Sarah Fox, Reema Nanavaty, Rashad Shawa and Myrtle Witbooi Join GFI Board of Directors

Sarah Fox, Reema Nanavaty, Rashad Shawa and Myrtle Witbooi Join GFI Board of Directors

Created: Thursday, 16 June 2022 18:04

Sarah Fox, Reema Nanavaty, Rashad Shawa and Myrtle Witbooi Join the Global Fairness Initiative Board of Directors

Distinguished leaders at the forefront of worker rights, poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability join community of international leaders on the GFI Board

Washington, DC – The Global Fairness Initiative (GFI) has announced that Sarah Fox of the United States, Reema Nanavaty of the Republic of India, Rashad Shawa of Kuwait and Myrtle Witbooi of South Africa will join the GFI Board of Directors. The four new members bring extensive experience in social and environmental activism to GFI’s diverse Board of Directors representing government, civil society, labor, and private industry from throughout the globe.

"It is our pleasure and great fortune to welcome these exceptional leaders to our Board of Directors,” said Dr. Danilo Türk, former President of Slovenia and GFI Board Chair. “These new colleagues represent an important cross section of our shared social and economic development and we are delighted and enriched to have them join this distinguished Board.”

Ms. Fox has spent his career working to secure workers’ rights through her leadership at the US Department of State and with the US Labor Federation AFL-CIO and the International Labor Organization (ILO). Ms. Nanavaty committed her career to uplifting the working poor through of leadership of the 2.1 million members Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), the single largest union of informal sector women workers in the world. Mr. Shawa is the Founder and Chairman of the International Water Bank and brings extensive experience in international banking and has applied his leadership to advance the Sustainable Development Goals. Ms. Witbooi is a renowned advocate for the rights and protections of domestic workers globally and was a leading force in the passage of ILO Convention on Domestic Workers. Together, GFIs new class of Board Members bring deep experience and passion for creating just, equitable socio-economic development across the globe.

“GFI strives to break the barriers to access and opportunity for the working poor, and we are simply thrilled to welcome four leaders who have committed their lives to these principals.” said Global Fairness Initiative President and Founder Karen Tramontano. “This Board is a diverse, thoughtful and powerful voice for greater rights and opportunity for working people, and Sarah, Reema, Rashad and Myrtle will help us elevate that voice. We are thrilled to have them as part of the Global Fairness Initiative.”

The Global Fairness Initiative is an international NGO that works to create a more equitable, sustainable approach to economic development, and to make our global economy work for those who need it most − the world’s working poor. For nearly twenty year GFI has steadily built a track record of success through innovative programs to reduce poverty, enfranchise informal communities, and advance human rights and livelihoods in all parts of the world.

###

---

Sarah Fox

Sarah Fox is internationally recognized for her work on labor issues in the United States and throughout the world. As Special Representative for International Labor Affairs at the US Department of State 2015 Ms. Fox led the Department’s effort to promote workers’ rights and improve economic security and working conditions for workers abroad; liaise with the global labor movement, U.S. and multinational companies, and other stakeholders on these issues; and, support and strengthen the labor diplomacy function at American embassies worldwide. In this role she was critical in ensuring that American foreign policy and programs advance internationally recognized labor rights and improve living standards across the globe.

Prior to her appointment to the State Department, Ms. Fox served as legal counsel to the AFL-CIO and as the AFL-CIO’s representative to the International Labor Organization (ILO). From 2010 to 2015, she was a member of the ILO Governing Body and of its Committee on Freedom of Association. She previously served in government from 1990 to 2000, first as Chief Democratic Labor Counsel to the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee, on the staff of Senator Edward M. Kennedy (1990-1996), then by appointment of President Clinton as a Member of the National Labor Relations Board (1996-2000). Prior to that, she was counsel to the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Union and worked as a reporter at the Courier-Express in Buffalo, NY, where she grew up. She is a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School.

Reema Nanavaty

Reema Nanavaty has been working with the SEWA for over 35 years, expanding its membership to over 2.1 million members and making it the single largest union of informal sector women workers.

Ms. Nanavaty facilitated rebuilding lives and livelihoods of 6,0000 earthquake-affected rural women and 40,000 riot-affected members. She is leading the rehabilitation programs in Afghanistan, and helping train over 5,000 Afghani women on different livelihood skills and facilitating the creation of a local Association. Similarly, she has also led the rehabilitation program for war-affected widows in Sri Lanka, providing over 6,000 rural women with vocational training to secure their livelihoods.

Ms. Nanavaty oversees 4,813 self-help groups (SHG), 160 co-operatives, and 15 economic federations in 16 states in India and in 7 South-Asian countries. These collections focus on women’s economic empowerment by building women owned enterprises, building women led supply chains, introducing modern ICT-based tools to improve businesses, and facilitating Green-Energy initiatives and livelihoods. Ms. Nanavaty was honored by Padma Shri (the fourth-highest civilian award in the Republic of India) for her contribution in area of Social Services in 2013. She is currently the member of the Advisory Council on Gender of the World Bank Group.

Ms. Nanavaty was invited to the International Labour Organization’s High Level Global Commission on Future of Work as the only member representing the informal sector workers, women workers, self-employed workers, and the rural workers’ union in the entire commission. She was also invited as a member of the Working Group for the UN High-level Dialogue on Energy and as a Gender Lead in the working group for the UN's Food System Summit, both convened by UN General Secretary in the UNGA in September 2021. Ms. Nanavaty was also one of the only worker’s representative invited to speak alongside UN secretary General Antonio Gueteras in the Official Opening Ceremony of the UN’s Food Systems Summit 2021.

Rashad Shawa

Rashad Shawa is Founder and Chairman of the Board, and Chairman of the Founders Committee of the International Water Bank - IWB Holdings. Mr. Shawa also serves as Chairman of the Board of Mai Resources International (Switzerland) AG, and is a Member of the World Water Council in France, and of the Arab Water Council (Egypt). A Senior Executive and International Banker, Mr. Shawa has held a number of positions on the Executive Board and Head of the Middle East of several International Banks in the UK and Switzerland. He was also formerly the Chairman of The International Organization of Private Bank owners and was a Senior Advisor to Bank Privee Edmond de Rothschild. Mr. Shawa serves as a Member of the Board of a number of regional and international institutions and companies, including as past a Member of the International Advisory Board of Babson College in Boston, USA, the world’s number one university for business leaders and entrepreneurs. He also currently sits on the Board of Medurable in France, the International Organization focused on sustainable development goals, climate change and water resources management.

Myrtle Witbooi

Myrtle Witbooi currently serves as the General Secretary of the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU), which is one of the oldest organizations defending domestic workers’ rights in Africa. She also serves the first president of the International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), a global organization of household and domestic workers. Labor scholars have noted IDWF is the "first international labor federation run by women for work dominated by women." Myrtle began her career as a young domestic worker in apartheid South Africa in the early 1960s and in 1965 she helped convene the first ever organizational meeting of domestic workers in Cape Town. As General Secretary of SADSAWU, she has fought for a national minimum wage increase and compensation for on-the-job injuries for domestic workers. In 2011, Myrtle helped lead the international coalition of domestic workers that secured passage of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (C. 189). The Convention (No. 189) on domestic workers has become the first international labor standard to ensure domestic workers the same basic rights as other workers. As part of SADSAWU, Myrtle played a central role in influencing the ILO Domestic Workers Convention C.189. The convention marked unprecedented involvement of informal women workers in the ILO standard-setting process.

Ms. Witbooi is a recipient of GFI, 2015 Fairness Award and a recipient, in 2013, of the George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award.