On the occasion of the Fifteenth Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement held in Sharm El Sheikh, 11-16 july 2009, Her Excellency Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, the first lady of Egypt took the initiative to organize the NAM First Ladies Summit in Sharm El Sheikh, 15-16 july 2009. The Summit was held under the title :Women in Crisis Management: Perspectives and Challenges " Best Practices and Lessons Learned". The NAM First Ladies Summit focused on ways and means to address persisting global crises, on top of which the global food crisis.
The Second first ladies Summit scheduled to be held in Rome on November, 15th, 2009, in conjunction with the World Food Summit provides a good opportunity for a follow-up of the first NAM First Ladies Summi; it aims at addressing the many aspects of hunger and malnutrition, and identifying concrete steps that NAM first ladies could play to address these issues.