The following is from Tina Brown, editor of The Daily Beast.

Now, I’m thrilled to announce The Daily Beast will be producing a compelling live event that focuses in depth on powerful human stories about women. We will showcase leaders on the frontlines working on innovative solutions to challenges ranging from sex slavery to girls’ education in the developing world to women caught in the violence of war zones.

Our first annual Women in the World summit will take place at The Hudson Theatre at Millennium Broadway in New York City March 12-14. The gathering will include women pioneers in government, media, social activism, business, and the arts. It’s shaping up to be an incredibly exciting three days of provocative political discussion, dramatic presentations, and fiery debate, featuring such terrific participants as Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan; former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright; Thomas L. Friedman; Katie Couric; Meryl Streep; Prajwala founder and anti-trafficking activist Sunitha KrishNan; Chouchou Namegabe, the Congolese anti-rape activist and journalist; Kakenya Ntaiya, the founder of girls’ schools in Kenya; Afghan women’s activist Suraya Pakzad; Barbara Walters; Christiane Amanpour; French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde; former British first lady and human-rights lawyer Cherie Blair; Ann Livermore, HP’s executive vice president of enterprise business; former foreign affairs minister of Somaliland and maternal and child health activist Edna Adan Ismail; Ching Eikenberry, wife of the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan; U.S. Ambassador for Counter-Trafficking Luis CdeBaca; Pamela Darwin, vice president of geoscience for ExxonMobil; U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer; Frances Townsend, former Homeland Security adviser to President George W. Bush; Zambian economist and aid expert Dambisa Moyo; Kathy Bushkin Calvin, CEO of the U.N. Foundation; the Acumen Fund’s Jacqueline Novogratz; Women for Women International founder Zainab Salbi; Tostan founder Molly Melching; Daily Beast Pakistan correspondent Fatima Bhutto; Sallie Krawcheck, Bank of America’s president of global wealth and investment management; Dina Habib Powell, Goldman Sachs’ director of global corporate engagement; philanthropist Jill Iscol; and many, many more.

Edna with 2010 nursing school graduates

At first we had planned to hold the ceremony in the open but were pushed indoors by the rains.

The graduation ceremony of the 34 girls and 11 boys was honored by the presence of the Somaliland Minister of Health; the Governor of Hargeisa – whose daughter was also graduating; the Deans of the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science of Hargeisa University; the Vice-President of Hargeisa University; Members of Parliament; and the family and friends of our graduates.

We have added a new gallery of photos of this event to the Gallery section of our web site: Edna Hospital 2010 Graduation Ceremony

An estimated 120 to 140 million women have been subject to this harmful and dangerous practice and 3 million girls continue to be at risk each year. The practice persists because it is sustained by social perceptions, including that girls and their families will face shame, social exclusion and diminished marriage prospects if they forego cutting. These perceptions can, and must, change.

FGM/C poses immediate and long-term consequences for the health of women and girls, and violates their human rights. More Information

You can watch a video at YouTube where Edna Adan discusses FGM with Voice of America.

Here is the original article by Saeed Mohamed

Dr. Edna Adan spoke at the university’s graduation ceremonies on International Human Rights Day and to celebrate law students from 20 countries who had just completed a Master of Laws (LLM) in Human Rights and Democratization in Africa.

Mr. Martin Nsibirwa, University of Pretoria’s LLM Programme Manager, introduced Edna Adan to the audience saying, “Edna Adan Maternity Hospital is the best hospital in Africa.”

The theme of Dr. Edna’s keynote address was “Promoting Human Rights in Somaliland and Africa in general.”

Edna Adan receives the Chancellor's Medal at the University of Pretoria

The recognition that Centre for Human right at the University of Pretoria is bestowing upon me belongs to all who speak out for the voiceless and will hopefully encourage those who are concerned about human rights but who keep silent out of fear of repercussions. Perhaps we should learn from the tortoise whose motto is ‘You cannot make progress unless you stick your neck out but with due caution.’

Today, with profound humility, and knowing full well that there are many who are far more deserving than I am, I accept this award on behalf of those individuals and groups both in Somaliland and elsewhere who have taken great personal risk to ensure that others may live in peace and dignity. This includes the quarter million war genocide victims in Somaliland who gave their lives to fight oppression during our civil war from 1982 to 1991. I wish to reconise them as the martyrs who praved the way for the peace, freedom and stability that we (Somalilanders) enjoy today.

Dr. Edna further emphasized in her moving speech about the importance of empowering women both in Somaliland and Africa in general.

I accept this award on behalf of the women of Somaliland and Africa who have the highest maternal mortality rate in the world and who die because they are poor. Our women die because they lack care from well trained health care providers in health facilities that are properly equipped. Our women also die because the lack the education that would have raised their status and given them access to skills and employment” Dr. Edna attaches her caring emotions; she further highlights that women die because of female genital cutting.

