In an effort to promote and highlight best practices from external partners, ODG/GE invited the founders of the StrongHER initiative at Alcatel- Lucent to present their work on promoting gender equality and diversity to the UNESCO Gender Focal Point Network on 24 November 2015 at UNESCO Headquarters.

StrongHER representatives, Florence Dossogne, Florence Mazars and Virginie Gervais-Bazin, gave a brief history of their network and noted that the aim of their initiative was to apply best practices to achieve gender balance and create greater gender diversity within the company.

This grassroots initiative - which now has over 1200 members in offices throughout the globe - includes programmes such as the StrongHER award and a StrongHER Charter, the latter to be launched on 9 December 2015.

The StrongHER award rewards talented women in order to highlight them in their organizations. The Charter is for the managers to adopt and promote gender inclusive actions and behaviors.