it had never entered my mouind that i would rule, but that i would lead. that's what i meant about it, a love affair. it is the principle of stewardship. that is why for 30 years, that's what i was trying to do in malawi. people in malawi know that without having any motive my agenda was one to empower women, particularly abused women. i was coming from an abusive marriage, and if there was anything i would do to change their situation i was going to do it so i went flat out for 30 years. so by the time i walked into this position everybody knew what i had been able to do before. how i had fought for children's rights and women's rights.

and so i believe that being a woman is the best, being a woman leader is the best a country can have. in africa, fortunately for us, men and women have agreed that they should allow women to participate in leadership and at this point allow me to be president because she set the pace because in my country they went out again and again telling the people she's doing well. [ applause ] >> it is the support that we must give one another to promote and to support more women to enter leadership and the ability on the ground matters.

in malawi, mrs. robinson came to malawi with me. they don't have to say any political statement, but just by coming to do something big for women is enough to begin to view that confidence in the people in you because when she came we opened together a maternity clinic as everyone in malawi knows that i'm talking about fighting, and as i went through my problems we went to ghana with the president and the president made a statement that we would not just stand by and watch a woman suffer and be abused and be threatened with death. at the end of that conference they made a statement and a decision was made that all women in africa were going to support joyce bank to get into leadership and because of that women issued statements

condemning the government of malawi for treating me the way they were. all i am saying is why do women make better leaders? in africa it is time to get together and support one another and without fear of contradiction that i'm looking at five years with four or five women presidents. [ applause ] >> next time i'm going to ask you a question about something about which you feel passionate. president yahya, what about you? how is being a woman, affecting, changing your ability to lead in kosovo? >> actually, it really does make a change to have a woman in the

leadership role and the responsibilities are the same if you are a man or woman president, but there is an added responsibility of the woman which is they have to give more of themselves. they have to show more and they are, from the research i have found, that the women are better in the process of the decision making. why? because they are more inclusive on the process of the decision making and they have more ability to listen. which in the process of the decision making you need, particularly the head of state, you need an effective balance of being able to have full participation, and at same time

to be able to be able to listen and they have the ability to build up the bridges of the cooperation and a building of the consensus between the leadership which is not the case. my country has been left for centuries, but only one year ago -- since one year ago there is almost the consensus in every matter which is state related or if it's for the major interest of the country. what has also been mention side that the women are less to be corrupted and they are committed on what they are doing and they do it with the full passion and they have a zero tolerance towards the negative matters.

recently, i have started two councils within my presidency. one of them, it is stepping up the council for the anti-corruption. my country has a lot of perception about the organized crime and the corruption and this is a continuous burning which is also an obstacle for the progress forward for our country, but having a woman leading that process of fighting that organized crime and the corruption has been very well accepted by the community, but at the same time community has more trust on the women because the only answer they say is they are less corrupt, they are not corrupt. they do what they are meant to do and they do it with a full commitment and those are the values that can only be found in the women and they are more

mobilized within the environment and they maintain the network and the network of the women and in particular dealing with the gender is something that has to be broader, because in today's globalized challenges, the gender issue is not only a problem of one country or one state. now it's becoming a global phenomena. in order to address that, we need a global response and how we're best to do it is the proper network is the women in the leadership role is how to best have the experience and expertise and how to best address the countries in the outside. >> it's remarkable to get directly the perspectives of these leaders who are dealing with this every single day. president mary robinson, you've had the chance to think about

this a lot. you've certainly spoken about it a lot. with the benefit of hindsight, how do you see about how being a woman changes the ability to lead? >> i've thought about it a great deal. it's not that women are better than men. women lead in a different way. it's more nurturing and all of the things we've been hearing and it was important when i was elected president and breaking the mold a bit and i thanked the women of ireland who have been rock the cradle now and rocking the system, and it was very important for me to be a president who was a woman president and proud to be a woman and that is an advantage to be a woman and even though i've broken a mold there and in

1996 i joined a number of others in steak the council of women leaders which we were all members of and you mentioned there were eight and the women presidents of the moment and we have three of them here, as you said, but in the council which is directly elected presidents or prime ministers, either current or former and the only one that i know of who declined to join the club is margaret thatcher who with wasn't interested in joining this club of women. we now have over 40 women who are either in office or have been in office as president or prime minister. what interests me is we have a critical mass of women, not just at the top level as leaders of the unions and leaders of business and it has to begin to make more of a difference and a number of us are involved in ways of linking women in the way the women naturally network and

in my own foundation we have the network called women leaders in climate because climate is undermining climate and the women's leadership tends to be more generational and more aware that puts people at the center of the issue and we've established a top-down plus, linking with grassroots women's organization and those working on gender and climate change and the nobel women are a good example where we have several women and we have a nobel prize winner among us now, but where the nobel peace women where there are enough of them, four or five, they got together and it's now an institution. men have been nobel prize winners for a long time. it wasn't part of their thinking that they would actually get together and network for good as the nobel women's initiative

