Guatemala News

Guatemala will be a chapter of Vital Voices, one of the worlds leading women organizations. This extraordinary organization started out with the leadership of Hillary Rodham Clinton and Madeliene Albreight.

Guatemala's Maria Pacheco, manager and owner of Kiej de los Bosques participated in one of their programs for leadership. She and other Guatemalan women leaders will establish the Guatemalan chapter of Vital Voices. The presentation will be 25th of June in Antigua.

Press Release of Vital Voices:

About Vital Voices: Vital Voices Global Partnership is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that identifies, trains, and empowers emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the globe, enabling them to create a better world for us all. Our international staff and team of over 1,000 partners, pro bono experts and leaders, including senior government, corporate and NGO executives, have trained and mentored more than 5,000 emerging women leaders from over 150 countries in Asia, Africa, Eurasia, Latin America, and the Middle East since 1997. These women have
returned home to train and mentor more than 100,000 additional women and girls in their communities. We equip women with management, business development, marketing, and communications skills to expand their enterprises, help to provide for their families, and create jobs in their communities. We are at the forefront of international coalitions to combat human trafficking and all forms of violence against women and girls. We enable women to become change agents in their governments, advocates for social justice, and supporters of democracy and the rule of law. They are
the Vital Voices of our time. For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact: Eileen White Read, Media Relations, phone 202-861-2625 , ext. 3003; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

WASHINGTON, April 8, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international nonprofit organization devoted to women's leadership, last night honored women leaders from Argentina, Burma, France, Kenya, and United Arab Emirates for their courageous efforts to increase women's economic and political progress and safeguard human rights. The Vital Voices 2008 Global Leadership Awards and Benefit, at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, was co-hosted by Michele Norris, host of All Things Considered on National Public Radio, and Gloria
Reuben, Broadway actress and former star of the television program ER.

First Lady Laura Bush participated in the event, along with U.S. Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Actress and Activist Angelina Jolie, who serves as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commission on Refugees. The 2007 Vital Voices Global Leadership Award Recipients are:

Political Participation Award, presented by Actress Gloria Reuben, to Laura Alonso, Argentina: Ms. Alonso is one of Latin America's most prominent activists for open, accountable government. After studying government at the London School of Economics, she returned to Argentina and joined the staff of Poder Ciudadano (Citizen Power), a government watchdog organization where today she is executive director. Poder Ciudadano monitors judicial corruption, elections, and government influence over the media; investigates how the government assigns lucrative public works contracts; educates citizens about their rights; organizes voter registration drives; and makes all of its research and reporting available to the public. Through her organization's partnership with the Berlin-based Transparency International, Ms. Alonso trains NGOs throughout Latin America and Southeast Asia in how to safely and effectively monitor governments.

Fern Holland Award, presented by Actress and Activist Angelina Jolie to Journalist Mariane Pearl, France: Journalist Mariane Pearl is an author of two books, the first of which, A Mighty Heart, tells the story of her life as the wife of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, after he was kidnapped by terrorists in Pakistan and later killed. The book was made into a movie staring Ms. Jolie. Her second work, In Search of Hope: The Global Diaries of Mariane Pearl, is a collection of her monthly Global
Diary columns appearing in Glamour magazine. Ms. Pearl travels the world for Glamour, chronicling the lives of women who work for change in daunting
circumstances, from Cambodia to Cuba. The late Fern Holland, after whom the
award was named, was a young American who was killed while working in Iraq
to better the lives of women.

Rising Voices Award, presented by Journalist Zain Vergee of CNN to Kakenya Ntaiya of Kenya: As a young girl, Kakenya Ntaiya took her first bold step out of her patriarchal society when she negotiated with her father. She persuaded him that she would submit to a painful traditional procedure known as female circumcision; in exchange, he would give permission for her to finish high school in lieu of getting married. She next persuaded the elders of her rural Kenyan village to help collect money so that she could go to college in the United States. Today, Ms. Ntaiya has nearly finished her doctorate in education and is making plans to return home to establish a girls' boarding school. Meanwhile, she travels the world as the first youth advisor to the United Nations Population Fund, speaking in favor of girls' education as a crucial tool in eradicating
female genital mutilation and child marriage.

Global Trailblazer Award, presented by Journalist Wolf Blitzer of CNN and Dina Habib Powell, Director of Global Corporate Engagement, Goldman Sachs, to Sheikha Lubna al Qasimi, Minister of Foreign Trade, United Arab Emirates: In 2004, Sheikha Lubna al Qasimi became the first woman to hold a cabinet position in the history of the UAE, and the first female finance minister in the history of the Middle East. At the time, Sheikha Lubna had already enjoyed a remarkable career as a businesswomen and information
technology professional, including her role as CEO of the first business-to-business e-marketplace in the Middle East, Tejari. Her leadership in information technology at other companies earned her the UAE's Distinguished Employee Award in 2000 - again a first for a woman. Today, as head of the newly formed Ministry of Foreign Trade, Sheikha Lubna travels around the world, negotiating trade agreements and attracting
overseas investment. In her country, the women point to her as a source of pride and inspiration - and so do the men. She understands that unleashing women's potential contributes to the prosperity of societies. She is a role model for, and tireless in her support of, women in her country.

Human Rights Award, presented by First Lady Laura Bush to Charm Tong, on behalf of the Women of Burma: A human rights activist in Burma since she was 17 years old, Ms. Tong is the co-founder of SWAN, the Shan Women's Action Network, representing the people of the Shan ethnic minority who have been persecuted under the Burmese military regime. Her group attracted global attention in 2002, when it released a groundbreaking report, License to Rape, detailing how the Burmese military uses rape as a weapon against the women and girls of Burma. Ms. Tong, a member of the persecuted Shan minority, helped establish a school in Thailand for Shan youth whose
families live in exile in Thailand. Ms. Tong accepted the award on behalf of women activists of Burma who have rallied around Aung San Suu Kyi, the head of Burma's popularly elected National League for Democracy who for 12 of the last 18 years has been held under house arrest. These women activists, like Ms. Tong, have stood up for democracy and justice at great personal risk. More than 100 of them are still missing or languishing in prisons because they chose to raise their voices.

"Tonight's honorees are social entrepreneurs - pioneers of social, economic, and political change - who are contributing to the betterment of their societies and our world. They are visionaries who believe that progress is possible, and they work, often at great personal sacrifice, to bring about positive change," said Melanne Verveer, Vital Voices' Co-Founder and Chair.