Top50 Women Forum is leading an initiative that is considered the first of its kind, within the framework of implementing the recommendations issued by the COP27 hosted by the city of Sharm El-Sheikh, which emphasized the need to accelerate the application of sustainability standards in all economic activities, and in conjunction with the national trend to strengthen efforts for a gradual transition towards a sustainable green economy.
The unique initiative comes by launching a package of specialized training programs to qualify and support the capabilities of female cadres from senior and middle leaders in government institutions and companies in the areas of sustainability, reporting, and transformation of the green economy, to integrate environment and climate standards in all economic activities.
Top50 signed a coordinating cooperation protocol with the Institute of National Planning (INP) and DCarbon-Egypt to implement this initiative, and to prepare and arrange a package of training programs and workshops related to women, sustainable development, and climate change.
These training programs and workshops are aimed at integrating women as a main component and tool of change linked to the national dialogue on climate issues.
The forum begins the first implementation steps of this initiative by launching the first training course for women cadres in the government and private sectors.
The first training course aims to train women on how to prepare sustainability reports following the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), which aims to acquire trainees the knowledge and skills necessary to shift towards a sustainable economic activity and prepare a sustainability report following International standards.
The training course is scheduled to be held on the 6th and 7th of current December at the headquarters of the INP in Cairo.
On his part, Dr. Ashraf El-Araby stressed the importance of qualifying training on the application of sustainability for women cadres working in the public and private sectors, because of its importance in raising the capacity of these cadres functionally in line with the global changes imposed by climate change issues and its negative effects on the environment and economic activities.
He added that the world is moving at an accelerated pace towards sustainability to avoid the expected negative effects of climate change.
He also stressed that Egypt faces great challenges in its quest to go green, including the lack of training programs for rooting many concepts and ways to apply sustainability standards in economic activities.
Dr. El-Araby Pointed out that the Institute of National Planning cooperates with the Top50 as one of the important women’s platforms that express professional women in Egypt, stressing the importance of women’s role as a strategic partner and a national element that cannot be overlooked in achieving the 2030 sustainable development plan and supporting Egyptian climate action, especially in light of threats imposed by global climate change on women’s social and economic stability.
On her part, Dina Abdel-Fattah, the founder and president of the Top50 Women Forum, said that the training initiative launched by the Forum in cooperation with the INP and DCarbon-Egypt, which specializes in sustainable development and climate change consulting, coincides with the COP27 and its recommendations, which emphasized the need to speed up in taking all operational steps to accelerate the pace of transformation towards a green economy.
The President of Top50 added that the first training program about preparing sustainability reports following the GRI will help speed up the achievement of the target for the transformation of economic activities towards governance and sustainability, as the training program seeks to enable corporate management to work following international standards based on governance, disclosure and social responsibility.
She added that achieving sustainability would help improve the performance of institutions by understanding the available risks and opportunities and raising competitiveness, in addition to being a major axis in attracting sustainable financing investment in light of the global trends imposed by climate change.
She emphasized that the programs that the Top50 seeks to implement aim to qualify working women to lead their economic activity professionally, ensuring continuity of activity and an escalating pace of growth in a way that preserves their social and economic empowerment, in light of a world full of dangers and threats posed by economic turmoil and climate change, which cast a shadow on women in particular.
She revealed that Top50, in cooperation with the INP and DCarbon-Egypt, is getting ready to launch courses for the industrial sector named “Life cycle Assessment”.
Life cycle Assessment is a program that specializes in assessing the environmental impacts associated with all stages of the product life cycle, from the extraction of the raw material through the processing of materials, the manufacturing process, distribution, use, repair, and maintenance to disposal and recycling.
Top50 is also preparing to offer special courses on ways to reduce the carbon footprint of the industrial and commercial activities of institutions and products.
She pointed out that the forum began implementing these programs as proactive steps to support the Egyptian file in COP28 by developing the capabilities of leading women cadres and Egyptian economic institutions through a dedicated package of training programs designed very carefully, to integrate them effectively concerning confronting climate change and its potential effects.
In the same context, Dr. Shalaby emphasized that empowering women with the necessary skills and knowledge will enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the transformation process toward more sustainable business models.
The importance of the training package offered by DCarbon-Egypt is to contribute to preparing a generation of women leaders who can identify, measure, and govern the economic, social, and environmental impacts of private and public institutions, in a way that contributes to the development of more effective and sustainable policies.
Dr. Shalaby pointed out that DCarbon-Egypt prepared an integrated package of training programs that will be implemented in cooperation with the INP and the Top50 Women Forum.
This package will start with the training program approved by the GRI, which will enhance the consolidation of the basic principles and methodological framework of business management and economic activities of women leaders on sustainability.
Top50 Women forum is considered the first platform established to highlight and develop women’s role as essential and active partners in the sustainable development process in all its axes.
The Forum achieves its aim by enhancing women’s participation in decision-making, supporting and qualifying them to assume high leadership positions, raising community awareness of their pioneering role in the development process, providing technical and logistics support, specialized training programs that work to refine their leadership skills, and working on communicating and strengthen the empowerment efforts implemented by the state for all social segments.
The Forum implemented and put forward many effective initiatives that support empowerment in line with the government’s directives, to provide decent and sustainable empowerment for women, and to provide a conducive work environment to help in achieving the brilliance of professional women.
The most prominent examples of these initiatives are:
– The initiative to increase the representation of Egyptian women on the boards of directors of investment companies and institutions.
– The “You Are Strong” initiative to support women against unethical practices.
– Drafting and activating the ethical charter to combat harassment and violence against women in the work environment.
– Drafting and implementing the “Women Leading the Future” program, which is an integrated training program in cooperation with the Egyptian Banking Institute (EBI).
Top50 also honors women leaders in senior positions in all professional disciplines in the public and private sectors.
