Girls in ICT 2025 Speakers

​Dr. Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU

Dr. Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava took office as Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on 1 January 2023. With more than 30 years in telecommunications, including over 20 years in ITU's Development Sector, Dr Zavazava has promoted and implemented impactful information and communication technology projects around the world.

Prior to his election as BDT Director, he served as ITU's Chief of Partnerships for Digital Development, overseeing development-related projects, strategic partnerships, and resource mobilization between 2019 and 2022, while launching new initiatives that have boosted the engagement of industry, private-sector, and academia members in ITU's work.

From 2010 until 2019, he was Chief of the Projects and Knowledge Management, responsible for ITU's project portfolio, statistics, capacity building, and emergency telecommunications activities, as well as coordinating special assistance to least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), and small island developing states (SIDS). Previously, as ITU's Chief of Projects and Initiatives, he oversaw development projects focused on gender, youth, and people with special needs, along with capacity building, emergency telecommunications, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and e-waste management.

Earlier, Dr Zavazava headed the Republic of Zimbabwe's Government Telecommunications Agency and served as a senior diplomat. He also taught MBA classes at the UK's Nottingham Trent University.
Throughout his career, he has focused on closing the digital and skills divide and accelerating digital transformation to achieve socio-economic development for all.

Dr Zavazava holds a PhD in Multilateral Trade from Business School Lausanne (Switzerland), and a Master of Laws degree in Telecommunications and Information Technology from the University of Strathclyde (UK), as well as a Master's in International Relations from Webster University (US), and an MBA from the University of Zimbabwe. He also holds a Bachelor's in Business Administ ration and diplomas in Telecommunications and Systems Engineering.​

​Ms. Viktoriia Omelianenko​​, Project Officer, ITU Office for Europe

​Ms. Andrea Matasova​​​, Project Officer, ITU Office for Europe ​​

​​

​Ms. Cristiana Flutur, Vice-Chair of ITU Council 2024; Head, ​International Affairs Unit, ANCOM

Ms. Cristiana Flutur joined the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications (ANCOM) in 2012, as an expert in the Unit for International Relations and European Affairs. She has an active role in representing Romania in the ITU and other international foras. In June 2019, she was appointed Director for International Affairs within ANCOM, managing the activity of three units which cover issues such as relationship with international and regional organisations, translations and bilateral cooperation, EU affairs, the organization of events and travels, respectively. Ms. Flutur is the first woman to hold the position of chair of the Committee for ITU Policy (Com-ITU) and co-president of CEPT (The European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations), for a period of three years that started in June 2018. Furthermore, she has acted as European vice-chair of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2018 (PP-18) and main coordinator for the European Common Proposals and Positions for PP-18. Ms Flutur is an Economics graduate from the Faculty of Finance and Banking, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies and holds a master's degree from the same university in European Economics. She has an extensive experience in the public sector, in both national and international institutions.​

​Ms. Carmen Mayoral Gastón, Scientific Researcher, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC); Vice​​-President, Women and Science Commission CSIC; Vice​-President, Association of Women Researchers and Technologist AMIT

M. Carmen Mayoral Gastón (Huesca, 1967). Scientific Researcher at the Institute of Carbochemistry, CSIC (Spanish National Research Council), where she develops her research activity in new energy storage technologies.

Vice President of the Association of Women Researchers and Technologists AMIT.

She has been coordinator along the ten editions of “One female engineer in every school”, with more than 18000 Primary Education students reached since 2016.

Executive Vice-President of the Women and Science Commission of the CSIC, an advisory board committed to study the possible causes hindering women’s access and pursuit to a scientific career and to propose actions to achieve equality between women and men at the CSIC.​​

​Inga Rimkevičienė, Chair, Com ITU CEPT Project Team for ITU-D 

Florentia Protopsalti, Computer Engineer, CERN; RightsTech Women ​​

​Dr. Marusa Levstek, Researcher, CoSTAR National Lab, StoryFutures ​

Marusa is a conscientious researcher & data scientist with excellent inter-personal and project management skills. She works in R&D for tech for social good, particularly for screen & performance at the CoStar National Lab. She embeds values of EDI and sustainability at every step of her work. She has experience working across a range of partners and stakeholders, particularly in the area of creative industries, including theatre, music, and immersive tech.

