| Across
Cultures: An Inspired Beginning
This business and cultural exchange among business leaders
from the Baltic States and Seattle, Washington was born out of a desire
to build partnerships for learning among the participants and enhance
relationships with alumni of the "WOMEN Decision Makers and Influence
Makers" conference in Estonia which was attended
by the UW Center for Women & Democracy Sweden and the Baltic 2003
Delegation and Young Business & Professional Women (YBPW), Tallinn,
Estonia, members.
Program Focus
The focus of Across
Cultures is to introduce participants to various training,
philosophies, trends, and practices that enhance the leadership
potential of women. The four focus areas are:
- Human
Rights-Trafficking
of persons, HIV, and reproductive health.
- Access to Information-The
importance of increasing access to media, communications,
technology and the Internet.
- Economic
Equity-Leadership
training, business mentoring, sharing knowledge
in case study seminars, site visits to organizations
with environmental and sustainable practices.
- Cultural Experience-Experiencing "each others world" will
increase mutual understanding and result in beneficial
working relationships.
Program Goals
Across Cultures supports U.S. foreign
policy goals to work with partners in the Baltic States to
build healthy economies. More specifically, the goals are:
- To raise awareness of human rights.
- To support the development of women-owned small businesses,
promoting efficiency, productivity and sustainability in a growing economy.
- To develop skills and knowledge base of businesswomen,
enabling better management of their businesses.
- To disseminate acquired knowledge to the business
community.
- To promote partnerships between women professionals.
Across
Cultures Leadership:
Christina Bruning
is one of the 21 Leaders for the 21st Century,
recognized by Women's eNews for stretching
her reach across cultures. Christina served
as the Manager, Project Management for the
US Library Program of the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation. The Foundation's US Library
Program was a five-year, $250 million investment
in public libraries throughout the United
States, providing approximately 47,000 computers
in 11,000 buildings, 62,000 training opportunities,
Internet connections, and support to increase
access to digital information and software
tools for underserved populations. Christina
led the coordination of activities to achieve
the program objectives. She enjoys traveling,
exploring the outdoors, hiking and cycling.
Contact Christina at: christinabruning@comcast.net [full
biography]
A special thank you to the Egypt planning
team:
Freddie
Barrett is the principle of Resilient
Solutions (www.resilientsolutions.com )
a coaching and training organization and
is a certified Hudson Institute Coach. Freddie
was an Across Cultures 2004 Business Mentor
and 2005 Delegate. Seattle, Washington
Pille Ruul is
a Business and Professional Women's, Estonia,
member and Chair of MARU Konsultatisoonikeskus
( www.maruko.ee ),
training and consulting firm founded in 1999.
Pille was an Across Cultures 2004 and 2005
Delegate. Saku, Estonia
Marwa Maziad is
a graduate of the American University in
Cairo and received her Masters from the University
of Washington. Ms. Maziad participated as
a student delegate of the University of Washington's
Center for Women and Democracy South Africa
Mission where she produced her second film
documentary. Seattle, Washington
Additional Information
Business
and Professional Women (BPW) Executive Summary
Across
Cultures Program History
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