Qiyadat Global-Georgetown Leadership Program intends to honor its first women graduates who have accomplished the ambitious academic program for empowerment of women to better meet leaderships requirements. The honoring ceremony will take place in Riyadh on Monday, Oct. 25, 2021. The ceremony, to be organized by Qiyadat Global in partnership with Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, will honor over 200 graduates from more than 20 countries, who had completed a rigorous academic program addressing leadership skills in decision-making, organizational change management and organizational performance as well as interaction with stakeholders. The graduates came from a wide array of fields in the private, public and non-for-profit organizations. The financial field, for instance, was on top of these fields with 16% of graduates, followed by education (14%), healthcare (12%), energy (10%), chemicals (6%), then technology (5%) and media and communications (3.5%). As for qualifications of students upon admission, they included bachelor's degree (at 42%); masters (47%); Ph. D. (9%); and medical certificates (2%). This partnership between Qiyadat Global in Saudi Arabia, and the reputable Georgetown University through its business school Custom Executive Education department was accredited as deep and significant as well as in line with the history of the two parties in women empowerment. The graduates, on their part, expressed delight and gratitude for completion of the leadership program despite the strict conditions dictated by the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of the areas that gained the graduates' appreciation comes the wide-range of academic coverage to include several disciplines of great relevance to work in the private, public and NGO organizations. Likewise, the diversity of nationalities among students and the interaction between them had been given great appreciation as it availed them of the opportunity to review diverse work experiences from like-minded colleagues. It is worth mentioning that the program represents a direct and effective contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted by world leaders in September 2015 and are currently managed by the United Nations. These are 17 ambitious goals that the world community wishes to achieve by the year 2030. Among these goals are education (Goal 4), and particularly quality of education at all levels; and gender equality (Goal 5); in addition to Goal 8, which is dedicated to sustainable economic growth and decent work for all. In all these goals, countries around the world are eager to formulate strategies targeting development of communities while addressing a wide range of social concerns such as quality of education, universal coverage of healthcare, provision of social protection, and creation of job opportunities. — SPA
