Empowered to Rise: Young Women in Action and the Role of Faith-Based Organizations - Advancing CSW 69 Agendas Through Faith-Based Leadership

Empowered To Rise Women's Voices Webinar 30 April 2025

Through storytelling on achievements the webinar will explore Faith-based Organizations’ efforts to strengthen the intersection of interreligious dialogue and SDG 5 empowerment of women and girls

Join us for the next edition of KAICIID's Women’s Voices Series, where we spotlight the powerful role of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in advancing gender equality and empowering young women. Anchored in the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and reflecting on key outcomes from CSW69, this webinar will explore how FBOs across the globe are responding to the UN Women call to move from commitment to action.
We are honoured to welcome Ambassador António de Almeida-Ribeiro, Acting Secretary General of the International Dialogue Centre KAICIID, who will open the session with welcome remarks.
Hear from inspiring young women leaders from KAICIID Fellows and Regional Programmes from Africa, Europe, the Arab Region, Latin America and Asia. Dive into interactive breakout groups designed to co-create practical solutions and shape faith-sensitive strategies that support gender-responsive, interreligious collaboration.
The session will be co-moderated by Dimitra Missiri (KAICIID) and Jessica Roland (The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers), the newly appointed Co-Chairs of the Gender Working Group of the Multi-Faith Advisory Council to the UN Inter-Agency Taskforce on Religion and Sustainable Development.
Whether you're engaged in advocacy, community work, policy, or simply passionate about inclusive development, this webinar offers insights, tools, and connections to turn shared values into transformative action.
Let’s amplify women’s voices, bridge divides, and rise together.
Register now and be part of the change.

SPEAKERS

Sohini Jana

Sohini Jana is a development practitioner, writer, and advocate for inclusion and diversity. With significant experience in regions such as Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, and over a decade in community activism and civil society, she champions the rights of marginalised communities, especially religious minorities in India. A 2019 South and Southeast Asia Fellow at KAICIID and part of the EU-funded Global Exchange on Religion in Society programme, Sohini has led interfaith dialogues and contributed to faith-based reconciliation efforts in India. An avid storyteller, her work is inspired by deep grassroots engagement, and through her writing, she seeks to amplify voices that often go unheard.

Lantana Bako Abdullahi

Lantana Bako Abdullahi has extensive experience in Africa’s non-profit, conflict, and peacebuilding sector. She is a co-founder of the Nigerian Women Mediators Network and a member of the Steering Committee of the Women Mediators across the Commonwealth (WMC) and FemWise, West Africa. Lantana currently supports strategic and programme design for the Interfaith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP), a 120-member interfaith platform supported by KAICIID. She has participated in high-level and high-risk conflict resolution efforts addressing religiously motivated violence in Nigeria and provides capacity strengthening and mentorship for young girls and women at risk of radicalisation.

Lantana received the Commonwealth Point of Light Award in 2020 and is a KAICIID Fellow. She is a skilled mediator, trainer, and facilitator, and mentors young mediators and peacebuilders from disadvantaged and conservative communities.

Araz Kojayan

A KAICIID Fellow and member of the She for Dialogue initiative of the KAICIID Arab Region Programme, Araz brings valuable experience from her leadership within a faith-based institution in the Arab Region. Her work highlights the vital contributions of women of faith to dialogue, inclusion, and peacebuilding. She actively supports and uplifts initiatives led by women within religious institutions, showcasing innovative approaches to fostering community engagement and social cohesion.

Jannet Melina Bravo Vazquez

Melina is a social entrepreneur and community leader dedicated to fostering inclusive, sustainable, and intercultural communities. She is the founder of Arborigen Coliving in Chile, a community-driven space that promotes collaboration and sustainability. Her work spans Mexico, Chile, and South Asia, with experience in public health policy, social innovation, and grassroots development, particularly with Indigenous communities.

A KAICIID Fellow, she currently leads the Ashoka Spiritual Changemaker Initiative in Mexico for Spanish speakers, guiding a movement of individuals who draw on spirituality, religion, and faith to inspire agency and innovative solutions. Known for her facilitation and integration skills, Melina creates spaces for participation, dialogue, and transformation across diverse cultural and social settings.

Ambassador António de Almeida-Ribeiro

Acting Secretary General, International Dialogue Centre KAICIID

Ambassador António de Almeida-Ribeiro was born in Lisbon and graduated in 1976 from the Faculty of Law (Legal and Political Sciences), University of Coimbra.

He joined the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1979, where he has held a variety of positions, among which Director General for Administration, Political Director and Secretary General.

Throughout his career, he has served as Ambassador of Portugal to Argentina, Egypt, the Holy See, the Sovereign Order of Malta and Austria, where he was also Permanent Representative to the International Organizations based in Vienna, among other appointments around the world.

Dr. Kanchan Chandan

Dr. Kanchan Chandan is an accomplished academician and socio-cultural analyst with expertise in Gender and Women’s Studies, Social Inclusion, Religious Minorities, Peacebuilding, and Interreligious/Intercultural Dialogue. With over 20 years of experience, she serves as a faculty member at the Centre for the Study of Social Inclusion, Panjab University, Chandigarh, and was a 2020 Fellow at KAICIID, Lisbon, Portugal. She is also the Director of Global Initiatives at the Sandhara Spiritual Research and Anthropology Centre, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her academic contributions include numerous national and international publications, the mentorship of PhD scholars, and a steadfast commitment to socially engaged research. Holding a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology, Dr. Chandan’s work focuses on addressing societal challenges and promoting inclusive growth through IRD, education, advocacy, and transformative change.

MODERATOR(S)

Jessica Roland

Jessica Roland is the Senior Specialist for Inclusive Peace at the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers. She manages the Network’s strategic priorities to advance the leadership of women, youth, and marginalised groups. In this role, she oversees joint advocacy, research, programming, and an inclusivity-based community of practice. She also leads the Network’s training initiatives and mediation-focused work.

Before joining the Network, Jessica served as a Senior Associate for Policy and Advocacy at Women Deliver, focusing on women, peace, and security, women’s leadership, gender-based violence, and engaging men and boys. She has also worked with the National Democratic Institute to promote women’s political participation and contributed to a U.S. Department of Justice grant supporting domestic violence survivors with disabilities.

Jessica holds a Master of Arts in International Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Richmond, the American International University in London.

Dimitra Missiri

Dimitra Missira has over a decade of hands-on experience spearheading international multi-faith and multicultural dialogue initiatives spanned across diverse regions. She is currently working as External Relations and Partnerships Officer at the Executive Office of the Secretary-General at the International Dialogue Centre – KAICIID, where she also represents the Centre on external platforms supporting the empowerment of women and girls. In 2025, she was elected in 2025 co-Chair of the Gender Working Group of the Multi-Faith Advisory Council to the UN Inter-Agency Taskforce on Religion and Sustainable Development. Ms. Missira has been co-chair of the Gender Equality and Empowerment Workstream within the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development since 2023. In her previous capacity as Programmes Coordinator, she steered the inaugural KAICIID International Fellowship and Youth projects. Prior to KAICIID, she worked and provided consultancy services in diverse sectors, IGOs, NGOs, and national institutions which contributed to a cross-sectoral and comprehensive perspective in the areas of human rights with a focus on global education, women and youth empowerment and social inclusion of migrants. Ms. Missira holds a bachelor’s degree in international and European Relations and a Masters degree on European Law and Policy.

Where Zoom online

Time 02:00 PM Europe/Lisbon