Ambassador Susanne Shine - photo by Fiona Basile

MDG3 TORCH TO THE ASIA PACIFIC BREAKTHROUGH COALITION

During the “The Asia Pacific Breakthrough: The Women, Faith and Development Summit to End Poverty” held in Australia in December 2009, Danish ambassador to Australia Susanne Shine handed over a MDG3 torch to the Asia Pacific Breakthrough Coalition.

The idea for the Asian Pacific Breakthrough came when Executive Director of the International Women’s Development Agency, Jane Sloane, participated in the Breakthrough Summit in Washington D.C. in April 2008, where Danish Development Minister, Ulla Tørnæs handed over a MDG3-torch to Jackie Ogega, representative of the non-governmental organization Women, Faith and Development Alliance. Slone envisioned the potential of an Asia Pacific Breakthrough Summit to draw attention, resources and new partnerships to the Asian Pacific region in order to provide increased funding and support for programs to benefit women and girls across the region. The Breakthrough initiative resulted in the establishment of a strong coalition of organizations supporting the initiative and almost $1.2 billion in new commitments for programs to be implemented by, among others, World Vision, Oxfam and Care.

In her presentation Ambassador Susanne Shine stated:

‘I strongly believe that everybody can do something for gender equality – either in the way we conduct our lives or through special initiatives like the Breakthrough event. My standing here today as ambassador for my country would not have been possible if men and women before my time had not fought for the rights of women to get an education and to work”. As a symbol of the need for a sustainable approach to women’s empowerment the Ambassador was accompanied by her daughter, Sarah Shine, who in her speech underlined: ‘We need to understand the importance of empowering women and their children. To help the women of tomorrow we must help the women of today’.

© Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark