 It's an even better day to celebrate collaboration, and it's the best day ever to celebrate global solidarity. Today I want to welcome a special guest who is with us, Van Swadegog, Senior International Development Officer, Inclusive Growth, Governance and Innovation in the Partnerships for Development Innovation Branch of Global Affairs Canada. For the special announcement that Global Affairs Canada will collaborate with Kairos and our wonderful global partners to implement a five-year project, Women of Reward. Now this project is going to support grassroots women's program in Colombia, the West Bank, in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Philippines. And in this five-year agreement, Global Affairs Canada makes a $4.5 million contribution committing Kairos to raising $1.3 million for the match. As you know, for some of us this has felt like a very long time coming. Some might even say eight years. And what our global partners have demonstrated is creative resilience and profound solidarity. The OFP and WIAM, ECU Voice, the South Sudan Council of Churches' Women's Programme and Hedita Delegies with very little resources have transformed women's lives. And in their different contexts that are common in the presence of sustained conflict, they have seen women not as victims but as human rights advocates, not as recipients of charity but as potential leaders in the establishment of peace with justice in those countries. And it is these programs of psychosocial support, of human rights training, of support to women's participation in peace processes that will receive these additional funds up to a level of 100,000 in a year. Ours has been a journey of mutual solidarity. Just as much as we have supported global partners with funds and advocacy, they have supported us, giving us clarity and strength of vision to stay the course for bold social change. And this solidarity has woven into this project. As well, these five women-led movements will engage with one another and with the networks and movements of CHIROs to strengthen analysis, to build capacity, and to develop courageous best practices. So today we really want to express our deepest thanks to our partners for journeying with us, the members and the networks that have supported us, the partnership staff working with partner colleagues who have developed this dynamic project, and finally global affairs for their support of grassroots women's-led program and for their commitment to gender equality and human rights and for their collaboration with CHIROs. We have long awaited this day. So I'm now going to turn it over to Francois to say a few words and then we'll get a glimpse of our wonderful partners. Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon. It is my great pleasure to be here today on behalf of Global Affairs Canada to participate with you in the launch of this exciting new project, Women of Courage, Women, Peace and Security. As you know, Canada places gender equality and women's and girls empowerment at the heart of its international assistance. Canada's feminist international assistance policy recognizes that supporting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is the best way to build a more peaceful, inclusive and prosperous world. Yet, as you also know, in many regions around the world today, conflict and its consequences impedes sustainable development and erodes the peace, security and the protection of the rights of women and girls. At the same time, we know that when women are involved, peace and post-conflict processes are more inclusive, more equitable, more sustainable and more effective for everyone. Canada's National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, renewed in November 2017, demonstrates Canada's continued commitment to ensuring that women are active agents in the development of sustainable interventions in conflict and post-conflict states. In this context, Global Affairs Canada is pleased to support CAROS in its new Women of Courage, Women, Peace and Security initiative. I know in a way it's much enhanced, I guess. You've had a program already, but we are pleased to permit a major enhancement within this new project. This new Women of Courage, Women, Peace and Security initiative is to be implemented in, as Jennifer mentioned, in Colombia, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in the Philippines, in South Sudan and in the West Bank. Global Affairs Canada will provide funding of 4.5 million over five years. That's also an interesting period. It's important to provide some stability, which will support the work of five grassroots women-focused organizations who are expected to reach more than 35,000 women and men, mainly women, including 9,500 survivors of gender-based violence. The five local partners will partner... I'm from Partnership Branch. We like to repeat the word partners. And the focus is correctly, and it's nice. We're going to get the message that focus is correctly put on the partners, because they do an amazing work. So the five local partners who will partner with Kairos to implement this important project, each have a long history in their respective countries and territories. Their expertise and grassroots connections will ensure that the Women of Courage initiative benefits those women and girls most in need, enabling them to heal from the effects of war and to become peace builders and defenders of human rights. Kairos has partnered with each of these women-focused organizations for many years. And as you mentioned, it's been a mutual, supportive effort and experience. And Kairos's expertise in women's peace and security and grassroots level intervention positions them as a strong Canadian partner for this work. So in dealing with the important challenges to peace building, reconstruction, and development in the countries and territories of intervention, the combined experience and expertise of Kairos and its local partners represents a major asset. So once again, congratulations. We look forward to our continuing partnership for this important Women at Courage, Women in Peace and Security initiative. Thank you. Back our gratitude and thanks to his colleagues at Global Affairs who worked so hard on this project, but also to thank him personally because he has been persistent. He has been creative. He has helped us to build to the place that we are now and we're just so delighted that we can go forward together with this project. So much thanks. Thank you. So hope that the special guests that we could also bring would be our partners so that they could be with you. But we're going to try to do the next best thing and offer you some of our partner voices who have sent them along to be part of this time. And then you'll actually have an opportunity to interact with the partners in a different way this afternoon by visiting and learning about each of these programs. And so we're ready to go, I think, with the video so that we can hear the partner's voices firsthand and it's starting with Bernie from the Philippines. We are emboldened by a partnership that is not self-serving but on the basis of empowering women and communities to make human rights work for them and which will benefit all. The project's relevance and urgency is demanded all the more as the country's human rights defenders face violent attacks from the state security forces. This partnership will definitely strengthen the capacity of women human rights defenders and militarized communities. This will not only be monumental for communities of women human rights defenders in the Philippines but for the Canadian government as well that provided financial support to this project. Let us stand together our best wishes for the successful launch of the Women's Peace and Security Initiative. I feel like let these women of courage not only be within Kairos Canada but we need also other angels to learn from what Kairos Canada do to women. Kairos Canada is actually encouraging us women and I'm one of the women that felt like I become courageous because of that name Women of Courage because I've seen some photos of the women and what Kairos Canada do with the women. Kairos Canada is really accompanying the women to become courageous. I'm Yolanda Becerra Vega, the Women's Popular Organization a human rights defender organization in Baranca de Armeja, Madalena Medio Colombia and for us the project that has been approved and that is currently starting its execution is very important because it is to keep hope to strengthen ourselves for the construction of peace from the territories healing all the wounds of death that have been left in our territory but also all the wounds that we have in our bodies women for the reason of armed conflict. Thank you for your support Thank you for believing in us Thank you for walking with us because not only the economic accompaniment but also the political and the human that makes it possible for life to flourish in the midst of these contexts that we have in Colombia. The financing of the FAMP project will not allow the Bel-Henri City Council to improve its field intervention capacity through education, training, and awareness of women so that these women can access the resources of decision making and so that these women can participate in the actions of peace consolidation. Also, for the beneficiaries, the project will allow the beneficiaries to end the fear by denouncing the different cases of sexual violence and other violence based on the child in women and victims. This will end the culture of impunity which has led women to fight today. My name is Lucie Teljiye and I'm the project coordinator for the Women Peace and Security Project. And I'm Tarek Alzubri, the project manager. We are so excited to begin our work on this project through which we will help empower women, especially those who are suffering and having suffered from domestic abuse through providing trauma healing and coping, mediation and training, economic empowerment, through job creation and legal aid. Through this, we hope to inject women with hope and begin transformation process from a life characterized by marginalization to one by choice, freedom, dignity and empowerment. Thanks a lot for your generous grant. That we pledge our hearts and our hands and our labor in a common bond that we imagine this possibility of transforming the world together. So we are so delighted to take another step forward in this walk and we promise them not only our financial support but our continued relationship and perhaps as important our strong voice speaking out on issues that affect them but also speaking out in our own country. We will stay the course in our advocacy because that's who we are. So thank you. Thank you for this moment together. We wanted to share this with you and we're so delighted that we were able to do that.