I know there is no magic wand that can resolve all our problems but I am confident that if we join hands and concentrate on just one effort which is that of training more midwives in our community, we will prevent the death of many women and children. I therefore appeal for support in this major undertaking which my hospital (Edna Adan Maternity Hospital, Hargeisa Somaliland) is pioneering in Somaliland and where such training is in progress right now.

The University of Pretoria’s Centre for Human Rights, which was awarded the 2006 UNESCO Prize for Human Rights Education, presents the one-year full-time LLM in partnership with eight other universities in Africa representing all the sub-regions. The students were drawn from a variety of backgrounds, including the civil service, the judiciary, academia, and some recent graduates.

Since its inception in 2000, 291 students from 35 African countries including Somaliland, have graduated from the programme, and gone back to their respective countries to hold various positions in government, academia, and the NGO sector.

Both of these images can be seen larger, just click them. Many more photos can be seen in the Edna Hospital Gallery.

Video of Edna Adan at CGI

At a time when the world finds itself on an unsustainable course, facing an increasing number of complex challenges for which traditional approaches are no longer sufficient, innovation stands as a key to addressing many of the issues confronting us today. During this session, experts in the field will discuss the importance of innovation as a vehicle for building a sustainable future. Where does innovation begin? What should be the role of government in promoting and facilitating innovation? Which countries are leading the charge, and how do you best position yourself and your organization to take advantage? This panel will provide a broad introduction to innovation, various approaches to cultivate it, and implications for those who pursue it and those who don’t.

You are able to skip ahead – Edna is introduced at about the 37-minute mark:

Edna gives a real nice little speech about determination in difficult circumstances at about the 1:02 mark.
At 1:16 she begins discussing the causes of high rates of maternal mortality, leading into an assertion that the most important thing anybody can do to show support for women is to support greater educational opportunities.
At 1:24 Edna speaks about how Somaliland’s success is representative of what a people can do with limited resources if they have sufficient resolve to improve their circumstances.

Corporations, NGOs, and Foundations Announce 13 New Commitments to Empower Girls and Women at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative

Edna Adan is seen here at the right

New York, NY – Millions of girls and women will have access to improved health care, better education, and increased economic opportunity because of commitments made today at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), which brings together leaders from across sectors of society to identify solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Women perform 66 percent of the world’s work, and produce 50 percent of the food, yet earn only 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property,” President Bill Clinton said. “Whether the issue is improving education in the developing world, or fighting global climate change, or addressing nearly any other challenge we face, empowering women is a critical part of the equation.”

Edna Adan said illiteracy has helped to keep women down

Reports show that when women and girls are empowered, entire regions see measurable results. This is especially true for economic empowerment – for example, a woman is likely to reinvest about 90 percent of her earnings into her family’s well-being, compared with 35 percent for a man. Increases in access to education among girls accounted for a decline of 43 percent in the malnutrition rates between 1970 and 1995. Investing in women’s health, especially reproductive health, not only saves the lives of half a million mothers, but also unleashes an estimated $15 billion in productivity each year….

This year, the CGI Annual Meeting will feature a variety of special programming related to girls and women. Today, the plenary session “Investing in Girls and Women,” moderated by Diane Sawyer, featured Edna Adan, director and founder of the Edna Adan Maternity and Teaching Hospital; Lloyd C. Blankfein, chairman and CEO of The Goldman Sachs Group; Zainab Salbi, founder and CEO of Women for Women International; Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil, Melanne Verveer, ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues at the U.S. Department of State; and Robert B. Zoellick, President of The World Bank Group.

Read the entire press release here.

Edna Adan said women are dying in childbirth because nobody cares... People think she's dying because she was meant to die.

Feministing has high praise for Edna Adan about the conference:

Edna Adan, Director and Founder, Edna Adan Maternity and Teaching Hospital, was also an amazing speaker. She focused on the importance of skilled birth attendants in [Somaliland]. “Reproductive health is affected by nutrition, is affected by age at which she is married, so many other factors.” She said women are dying in childbirth, “because nobody cares… [People think] she’s dying because she was meant to die. She was not meant to die. She could be safe.” “The decision of whether she has treatment must be left to the woman. often its a husband or a brother or a father who decides whether she will be taken to the hospital or not.” There is a view that the husband owns the unborn child and therefore the decision is his, which must be countered through education.

Adan said these issues are not just women’s issues and that we need to engage men: “It is demanding men stand up and recognize women belong on this earth.”

Bill Clinton said Women perform 66 percent of the world's work, and produce 50 percent of the food, yet earn only 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property.

