Last September, CIPE hosted a very successful three-day conference in Washington entitled "Organizing for Success: Strengthening Women's Business Organizations." The conference drew 120 women from 54 different countries, generating so much interest that it evolved into an ongoing CIPE program, Supporting Women Entrepreneurs.
With this in mind, CIPE recently dedicated a Web page to women entrepreneurs. Here are some of its current features:
1998 Global Summit of Women - On July 25 ,CIPE will host a workshop on "Expanding Linkages in the Global Marketplace" in London, England. The session will be part of the 1998 Global Summit of Women. The workshop will focus on the role of business women in international trade and regional economic integration, and it will be chaired by Phyllis Bonanno, a CIPE Board Member.
Organizing for Success - CIPE's bimonthly newsletter for women entrepreneurs, Organizing for Success, is now posted on the women's page. The current issue features stories on business women's initiatives in Georgia, Egypt, and Romania.
New Linkages - The Web page now features links to other sites of interest to women entrepreneurs: the Small Business Administration, Women's Business Center, National Foundation for Women Business Owners, and the Women's Business Enterprise National Council.
CIPE recently inaugurated a Web page devoted to the Virtual Association of Middle East & North Africa Think Tanks. The Web page is an outgrowth of a 1997 conference in Cairo, Egypt hosted by CIPE and the Economic Development Institute of the World Bank. This web page serves as a networking tool and clearinghouse for information generated by the 14 participating think tanks and others. Among other features, it includes a calendar of events, lists of publications, general information on the Cairo conference, and links to a wide variety of related Web sites.
CIPE is now hosting a Web page highlighting this year's meeting of the Mediterranean Development Forum (MDF), scheduled for September 3-6 in Marrakech, Morocco. The MDF was launched in May 1997, when over 600 experts and practitioners from 39 countries involved in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) development community met in Morocco and exchanged best-practice approaches for development. The September conference is expected to draw some 300 senior government officials, leaders from the private sector, and representatives of civil society to discuss "Participation and Development." Some of the topics to be addressed at the Forum include private/public sector interactions, the role of civil society, and fair and efficient governance.