​Klementina Krulec, MPhil in Technology Policy, Cambridge University ​​

Tina Krulec is currently pursuing an MPhil in Technology Policy at the University of Cambridge, where she focuses on bridging the gap between technology, regulation, and innovation. In her role as a product manager at Noon in Dubai, she develops digital tools to support sales and improve user experience. Klementina earned her undergraduate degree in computer science from NYU Abu Dhabi, where she was actively involved with Women Empowered in STEM (weSTEM). Through this organization, she supported and mentored young students, encouraging them to pursue careers in STEM through various mentoring programs and dedicated events.

Ms. Belén Sanz Luque, Regional Director for UN Women Europe and Central Asia

A national of Spain, Belén Sanz has more than 20 years of experience in development policies, with special emphasis on gender equality and women's rights policies and evaluation of public policies in international fields.

Prior to joining UN Women Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, Belén Sanz served as UN​​ Women's Representative in Mexico between 2017 and 2024, where she led flagship initiatives to advance gender equality in partnership with Mexico, such as the historic Generation Equality Forum, the Global Alliance for Care, and the Spotlight Initiative to end femicide. Between 2013 and 2017, Belén Sanz served as UN Women's Representative in Colombia, where she accompanied the historic peace process in Colombia, supporting women's participation and promoting a gender-sensitive approach to peacebuilding. During February - August 2016, she served as the Resident Coordinator, a.i., of the United Nations System in Colombia.

Before joining UN Women Colombia, Belén Sanz served as the First Evaluation Director of UNIFEM, and later UN Women, from the organization's headquarters in New York. Her main functions under this responsibility were the evaluation of policies and programs and creation of strategies in different regions of the world, including the consolidation of evaluation as an strategic function for accountability, learning and the definition of evidence-based policies. In addition to this, she assumed the role of the Chair of the United Nations Evaluation Group, promoting a human rights and gender approach in the United Nations system evaluation, which earned her many awards.

Prior to joining the United Nations, she worked as Head of Development Policy Evaluation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain, where she led the development of the Evaluation System in Spanish cooperation, and previously as Advisor of gender programs and policies in the same entity.

Belén Sanz holds two Master's degrees, one in Anthropology from the University of London, and another in Public Policy Evaluation by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. She graduated in Social Anthropology from the National School of Anthropology and History of Mexico.

She has served as a speaker and a lecturer at various academic institutions and in international forums focusing on International Cooperation, Public Policy Evaluation, Human Rights and Gender Equality Policies.​

​Mr. Jaroslaw Ponder, Head, ITU Office for Europe​

Mr. Ponder is Head of the ITU Office for Europe at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) (Geneva, Switzerland). Within the last years Mr. Ponder has been carrying out numerous projects, activities and initiatives at national, regional and international levels. He has been taking lead role in many international conferences and summits dealing with fostering ICT innovation and development of ICT ecosystem, information society, and advancements of digital economy worldwide, while setting strategies and ensuring their timely implementation.

Along the professional career Mr. Ponder held official positions in the public sector and was a contributor to the legislative projects having an impact on public policy. Since 2014 Mr. Ponder has been working for ITU, in the Market, Economics and Finance Unit (MEF/ITU), Strategy and Policy Unit (SPU/ITU), Project and Initiatives Department (PRI/ITU). From 2008 upon his former duties, he has acted as Europe Officer (EUR/ITU) as well as Project Manager for European Centres of Excellence Network (CoE-EUR). In August 2008 he was appointed as Coordinator for Europe. After successful recreation of the coordination for the region in 2009 he moved to the General Secretariat becoming Strategy and Policy Coordinator and one year later Senior Strategy and Policy Advisor with the objective to lead the ITU activities on World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS; United Nation Process on ICTs) and its 10 year review, amongst the others successfully establishing prime platforms, i.e. WSIS Forum, WSIS Prizes, WSIS Stocktaking, and organizing WSIS+10 High Level Event (2014) that resulted in negotiated texts. In parallel, since 2011 he has been working as Coordinator for Europe strengthening coordination and implementation mechanism. In 2017 he became the Head of ITU Office for Europe, directing actions, projects, initiatives, and expert groups targeting 45 countries and representing ITU in Europe.​