Breakout Session | Stage 2
Host: Business Fights Poverty, Business in the Community, One Young World
While in many regions the focus is still on the emergency response to the pandemic, we need to start thinking now about what actions we can take to rebuild better towards 2030. This must include action to tackle the inequities that the pandemic, alongside movements like Black Lives Matter and MeToo, have highlighted. The multiple dimensions of inequity require system-level solutions, social norms change, and broad-based partnerships. This session will bring together leading experts and practitioners to unpack the multiple and inter-related sources of discrimination, such as gender, race, sexual orientation, and disability, that people face and that inhibits progress across multiple SDGs. The speakers will explore the role that business can play, in partnership with others, to drive an equitable future and what more needs to be done – providing practical guidance and space for peer discussion. This will include examples across the business value chain; from inclusive product design and procurement to marketing campaigns tackling stereotypes as well as innovative human resources policies on domestic violence and paternity leave.
Speakers
Zubair is the founder of ZNotes, a community-led learning platform that has reached millions of students globally. He is also the podcast host of The Tomato Timer and a maths graduate from UCL. An outspoken promoter of the UN SDG4, Zubair holds ambassadorial roles for the One Young World and STEM UK, as well as being published in journals and websites such as Nasdaq and the iSDB SDG Digest. A super outdoors person, Zubair is a streak and marathon runner, inline and figure skater and loves wild swimming!
Maria-Noel Vaeza assumed functions as Regional Director for the Americas and the Caribbean in July 2019. Ms. Vaeza previously worked as Director of the Program Division at the UN Women Headquarters in New York. Ms. Vaeza joined UN Women from the UNOPS Headquarters in Copenhagen, where she served as Director for Global Portfolio Services Office and Partnerships Practice Group and was responsible for the operational results of UNOPS global portfolios and for the establishment of UNOPS strategic partnerships. Ms. Vaeza previously served as the Regional Director of UNOPS for Latin America and the Caribbean, responsible for a regional portfolio of 270 projects in 22 countries with a total budget of $ 2.4 billion for the 2007-2013 period and an annual average delivery of nearly $ 400 million. She spent 8 years at UNDP, where she held various posts including Senior Advisor, Deputy Resident Representative in Paraguay, and Senior Manager for the Recovery, Reconciliation and Reform Programme. Prior to joining the UN, Ms. Vaeza held multiple positions in Uruguay’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including as Political Counselor at Uruguay’s Embassy to the US and as Delegate of Uruguay to the UN General Assembly. She was also the alternate Representative of Uruguay to the World Bank Board of Directors. Ms. Vaeza is a national of Uruguay. She holds a Doctorate in Law and Social Science from the University of the Republic of Uruguay and a Master’s Degree in International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University, Washington DC.
Gender Equality, Health, Inequalities, Leave No One Behind, People
| Host: Business Fights Poverty/ Business in the Community/ One Young World |, Alice Allan (Business Fights Poverty), David Grayson CBE (Carers UK), Jane Pillinger (Open University), Jodi Harris (AB InBev), Maria-Noel Vaeza (UN Women), Sandra Kerr CBE (Business in the Community), Zubair Junjunia (ZNotes / One Young World Ambassador)
