Empowering women

It was a pleasure to hear from inspirational speakers Josephine Kulea, Natalie Au and Belinda Goldsmith, and we hope they gave you a real insight into how they and their organisations are transforming women’s lives around the world. Hear more from them by watching our video on the right.

Following our event and upon attending a number of conferences focused on empowering women, Klara Kozlov, Head of Corporate Clients at CAF, celebrates the progress that has been made around gender equality today. She also discusses the importance of philanthropy, recognising that beyond giving, we all have a role to play in supporting civil society organisations and the spaces they try to create, to drive change and tackle endemic issues.

Read Klara's blog on Empowering Women

Natalie Au, Global Gender Director, Girl Effect

Natalie Au brings over a decade of experience working in gender and international development to her current role as Global Gender Director at Girl Effect, an international NGO working to unlock meaningful change for girls. She leads a team that works across Girl Effect’s five offices – in London, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Malawi – steering the organisation to embed strong gender insights into its research and into every brand and tech programme delivered.

This year, Natalie launched Girl Effect's latest innovation, Girls Connect; a technology enabled pioneering new way to connect girls to information and support in Nigeria. 

Separately, Natalie is also a Strategic Advisor for W.E. Can Lead and is a mentor for Women Mentoring in International Development. She holds an M.A. in International Politics and Human Rights from City University in London and B.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies from Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Belinda Goldsmith, Editor-in-Chief, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Belinda as Editor-in-Chief is responsible for Thomson Reuters Foundation's global news service covering stories on humanitarian issues, climate change, women's rights, trafficking and slavery, and property rights. She runs a global team of nearly 45 staff journalists and 150 freelancers covering under-reported stories around these issues.

Belinda joined the Thomson Reuters Foundation in London in 2014 after 20 years as a Reuters correspondent reporting from over 25 countries on political, financial and general news and leading various news teams.  Recruited in Papua New Guinea where she was the first female correspondent for Australian Associated Press (AAP), she worked for Reuters in Australia, Sweden, the United States and Britain in a variety of leading roles.