The conference will be hosted by the Golda Meir Mount Carmel International Training Center (MCTC), celebrating its 50th anniversary, MASHAV, Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation, which established MCTC as its first training center, and UNESCO.
Participants in the International Women Leaders' Conference, on Science, Technology and Innovation: Education and Training for Women and Girls, include United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Dr. Asha-Rose Migiro and UNESCO Director General, Mrs. Irina Bokova, in addition to many ministers, members of parliament and academics from more than forty countries and international organizations.
The Conference opens on Sunday, May 29, in Haifa, in the presence of Minister of Science and Technology, Hon. Prof. Daniel Hershkowitz and Mayor of Haifa, Mr. Yona Yahav. Plenary sessions continue at MCTC in Haifa on May 30 and 31. On June 1 participants will visit City Hall in Haifa and the Faculty of Agriculture and the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot.
Inscription: Mount Carmel Training center - 50th Anniversary Inscription On Tab: Ministry of Foreign affairs MASHAV - Israel Agency for International Development Cooporation |
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, under the auspices of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, the delegates will attend a special ceremony launching an Israeli postal stamp celebrating 50 years of MCTC. On June 2, they will be welcomed at the Knesset by Speaker, Reuven Rivlin and MP Gila Gamliel, Deputy Minister for Women's Affairs and Youth.
Fifty years ago, in 1961, the Foreign Minister of Israel, Golda Meir, initiated the establishment of the Mount Carmel Training Center (MCTC) in Haifa, later named after her. Then, as now, MCTC planned and implemented programs empowering women from the developing countries, training them for involvement in communal life and to contribute to socio-economic growth. MCTC was the first to place the issue of gender equality onto the international agenda, many years before it became a universally acknowledged topic.
During the past 50 years, some 17,000 participants from more than 150 countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Middle East have attended training activities in Haifa. Many today hold key positions at local and national level; some are employed by international development agencies. In addition, Israeli experts travel from MCTC to every continent each year, for 30-40 training activities, consultations and conferences in the field of socio-economic development.