 The theme for International Women's Day this year is Make It Happen. This is exactly what KOL is trying to achieve. Move from ideas to implementation and from commitment to action. By using distance learning and technology, KOL reaches out to women and girls with flexible learning opportunities so that they can study at their own pace, place and time while also taking care of their other responsibilities. Let me share five examples of KOL's work and the lessons that we've learned. First, as you know, there are few women at senior executive levels. Through the Commonwealth Executive Masters in Business Administration and Masters in Public Administration program, KOL has developed special guidelines for partner institutions to ensure that more women have the opportunity to access this program and to succeed in it. A study tracking women who took this program in Jamaica and Guyana shows that more women were able to get promotions and achieve higher levels of responsibility within their organizations because of this. The lesson here is that a targeted approach is important if we want to make it happen for women. Second, KOL's book on Leadership for Women in Distance Learning and Development which we published last year draws on the experiences of various women from the Commonwealth who are in the process of becoming leaders, who are already established leaders and who are helping other women to become leaders. The lesson learned is that sharing the stories of women's struggle and success can inspire other women to make it happen. Third, KOL's work in skills development has brought more women into non-traditional areas such as construction, timber trade, carpentry, etc. through the women in technology chapters in our African partner institutions which work with the community. These whited chapters have helped increase girls and women's participation in TVET leading to livelihoods. The lesson here is that in order to increase women's and girls' participation in non-traditional areas, mobilizing the community is absolutely critical. Fourth, through KOL's Lifelong Learning for Farmers program L3F in Kenya a woman called Immaculate Uma received training in poultry keeping and management. Within two months she applied for a business start-up loan offered by a community banking cooperative. She used the loan to start a business with 200 birds and even though she's never been to a classroom she is now a thriving entrepreneur who contributes to her family's income. The lesson here is that when you empower one woman you make it happen for the whole family. Finally, KOL's open schooling program has enabled many women who dropped out of school in Bangladesh to go back to school. One young mother who had not completed primary school could not help her young children with their schoolwork. She got a second chance to study through open schooling and is now able to teach her to young children. So when you educate a woman, you educate the entire family. From these examples, you can see that there's much to celebrate but there is still much more to achieve. It's not enough to provide learning and skills development to women and girls without helping to provide opportunities to have equitable access to one, resources such as land, finance, employment, food and two, a voice in decision making. We need to take a holistic approach and tackle the social and cultural barriers in order to pave the way for women's empowerment. Let us take a pledge today to make it happen. Happy Women's Day.