The Daily Beast, in an article Global Power Gals reports,

Edna said women need the gift of knowledge

“Edna Adan, founder of a hospital in her native [Somaliland] bearing her name now (and the first woman to drive there!), said the single most important gift was “the gift of knowledge,” to wipe out the illiteracy that has kept women down for so long. Her own rise in a country that has not long appreciated women’s value was the result, she said, of “determinedness and hard-headedness.”
“These women are dying silent deaths,” said Edna Adan, the midwife, who said she was shocked when, after 50 years of work, she treated a woman in [Somaliland] bearing her 21st child. The audience gasped.

Reuters reports, “Edna Adan Ismail, a women’s rights activist from [Somaliland] who founded a maternity hospital there, said her most pressing near-term needs include water for hand-washing, mid-wife training and medical equipment.

“There are so many things, but if we prioritize them, I would say education, education and yet more education,” Ismail said.

What: Plenary Session: Investing in Girls and Women
Date: Sept. 23, 2009
Time: 9:00 – 10:30 AM

Every problem in the world is exacerbated by gender inequality. Even though women make up 50 percent of the world’s population, girls and women continuously lack the same access as men to education, health care, jobs, and the political arena. Yet each year of schooling increases a woman’s income by 10 to 20 percent, and closing the gender gap adds 0.5 percent to a country’s per capita GNP. Smart businesses appreciate that increased support for girls and women is integral to fostering successful markets for the future. Innovative programs are already producing remarkable results, and far-seeing countries and organizations are finding that reaching out to girls and women deepens confidence, creates opportunity, and raises profits. This panel will examine a few notable success stories.

Participants:
Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and CEO, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.
Zainab Salbi, Founder and CEO, Women for Women International
Diane Sawyer, Co-Anchor, Good Morning America; Co-Anchor, Primetime
Rex W. Tillerson, Chief Executive Officer, ExxonMobil Corporation
Melanne Verveer, Ambassador-at-Large for Women’s Issues, Office of the Secretary, U.S. State Department
Robert Zoellick, President, The World Bank Group

An obstetric fistula, which is a hole created inside the body by a difficult childbirth, leaves a woman incontinent, smelly, often crippled and shunned by her village — yet it can be repaired for a few hundred dollars. Dr. Lewis Wall, president of the Worldwide Fistula Fund, and Michael Horowitz, a conservative agitator on humanitarian issues, have drafted the 12-year plan — and it’s eminently practical and built on proven methods. Evidence that fistulas can be prevented or repaired comes from impoverished Somaliland, a northern enclave of Somalia, where an extraordinary nurse-midwife named Edna Adan has built her own maternity hospital to save the lives of the women around her. A former first lady of Somalia and World Health Organization official, Adan used her savings to build the hospital, which is supported by a group of admirers in the U.S. who call themselves Friends of Edna Maternity Hospital.

Read more at the blog On the Ground and at the web site created especially for the book, Half the Sky Movement.

Also, there’s this brief article: Do-It-Yourself Foreign Aid:

Find a cause that resonates with you, learn more about it and adopt it. For example, we send checks to support an extraordinary Somali woman, Edna Adan (see above), who has invested her savings and her soul in her own maternity hospital in Somaliland (ednahospital.org).

Finally, Edna is featured some more in this audio slide show, narrated personally by Kristof, about courageous women in the developing world: A Powerful Truth.

I would like to speak to you about the case of Ayaan Osman, a child who was shot in the face when she was two years old during the Somali Civil War that Somaliland had with Somalia in 1988.

At the time of her injury, Ayaan was taken to a refugee camp where fortunately she was given the medical care that saved her life. Today, Ayaan is a young woman who has taught herself to read and write, not only in Somali but also in English. Unfortunately, Ayaan has a gap in her face. Ayaan has a hole on the side of her face, with a tooth sticking out here and a hole from where food and liquid, as she drinks, pours out from. Ayaan is from Burao and has come to our hospital in Hargeisa to seek help.

I was very touched by her case. We get many patients whom we can save. And we also have some patients that we cannot, and we move on. but the case of Ayaan has left a lot of pain in me because I often wonder where I would be if had been the one who had sustained those injuries that Ayaan did when she was two years old. I feel very touched when I see her eat and drink and have to deal with the liquid that is pouring out. I don’t know how she does it.

She has lived for 20 years with that condition. And because God has given me a voice and has given me the ability to reach out to the world, that is why I am appealing to the world out there for the medical assistance and the facial reconstruction that Ayaan needs in order to lead a normal life like everybody else does.

I appeal for plastic surgery. I appeal for facial reconstruction for Ayaan and I thank you all for your attention. - Edna Adan Ismail

For more information – including how you can make a donation – please see the web site we have created for Ayaan at www.HelpAyaan.org

Please be advised, the photos will be difficult for you to look at.