malawi came to have a meeting with me and the spokesperson said we have hired three presidents. what is it that you are going to do differently? we have been disappointed before. i said they were not women. what i was trying to say is communicate that this is my personal conviction that women look at leadership differently. it is the value systems. for me, being a leader is about serving the people. it has never entered my mind they could rule, but that i would rule and serve. that's what i talked about it being a love affair. it is the principal of stewardship.

that is what i was trying to do. people in malawi know that without having any motive, i worked with the people on the grass roots. my agenda was to empower women and in particularly i was coming from an abusive marriage and decided nobody else was going to take that and go that path. if there was anything i could do to change the situation, i was willing to do it. i went flat out. by the time i went into this position, everyone knew what i had to do before. i fought for the women's and children's rights. how much of them were on the roads. so i believe that being a woman leader is the best a country can have. now in africa, fortunately for us, men and women have agreed that they should allow women to

participate in leadership. at this point allow me to be the president and she said in my country the youth went out again and again, telling the peoples on the possible. she is doing well. [ applause ] that's in order to encourage and support more women to enter leadership. the visibility on the ground matters. in malawi, she came to malawi with me. they don't have any political statement, but as coming to a certain area to do something big for women. that's enough to begin to build that coni o fidence in the people in you.

when she came, we hoped to give the clearing. whoever was in malawi knows i am not joking. as i went through the problems in three years. we went to ghana with the president and they made a statement that we watched the women suffer and they threaten. at the end of that conference shlgs they made a statement. a resolution was made that all women in africa were going to support them to get into leadership. because of that, women's networks in africa issue statements. condemning the government for treating me the way they were. all i am saying is that women make better leaders. in africa it will be necessary to standing to to support one another and bring more women into leadership and i can say without contradiction, i am

looking at five years with four or five women together. >> next time i will ask you about something you feel passionate about. >> what about -- how is being a woman affecting and changing your ability to lead in kosovo? >> actually it really does make a change to have the woman in the leadership role. >> the rules are the same if you are the man or if you are the woman president. there is an added responsibility of the woman which they have to give more of themselves. they have to show more.

they are -- i consider and also from the research that has been found that the women are better in the process of the decision making. why? because they are more in the inclusion on the process of decision making? they have more ability to listen. they have to be able to have full participation being included and at the same time to be able to have the ability to listen. also they have the affinity of building of the bridges and of the koopgds and the consensus between the leadership. which is not the case. my country has been for the centuries and the case by the

mayors. but only one year ago since one year ago, there is almost the consensus in every matter which is state-related. that's for the major interest of the country. what has been mentioned by the president is that the women are less to be corrupted. they're committed on what they are doing. they do it with the full passion. they have a zero tolerance towards the negative matters. it is setting up the consult for the anti-corruption. my country has a lot of perception about the crime and the corruption. this is a continuous burning

which is also an obstacle for the progress forward for our country. having a woman leading that process of fighting the 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. the only answer they say is they are less corrupt. they are not corrupt. they do what they meant to do and they do it with the full commitment. those are the values that can be found only within the women and they can be mobilized in their environment. they maintain the network. the network of the women and particular dealing with the general has to be broadened. in the globalized challenges, the gender issue is not only a

problem of one country or state, now it is a global sentiment. in order to address that, we need a global response and how we best do it, if the proper network and particularly of the women in the leadership role that how to best share the experience and expertise and how to best address some of the issues within the country and outside. >> you are saying gender issues. it's remarkable to get directly the perspectives of these leaders who are dealing with this every day. president mary robinson, you had the chance to think about this a lot. you certainly have spoken about it at lot. with the benefit of hindsight, how do you see how being a woman changes one's ability to lead? >> i have thought about it a great deal because it's not that women are better than men or whatever.

we need balance obviously. but women lead in a different way. it's less hierarchical and more nurturing and all the things we have been hearing. if it was important when i was elected president and against the odds and breaking the mold of it and i got the women of ireland rocking the cradle to rock the system. it was very important more me to be a president who was a woman president. proud to be a woman. that was an advantage to be a woman. even though i had broken a mold there. in 1996, i joined the number of others in steak something called a council of women who were leaders and members of. you mentioned that there eight women presidents at the moment. we have three of them here and in the council which is directly

elected presidents or prime ministers, either current or former and the only one i know to decline the club was margaret thatcher. that was not interested in joining this club of women, but 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, but minsters and leaders of trade unions and business, etc. 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 they network. in my own foundation, we have a network of women leaders on climate. they are undermining poverty. they are huge gender dimensions. they tend to be more gender-generational. we have to address this and put people at the center of the

issue. we established a top down class linking with grass roots organizations and those already working on gender and climate change. -it is an innovative platform of leadership and the women are a good example. we have several women and a nobel prize winner among us now, but when the peace women and there were enough of them, four or five. they got together. it's now an institution. men had been nobel peace prize winners for a long time. they would get together a network for good. as the nobel women's inneshative does. women can be more creative. >> administrator clark. you had the benefit of time to think about this and have been asked about it a lot. what would you add? >> firstly we have all been the first to be elected by the team to the positions we held.