does and this is where women can be more create of. administrator clark. you've also had the benefit of time to think about this and you've been asked about it a lot. what would you add to this conversation? >> firstly, we have all been the first to be elected by the people to the positions we held and we're acutely aware of the barriers to getting there. the chief of them being is that the role, where there has never been a woman in the role and that is a glass s.e.a.l.ing that needs to be broken and one can talk at great length about that and we have to be frank and say that not every woman leader that's ever been has been a saint and not every one has been caring and sharing. >> just the ones here. just the ones here. in general there is a material

difference, and we've seen meryl streep's importance and as i -- as a matter of principal, women should be in the presence of power and they should hold us to account to ensure that we actually deliver for women when we're there and not pull it up after us, but in the end, women have a fundamental connection with society which is not shared to the same extinct and that is whatever our societies in the end, women end up taking more responsibility for the care of children, older and frail relatives and being very connected with the needs of people. how does the health system work and how do my kids get a job?

in the end we see women much more attentive to these kind of issues because of the connection. >> good. for the last question, i want to bring it back to the subject of this conference, at least a big part of it and that, of course, is development, and i want to ask each one of you what it is that you see, whether it's the west and usaid in other agencies, government and non-government agencies, ngos that work on and think about development. what do you want them to know? what do you most need, most want in terms of development? what do they need to know about your country and your people that -- that would make it just a much more efficient, effective process. we'll start with you, president. >> to recognize that our people

are intelligent, if not educated and that they know what their needs are and they know what best will help them to change their lives, and we as governments and those as partners should listen to them and should construct our programs to meet their needs as they see it and as they identify it that leads the best results. >> has that not always been the case? >> that has not always been the case, but it's changing. i think today the ownership factor is being recognized by all and the evolution of harmonization around priorities

that i established by governments, governments mainly in consultation with our own people is the order of the day. we have reached the level where we've seen full compliance with this principle, but as i say is moving in that direction and i encourage everyone to move at an even faster pace. >> i want to come back to prime minister clark. what is it that the west -- is that the message that the development communities, the development organizations hear? >> i think the important thing for development partners invest for the long term and we see quite a lot of preoccupation wanting results and the leaders in so many countries are looking

for are going to be seen not tomorrow and not to be shared, but in a generation's time. so i think that for development assistance and the total resources that goes into development it needs to focus on capacities, on institutions and on the well-founded national strategies and be prepared to have that to the stakeholders in the donor country and the most worthwhile things will take time to achieve. the quick results may not be sustained at all and have faith in these leaders and invest in them and their capacity to change their countries. >> president yahya, from your perspective, what is it that the

west and the developing community, what is it that they node to know about what you need and what you wnat aant and wher need to go? >> think now we're coming to the stage that we need to invest on the frontiers for the future. we are the frontiers of the current date, but we need to identify now the frontiers for the future. we need to invest on the future. we continue building up the relation between the western of achieving the long-term goals of the countries individually and that can be done. the best investment is in the individuals is in the country and we have to develop the leaders of tomorrow, this is if

you're really going save one country, you need to invest on the people, on the education, on the training, on the capacity building. there you get them the right tools of moving forward on the direction. so it's the time today that we need to identify and develop frontiers of the future. >> president robinson, as someone who has spent a lot of time thinking about these areas. are these kinds of messages, the international aid community, the international aid community is hearing? >> i'm not sure that it is being heard enough and these are the messages and i have no doubt about that. i think if those messages are heard, the response to them also has to be beyond frontiers and innovative. as i was saying in the beginning, i think this is beginning to happen and the european countries are cutting their aid budgets, unfortunately because of the eurozone crisis.

i don't think the senator was saying that the united states are going to increase dramatically, and it's less money now, i think, that real partnering. let me give you an example and i happen to be designated an elder now with nelson mandela and we have to stop the discrimination of the girl, child and women. how could ten elders do something. we talked about how the religion could have harmful practices and we move from that to tackling child marriage, and we realize the extent of it. 10 million girls a year are married way before they should be or are ready for it emotionally and physically. it affects their health healandy

die, et cetera, et cetera. in fact, every region where people are working locally on this issue they haven't come together and we were organizati girls not brides. now there is a global partnership tackling this issue. i think we need more of these innovative global partnerships. they include philanthropists, ngo's, governments are extremely important. i remember president ellen here in washington and meeting with donors for the first year, a few years ago, where you told them i welcome you in my country, but i want to know what you're doing and it has to be my priority. then you met the ngo's. the nongovernmental organizations. that has been the problem in development. sometimes presidents don't know what ngo's are doing in their country. they come in with good will. it doesn't have to be government controlled, but there has to be leadership, bottom up and for the community that is

represented by a good democratic government. but we can be more innovative the money is not going to come in the same amounts and therefore we need better partnering. >> president banda is our newest leader. i'm going to give you the last word on what it is that you want the west to know, the united states to know, the international aid community. what do they need to know about the needs of your country as you see them? >> i think first and foremost it's to say to call upon the international community. to recognize those countries on the continent of africa and in particular at this point in time ma lawy. that have come out and can demonstrated that they're going to correct their government's record. their human rights' record. to recover the economy.

