Hon. Savia Orphanidou, MP is a Member of the Parliament of Cyprus. She is a representative of the Nicosia constituency under the banner of DISY since December 2019.

She currently serves as:
- Deputy Chairperson of the House Standing Committee on Health Affairs.
- Member of the House Standing Committee on Financial and Budgetary Affairs, of the House Standing Committee on Development Plans and Public Expenditure Control and of the House Standing Committee on the Environment.
- Member of the delegation of the House to the Interparliamentary Conference on Stability, Economic Coordination and Governance in the European Union (IPC SECG).

Political career:

- Member of the Nicosia District Committee of the Youth Organisation of DISY (NEDISY) and Nicosia District Secretary of MAKI (DISY Students Organisation) (2003-2005).
- Press Secretary of the NEDISY Executive Council (2005-2007).
- Public Relations Secretary of the NEDISY Political Bureau (2007-2009).
- Press and Communications Secretary of the Organisation of Young Scientists (ONE) of DISY (2009-2011).
- Co-ordinator of the Communications, Media and Public Relations Sector of the DISY Communications Directorate (2009-2011).
- Deputy Secretary of DISY Political Planning (November 2010-February 2012).
- Elected member of the DISY Political Bureau (February 2012-May 2018).
- Member of the Technical Committee for Economic Affairs, within the framework of the negotiations process for resolving the Cyprus problem (2015-2016).
- Vice President of DISY since May 2023.

Hon. Selima Ahmad, MP, an entrepreneur and business leader was elected as the Member of Parliament of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in the 11th National Election held in December 2018. She has been appointed as a Commonwealth Women Parliamentarian (CWP) Steering Committee member of Asia Region for the period of 2022-25.

She is the President and Founder of Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI) which empowers businesswomen and has developed more than 60,000 women entrepreneurs. She was nominated as the “Leadership Champion” for the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) of the World Bank Group for the period from June 2020 to May 2022. This nomination has been granted for her commitment to promoting women’s economic empowerment in the country and beyond.

She obtained Graduation and Masters in Business Management from the University of Dhaka and did short courses from USA, Japan, Denmark and Canada. She is a fellow of Stanford University, USA.

She is the former Director of Janata Bank Ltd., Sonali Bank Ltd. and Bangladesh Development Bank Ltd. She was a Part time faculty member of Dhaka University and American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB). Her work has been recognized by many awards including Oslo Business for Peace Award 2014. Apart from that she has been awarded with Jeane J. Kirkpatrick Award 2013, Islamic Development Bank Prize 2012, Priyadarshini Award 2012, TIAW World of Difference Award 2010 for her accomplishments. She also got TIAW Lifetime Achievement Award 2014-2015. She has been awarded National award “Bangamata Begum Fazilatun Nesa Mujib Award – 22” by The Bangladesh Government in recognition of outstanding contribution in economy.

Hon. Veronica Kadie Sesay was born in a town called Shenge in the Moyamba District, the southern province of Sierra Leone. She acquired both her primary and secondary education at the Saint Joseph Primary School and the Government Secondary School for girls at Magburaka town.

She proceeded further for her tertiary education at the Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM), University of Sierra Leone and acquired a certificate in Local Government Administration and later gained a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at the Irish University in London.

In 2005, Hon.Veronica Kadie Sesay became a Member of Parliament and has served her constituency as well as her country for seventeen years under the flagship of the Sierra Leone Peoples Party. She has been a Peace Ambassador and also held the positions of Constituency Women’s Leader and Women’s Leader (Moyamba District) under the Sierra Leone Peoples Party.

Hon. Veronica Sesay has chaired several Committees in Parliament. She is currently a member of the ECOWAS Parliament, member of the committees on Administration and Finance, Budget and central Audit, and the Chairperson for committee on Trade and Industry and the President for the Sierra Leone Female Parliamentary Caucus.

Julie Ballington has worked on governance and women’s political participation for the United Nations and other international and non-governmental organizations for over 25 years.

As Global Policy Advisor on Political Participation at UN Women in New York, she leads a team that regularly provides technical advice to UN country and regional offices on effective programme design and she manages the development of practical knowledge products and guidance codifying good practices for the organization.

She has designed and co/authored several publications on women’s participation in parliaments, local governments, and political parties, and on reforms needed to promote women’s participation in electoral processes, including through gender quotas and preventing violence against women in politics.