1st Graduation ceremony of UNESCO-Guerlain Women for Bees programme

On 21 July (3pm, CET), UNESCO and Guerlain will organize an online press conference and graduation ceremony for the first trainees of their joint Programme “Women for bees”. The event will be held with the participation of actor, filmmaker and humanitarian activist Angelina Jolie, Godmother of Women for Bees programme, as well as Noeline Raondry Rakotoarisoa, head of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme..

The international entrepreneurship training programme for female beekeepers was launched by UNESCO and Guerlain last year to advance women’s empowerment and the protection of biodiversity. It is implemented in UNESCO designated Biosphere Reserves around the world. The first training session was held in Provence (France), with many more such training activities scheduled in the future.

The press conference and ceremony will mark the graduation of the first group of trainees of the programme which will, over five years, train 50 participants from 25 biosphere reserves of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (MAB) in the theoretical and practical bases of sustainable beekeeping, including the running of a professional apiary relying on local races and species of bees.

The training will enable participants to become fully professional beekeeper-entrepreneurs and join an international network of female beekeepers. Future training activities are currently planned in Cambodia, Ethiopia, and Slovenia.