we have taken states, i'm selling -- and to just request that the international community must move at the same pace and meet us halfway. i say this because just last week i toured the country of mall lawy. and everywhere i went people came out to greet joyce banda. my muz say oh i'm overwhelmed by this kind of support that you have. i said, no honey, close your eyes and be looking at stones thrown at me 12 miles down the line. and so this is just an appeal to say as we make those strides as we make those world decisions the international community has to recognize them and come over and meet us halfway. so that we don't disappoint the people that are ready for change

that are really to do something about the other situation by the way malawians are not just sitting back waiting for handouts but looking for that partnership and that support. finally i don't think i can leave this podium without thanking the usa. because i'm sating here because of the usa five years ago i walked into the usid office in malawi and said i want to do something about fellow women. i came from an abusive marriage. and i know that some are there because they don't have the courage to walk out. i know the only thing i can do for them is economic empowerment. the partnership we forged that day has lasted this long. and given the support all along. and so i finish by saying it is imperative for not only malawi but whole africa to support women's participation in

leadership. women must get into leadership positions. particularly go to parliament. when i was minister of gender in parliament, i championed the passing of the domestic violence bill. we were only 27 women. we worked throughout the night. and had to greet tracks and tracks of women from villages in two parliaments to make sure their parliament doesn't say no to this bill, they're there and watching. we finally passed that bill. it is very important to have women sitting where the laws are made. for that to happen, those of us who are leaders shall need support. and thank you very much for the support that i have received this far. thank you. [ applause ]

>> from my perspective it has been a remarkable discussion, a remarkable conversation with these extraordinary five extraordinary leaders. and i would ask as you go to a break, which is what i understand is next in the program, that you join me in thanking each one of them. the president of ma lauly, joyce banda, the president of liberia, ellen johnson surly. the president of cost voe, the former president of ireland, mary robinson, the former prime minister of new zealand now the administrator of the u.n. development program, helen clark. let's thank them all. [ applause ] >> that was very good.

>> up next, part three of this forum hosted by usaid. nato's supreme allied commander to europe is joined by a special assistant to president obama to discuss development and relief work in afghanistan, haiti, somalia and yemen. the moderator is ray swar yez. this is just over an hour. [ applause ] >> good afternoon, everybody. i'd like to first start by reminding everybody that in your folders you have these crowd hall cards. and we welcome people going online to browse the panels, submit your questions and voting for your favorites. so look for the cards in your

folders. and great to see everybody here this morning. and it is my great pleasure to introduce our next speaker. the first time that i met admiral james at a dinner, the first question he asked me is whether i read proous or not. which is how i knew that he truly embodied the idea of a soldier scholar and statesman. he has decades of experience leading both direct combat missions in theaters across the globe, haiti, bosnia, some of the places we heard about in the earlier panel. and also guiding our military strategy at the highest levels. he now has what is probably the coolest title on the planet, which is the nato supreme allied commander of europe as well as the commander of our european command. he's been a leading force in the government and the military and a big thinker on a lot of the

topics that we're wrestling with over these three days. we could not think of a more fitting candidate to be here with us today to talk about the importance of collectively tackling these issues of development and security. and doing so in a way that really moves us thoughtfully forward. so please join me in welcoming admiral james. admiral, welcome. [ applause ] >> good morning, everybody. first of all, i want to thank the administrator for letting me come and take just a couple of minutes to set up what i think will be a terrific panel headed up by ray swaur rez and with some extraordinarily wide ranging views to share. i am going to use a couple of slides. i know generally speaking people look and see a military guy from the pentagon with a power point

presentation. and that's created a fair amount of problems around the world. i assure you this is a very easy presentation to get through and i'll do this in about ten minutes. i do like a use a couple of images. as i was saying to my very good friend, there is no part of the government in which is images are more evocative than in the world of development. so what i'll do today is just show you some of the challenges of thinking about development in a conflict chal situation. then i'll try and talk a little about some of what i hope are relatively creative ways we're thinking about it at the department of defense. so if i could have the first image. this is libya. which many of the people in this room were involved in. i would offer this as an example of attempting to do humanitarian trending toward development in a