Young BPW Europe in a nutshell – 1

My name is Miette Dechelle. I am the new Young BPW Representative Europe. I work as a lobbyist for an European Association based in Brussels and I am member of the BPW club of Brussels, Belgium. It is a real honour for me to work with and for you.

Brief on 27 th International Congress in Helsinki

A Congress of Workshops, Seminars, Celebrations – 17-22 JuneThe Congress was a great success thanks to the very good organization, interesting speakers and meetings and nice welcoming. For the activities and outcomes main focus, please look at the BPW In-ternational page’s congress report. It was attended by more than 600 participants representing 60 countries. We can estimate that more than 40 Young BPW were present from 20 countries.

Regional European Session – 17 June Susanne Tiedtke, Young BPW Representative Switzerland, made a presentation on ‘BPW a Network for Young Women’ opening the discussion on Young BPW motivation and how to recruit Young BPW Members. The presentation was developed by a Swiss Young BPW working group (led by Anna Tschaut and Susanne Tiedtke with the support of other Swiss Young BPW). The aim of the presenta-tion was to introduce a survey on the same topic to be circulated at the Congress. Participants of the meeting were requested to reply to the survey by mid of July. The results of the survey will be ana-lysed and discussed in mid August.

General Assembly – 18-22 JuneThe General Assembly sessions took place each morning. The timetable also allowed delegates to participate in the plenary sessions and workshops. A new executive Board has been elected:

• President: Freda Miriklis (Australia)• 1st Vice President (UN): Huguette Akplogan Dossa (Bénin)• 2nd Vice President (Membership): Jill Worobec (Canada)• Young BPW Representative – Anastasia Victoria Safarian (USA)• Regional Coordinators:

Africa: Adenike Adeyanju-Osadolor (Africa)Asia Pacific: Susan Jones (Australia)Europe: Sabine Schmelzer (Switzerland)Latin America: Maria Elvira Salles Ferreira (Brazil)North America: Bessie Hironimus (USA)

Young BPW InternationalNadya Munawar Siddiqui, Young BPW Representative International (2008-2011), from Pakistan, made her final report of activities which was approved unanimously. Nadya mentioned specifically the Young BPW club from Cyprus. Please find attached the Report of Nadya presented at the Assembly.

The new Young BPW Representative International (2011-2014) was elected. Her name is Anastasia Victoria Safarian from New York, USA. She is currently working in the finance and banking sector in Rome, Italy.

Anastasia will be chairing the Young BPW International Standing Committee, where I will be the Representative for Europe. We are eagerly waiting the nominations of the Young BPW Representatives for the other BPW Regions.

Videos made by Anastasia during the Congress:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JihgdKot6Nghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Agwwk89jRnI&feature=channel_video_titlehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_BidMHIM7M&feature=channel_video_title

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Young BPW Leaders: to Twitter or not to Twitter?Presented by Young BPW, Anastasia Safarian, Kathryin Ciccoli and Keachon Dixon, the session examined the value of assessing the intellectual property of a company, organization or government entity, the branding of the entity and its assets, and properly communicating with the public to achieve market growth. BPW was used as a case study examining the need for local, regional and international growth in membership and the development of a sisterhood among all women in our organisation. The workshop shows that Young BPW can be leaders to manage change in BPW.

A Success story: Young BPW InitiativeCéline Zosso with Mathilde Roch from Switzerland, and supported by Nadya Munawar Siddiqui, organised a lottery. The aim of this lottery was to support the Young BPW International Fund and the Japanese Young BPW Representative’s projects. Young members present at Helsinki supported the initiative and provided a great help.

The two prizes were Delance Swiss watches, each with an estimated value of €3000, were generously donated by Giselle Rufer of Delance. The considerable amount of €4400

was collected through the lottery. The second winner auctioned her watch to raise €1000 for Children in Africa.

Networking among Young BPWTime-to-meet-and-know-each-other meetings were organised by our Finnish colleagues with the support of the Young BPW International Representative and Liz Benham, BPW International President (2008-2011).

The meeting with Liz Benham opened a discussion on the topic of communication between Members and their Representatives and on how to answer the challenge of properly sharing information.

Girls’ Night Out, in and off, & Meeting with Liz Benham, BPW President (2008-2011)

Beyond HelsinkiHelsinki was the occasion to listen to Young BPW expectations, challenges and experiences as well as receive support from Young BPW to work together.

In consequence the meetings with Young BPW and former Young BPW, members and representatives, allowed me to prepare a short business plan as the first steps for this summer and ongoing projects and initiatives beyond that. My plan is to:

Set up a Young BPW Team to work with me on collective initiatives Map the location and numbers of Young BPW in Europe Brainstorm on the European & International Young BPW events

Develop with all a European Strategy in line with the International and European perspectives Strengthen Communication between Young BPW Exchange of Best Practices on Young BPW Initiatives Promote existing communication tools

Inform all on Events for Young BPW at local, National, European and International level Support Young BPW National Representatives regarding recruitmentProvide easy access to existing tools for participating in BPW lobbying campaignsParticipate in meetings, and transmit BPW history and values

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In the long term, I will also cooperate with the European Regional Coordinator and with the members of the European Coordinating Committee as well as with the International Young BPW and the Young BPW International Standing Committee to develop initiatives.

Tools to support your lobbying actions

BPW members together develop lobbying actions and need to have figures and facts readily available to support their actions. I will try to provide you with information about newly published data which could support you when developing collective campaigns in Europe.

Europe Info: 06/07/2011 Report voted at the European Parliament in Strasbourg: ‘Women and business leadership’ 24/05/11 Women and Men in Decision-making: Highlights (First Quarter 2011)

Links:European Commission: DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion: Gender EqualityEuropean Parliament: Committee FEMM: Women’s right and Gender EqualityEuropean Women Lobby: http://www.womenlobby.org/?lang=fr European Institute for Gender Equality: http://www.eige.europa.eu/

Keep in mind:

End 2011: Young BPW La Spezia Cup

28-30 Sept. 2012: BPW European Congress in Sorrento, including Young BPW Sessions

23-27 May 2014: The 28th BPW International Congress will take place in Jeju, South Korea

Save the dates! More to come…

Miette Dechelle

Young BPW Representative Europe (2011-2014)

Contact:

Email : miette.dechelle@bpw-europe.org BPW Community: Miette Dechelle

Keep informed:

by visiting the Young BPW Pages on BPW Europe’s website

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