Panel Debate & Public Discussion:

• Panel Co-Chairs:
• Ms. Bianca Debaets, Secretary of State for Equal Opportunity of the Brussels-Capital Region
  
• Ms. Francina Vila, Councilor for Civil Rights and Women for the City of Barcelona and President of the Metropolis International Women Network

• Panel Members:
• Ms. Esther Roure Vila, Cisco, 2015 European Digital Woman of the Year (DLI)
• Ms. Wendy Vermoesen, Yambla, 2014 Young ICT Lady of the Year (Datanews - Belgium)
• Ms. Hyun Ock Cho, Assistant Mayor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government
• Ms. Cristina Blancafort, Project Manager Barcelona E-Government Department, Barcelona City Council & Project leader mobileID for the Municipalities of Barcelona

• Panel Moderator: Ms. Cheryl D. Miller, Founder & Executive Director, Digital Leadership Institute

12:15-12:30 - Conclusions and Wrap-up: Ms. Cheryl D. Miller, Founder & Executive Director, Digital Leadership Institute

Rapporteur: Ms. Valeri Rajkovcevik, Attaché, Brussels-Capital Region, International

Translation: English/Spanish/French