Women2Women Cultural Connection and Leadership Conference

On August 9, 2008; Nabuvat Nosirova, GCE student and also Micro-scholarship program student from Isfara secondary school #69, with her teacher Halima Bobokhonova, along with seventy nine other women from 14 countries arrived at Lesley University to participate in the weeklong Women2Women Cultural Connection and Leadership Conference (W2W) in Boston, Massachusetts USA. Participants hailed from Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Palestine, Tajikistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, and the United States. The young women; ages 15-19, were accepted into the program based on their academic achievements, dedication to their community, leadership participation, essays, extracurricular activities and recommendations. The goal of the conference was to provide young women students from around the world with the opportunity to learn, network, and acquire the leadership and professional development skills needed to succeed.

Throughout the week, the women heard from a variety of influential leaders; including, the President of Lesley University, Joseph Moore, who welcomed the young women to the campus on Monday, August 11^th. Lesley University has been the home to all three of the Women2Women conferences.

In addition to listening to the welcoming words of President Moore, participants also learned first-hand from established professional women leaders, which included, Victoria Budson, the Executive Director of the Women and Public Policy program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, Andrea Friedman, the Vice President & Senior Counsel at the Global Justice Center, Martha Coakley, Attorney General, Jim Roosevelt, grandson of Eleanor and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The young women also were inspired by a variety of accomplished women who taught the participants through panel discussions and workshops, which explored leadership, women’s rights, media, government and politics. Throughout the week, the young women volunteered at the Food Bank or New England Medical Center, met with prominent women in government at the State House, learned self defense, participated in a concert, performed songs and dance, got a taste of American culture by shopping, exploring, and dining around Boston and the Greater Boston area.

W2W has been specifically designed to incorporate cultural leadership, government and public service, media literacy and the use of media technology all of which will result in respect for diversity and promote critical thinking.

The conference was an incredible success. Each woman was inspired, motivated, and moved, and left Lesley University with over seventy new friends from around the world.