Ivanka Trump welcomes inaugural W-GDP IVLP group focused on Women’s economic empowerment

In support of the White House’s Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) Initiative, the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) created a new International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) entitled “W-GDP: Overcoming Barriers to Women’s Economic Participation.” This September, Meridian International Center was honored to partner with DoS and USAID on this inaugural W-GDP exchange. The project focuses on Pillar III of the W-GDP initiative, exploring best practices for reducing restrictive legal, regulatory and cultural barriers to women’s full and free participation in the economy.

This month, 18 exchange participants representing both the public and private sectors from around the world are traveling to five cities (Washington, DC; San Francisco; Des Moines, Kansas City and New York City) where they will meet with federal, state, and local governments, private companies, multilateral and non-governmental organizations, business incubators and financial institutions. To help achieve W-GDP Pillar III objectives, the project includes a comprehensive action plan component for participants to address challenges when they return to their home countries after the program. During their final stop in New York, the group will participate in the Concordia Summit and network with corporate and NGO leaders during a final reception hosted at Mastercard’s Innovation Tech Hub.

At the start of the project in early September, the group examined the mission of the W-GDP Initiative in meetings with U.S. government representatives and NGO partners. An inter-agency panel at Meridian brought together key W-GDP partners, including: Ms. Bari Rogoff, Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the DoS; Ms. Jennifer Windsor, Practice Lead and Senior Director for Gender and Social Inclusion at the Millennium Challenge Corporation; Ms. Jeni Healy, Deputy Chief of Staff in the Office of the Administrator at USAID, and Ms. Mia Mitchell, Senior Advisor for International Economics at the National Security Council. Following this robust discussion, a networking reception featured remarks by Advisor to the President, Ivanka Trump and the Honorable Marie Royce, Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs at U.S. Department of State. In a private meeting with the international participants, Advisor Trump recognized and celebrated their ongoing work to support women’s free and full economic participation in their home countries.

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