The Marisa Bellisario Foundation was founded in 1989 in Italy to support the enhancement of the professionalism of women working in the public and private sectors. The Foundation’s overall mission is to promote gender equality in politics, public institutions and the business world in order to support the role of women professionals at the national and international levels. It also supports projects for women’s entrepreneurship across the world, focusing on enhancing women’s management skills. Corporate social responsibility, new technologies of information and communication, economics and finance are some of the topics covered by the Foundation.
 
The Director-General referred to the integration of gender equality by UNESCO as one of its main programme priorities and to her personal commitment as the first woman Director-General of UNESCO, to support both gender equality and women’s empowerment. “Gender Equality is not only one of the priorities of  the Organization throughout its global advocacy, policy advice, and programmes on the ground, it is also an operational principle which I have been spearheading throughout my management and the implementation of UNESCO programmes” declared Irina Bokova while receiving the Prize.