we are aware of what the barriers are to getting there. the chief of them being that the public has to envisit a woman and when there has never been a woman in the role, that is the glass ceiling that has to be broken and can talk at great length about that. we have to be frank and say not every woman leader there has been has been a saint. not everyone has been caring and sharing. mary has reminded us. >> just the ones here today. >> in general, i think there is a material difference, but i suppose a lot of people have seen merrill streep's brilliant performance. it reminded us of not everyone being caring and sharing. as i a matter of principal, women should be represented in positions of power.

they should hold us to ensure we delivered to not pull the lever up after us. in the end, i think women have a fundamental connection with society. it is not shared to the same extent as men. whatever our societies in the end, women end uptaking more responsibility for the care of children. be connected and how does and in the end, we see women much more attentive to these issues and services that have a personal connection. >> good. for the last question, i want to bring it back to the subject of this conference and at least a big part of that. that is development. i want to ask each one of you, what it is you see that whether

it's the west or the usa id and both government and nongovernment agencies that are ngos that think about and work on development. what do you want them to know? what do you most need and want in terms of development? what do they need to know about your country and your people that would make it a much more efficient and effective process. start with you. president johnson? we recognize that our people. particularly those in rural areas. they are intelligent and they know what their needs are and they know what best will help

them to change their lives. we as governments, those as partners should listen to them. they should construct our programs to mead their needs as they see it as they identify it. that brings the best results. >> is that always the case? >> that has not always been the case, but it is changing. the ownership factor is being recognized by all. the revolution of harmonization around priorities that i established by governments. governments meaning in consultation with their own people. they are the order of the day. we have reached a level where we have seen full compliance with the principal, but as i say, it's moving in that direction and we encourage everyone to move it at an even faster pace.

>> before i come to the other two heads of state, i will come back to prime minister clark. what is it that the west -- is that a message that the development communities and the development organizations hear? >> i think the important thing for development partners is to invest for the long-term. we see quite a lot of reoccupation among partners at the moment of wanting results. the results of the work that these incredible leaders and leaders in so many countries are looking for. they are going to be seen not tomorrow and not next year, but in a generation's time. for development assistance which is a small amount now of the total resources that go into development, it needs to focus

on capacities, on institutions, on building resilience and betting the national strategies and be prepared to explain that to the stakeholders in the donor country. the most worthwhile things will take time to achieve. the quick results may not be sustainable at all. have faith 92 n these leaders and invest in them and their capacity to change the countries. >> from your perspective, being in office a little over a year what do they need to know about your country and what you need and where you want to go? >> i think that now we are 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 countries, particularly into the western. of achieving the long-term goals. of the countries individually. that can be done, the best invest cemetery in individuals. that's within the country. we have to develop today the leaders for tomorrow. this is if you are really going to save one country, you need to invest on the people. on the education and on the training and on the capacity building. there you give them the right tools of moving forward on the direction that they were using. it's the time that we need to

identify and develop the frontiers for the future. >> president robinson, again as someone who spent a lot of time thinking about the areas, are these messages, these kinds of messages, the international aid development community is hearing? >> i'm not sure it is being heard enough, but these are the messages. no sdoubt doubt about that. if the messages are heard, the response has to be beyond innovative. as i was saying, i think this is beginning to happen. the european countries are cutting the budgets unfortunately because of the euro zone crisis. i think the senator was saying the united states budget will increase over the next few years. it's less money now i think than real partnering. let me give you an example. we have to be designated a group

of elders. we wanted to title issues of discrimination against the child and women. it's a huge area we talked a little bit about it. how could ten elders do something? we decided to look at decided t religion could be distorted and we moved from that into tackling child marriage, and we realize the extent of this. 10 million girls a year are married way before they should be or are ready for it emotionally and physically. it affects their health and they die giving birth, et cetera, et cetera. but, exactly, in fact, what we did, every region where people are working locally on this issue they haven't been able to come together, so we were able to create an umbrella organization called girls not brides, and they're tackling these issues, and we need more

of these innovative partnerships. but, in fact, what we did was we 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 because 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 is to say that -- to call important the international community, to recognize those countries on the continent of africa, and in particular at this point in time malawi. that they come out and can extreme straight that they're going to correct their deposit's record, their human rights' record, to recover the economy. we have taken states, i'm selling my plane, and then just to 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 malawai from one corner to

another, and everywhere i went, people came out to greet joyce banda. and my husband said, oh, i'm overwhelmed by this kind of support that you have. i said, no, 00, close your eyes a and imagine 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 and 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 ready to do something about the other situation. by the way, ma la wians are not just sitting back waiting for handouts, but looking for that

partnership and that support. finally, i don't think i can leave his podium without thanking the usa. i'm standing here because of the usa five years ago i walked into the usaid office in malawi and said i want to do something about fellowwomen. 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 they've given me 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 individuals into parliament to make sure their parliament doesn't say no to this bill, that 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 i understand is next in

the program, that you join me in thanking each one of them, the president of malawi, joyce banda, the president of liberia, ellen johnson sirleaf. the president of kosovo, atifete jahjaga, 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. >> and we get more now from the u.s.aid relief conference.

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 stavridis at a dinner, the first question he asked me was whether i had read "prust" or not. which is how i knew that he truly embodied the idea of a soldier, scholar and statesman. he has decades 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 in

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 has 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 stavridis. admiral, welcome. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you for the introduction. thank you very much. well, 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 suarez and with some extraordinarily wide-ranging viewing 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 frankly, that 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 conflictual situation. and then i'll try andlk