Angela Joo-Hyun Kang, Founder and Executive President of Global Competitiveness Empowerment Forum (GCEF) initiated and bridged the partnership between the Indian Presidency of Women 20 (W20), the official policy recommendation group of G20, and the Harvard Kennedy School Women's Network (HKSWN) through the official bilateral partnership MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) between W20 and HKSWN in February 2023 and HKSWN¡¯s support for W20 as a knowledge & network partner of W20 from March.
Ms. Kang has been representing South Korea in W20 since 2017 and currently serving as a Co-Head of South Korean Delegation since 2020. At the W20 plenary meeting on January 18, 2023, she was appointed as the Co-Chair of the Climate Change Taskforce during the 2023 W20 Indian presidency and has been working with 29 W20 delegates from 16 countries (G7 except Canada: UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan + BRICS except China: Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa + MIKTA - Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey, Australia + Argentina) to prepare W20 recommendation to G20 promoting the nexus between gender and climate change.
With a Mid-Career Master of Public Administration (MC-MPA) degree from Harvard Kennedy School. she has been acting as the HKSWN's Seoul & Korea Chapter Lead since 2020. She is currently the inaugural & first term President of HKSWN Korea Chapter, working closely with the Korean Alumni Association of Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard Club of Korea.
By utilizing her common role of the two international organizations, she initiated mutual relationship by inviting the Sherpa of 2020 W20 Saudi Arabia as a sole speaker event of the HKSWN Global Coffee Chat Series in September 2020 including the event moderation as well as inviting the Sherpa of 2020 W20 Italy as a sole speaker of the W20 session event of HKSWN's online international conference 'Rewind & Empower' in February 2021.
HKSWN has been officially supporting the 2023 W20 India Secretariat as its knowledge & network partner. HKSWN Co-Presidents, Ms. Farah Arabe and Ms. Tatiana Der Avedissian were invited as international speakers and represent HSKWN at W20 international events, at the 2023 W20 Inception meeting (Aurangabad, India) and 2nd meeting (Jaipur, India).
HKSWN called for and formed its global volunteer group including Principal, Gender Inclusion and Climate Action at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and European Regional Representative for the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and has been supporting the W20 Climate Change TF co-chaired by Ms. Kang to prepare the W20 policy recommendations and action plans to G20.
The W20 Indian presidency & secretariat, HKSWN¡¯s HQ in Boston, and the Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability at Harvard University have been discussing to co-host a virtual international event to increase the linkage between gender and climate change and raise its awareness globally.
