Kingston, Jamaica (27 July 2026) – The International Seabed Authority (ISA) marked a new chapter for its See Her Exceed (SHE) global mentorship programme by announcing three initiatives: the SHE Gender Compact, the SHE Law of the Sea, and the second phase of SHE Science.
Co-hosted by the Governments of France and Belgium, the SHE side event was held on Monday, 27 July 2026, at the 31st Session of the ISA Assembly. It was moderated by Dr. Noemie Wouters, ISA’s Programme Coordinator for Marine Scientific Research, marking a pivotal transition for the SHE Global Mentorship programme, moving from a scientific mentorship pilot into a platform for leadership and institutional change across the global ocean community.
“Three years ago, SHE was an ambitious idea. It was initially designed to be a mentorship programme to bring more women experts from developing States into deep-sea research,” said Madam Secretary-General of the ISA, Leticia Carvalho, at the launch event in Kingston. “Today, SHE is entering into a new era with exciting new opportunities and scopes of work.”
The President of Palau, H.E. Mr. Surangel Whipps Jr. spoke on behalf of a Pacific Small Island Developing State, whose future is bound to the ocean. President Whipps Jr. declared: “For Palau, the ocean is not an abstraction. It is our economy, our culture and our security. Programmes like SHE ensure that the women shaping deep-sea governance include those who understand what is at stake for islands like ours.”
As host nation, Ambassador Sheila Sealy Monteith, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade of Jamaica, stated that, “As host nation to the International Seabed Authority, Jamaica celebrates the ambitious, hardworking, and resilient women who have broken barriers in the maritime sector—transforming uncharted waters into new horizons of opportunity. The objectives of the See Her Exceed Programme are therefore aligned to Jamaica’s priorities on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, including women in the maritime field.”
The Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization, Mr. Arsenio Dominguez, welcomed the ISA Gender Compact as evidence that consultation must be matched by delivery. “Meaningful progress is built through consultation, but it is ultimately measured through action and implementation,” he said, noting that gender equality has been a cross-cutting priority at IMO for more than three decades. Mr. Arsenio Dominguez pointed to the IMO´s Technical Cooperation Thematic Programme on Gender Equality and Inclusion in Maritime, as the Women in Maritime Programme; the Safe Horizons project on zero tolerance for violence and harassment; the SMART-C Women project supporting women’s participation in the green and digital transition; the global network of regional Women in Maritime Associations (WIMAs); and the IMO-WISTA Women in Maritime Survey, to be conducted again in 2027, as evidence of that commitment in practice.
The IMO Secretary-General called mentorship as “one of the most powerful tools for advancing women’s careers,” because it builds confidence, expands networks and gives women visible pathways to leadership. “We should not compete over who leads on gender equality,” he said. “We should cooperate on how we deliver it.”
At the 30th Session of the ISA Assembly, in July 2025, ISA celebrated the graduation of SHE’s first cohort of six mentees and their mentors. Two of those SHE mentees, Ms. Mpho Sehlabo (South Africa) and Ms. Orji Ijeoma (Nigeria), presented at this year’s launch event the practical framework the cohort developed to promote the safe participation of women in activities at sea, which informed the structure and development of the SHE Gender Compact. Developed in consultation with the ISA Legal and Technical Commission, Contractors and Observers, the SHE Gender Compact is a voluntary framework built around seven interconnected action areas, from strengthening leadership and accountability in gender mainstreaming to fostering cross-sectoral collaboration, to promote women’s safe participation at sea.
States and institutions can join as Champions, promoting the Compact across their networks, or as Implementing Partners, committing to putting at least two action areas into practice. The Governments of Belgium, France, India, Portugal and the Cook Islands have signed on as Champions.
Four Contractors, the Interoceanmetal Joint Organization, the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea (Ifremer), the Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences and the Cook Islands Investment Corporation, are early adopters, together with the Jamaican branch of the Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA), a new ISA partner. WISTA International and the Deep-Ocean Stewardship Initiative have also expressed their support.
The Compact builds on evidence gathered by SHE’s own pilot cohort. Secretary-General Carvalho praised Sehlabo and Ijeoma for representing the SHE cohort and presenting their analysis, stating that “It takes courage, especially as young professionals, to stand before senior officials and experts and speak clearly about what needs to change.”
ISA will maintain a register of Champions and Implementing Partners, convene an annual review and publish a progress dashboard on the ISA website to track how the seven action areas are being put into practice. The Compact is conceived as a living document.
Beyond the SHE Gender Compact, two other SHE initiatives were launched during the ISA Assembly side event. The SHE Law of the Sea extends mentorship beyond science into legal and policy leadership, aiming to strengthen the participation of women legal experts in ocean governance.
A second phase of SHE Science will build an international community of practice for women experts from developing countries working on cumulative impact assessment, developed with the Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection and co-sponsored by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Division of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea.
In making the case for Member States, Contractors, and Observers to engage as Champions or Implementing Partners, a high-level dialogue featured the Governments of France and Belgium.
The Ambassador of France to Jamaica and Permanent Representative of France to ISA, H.E. Ms. Marianne Ziss, sees many connections and points of alignment between the SHE Global Mentorship programme and her country’s feminist diplomacy, emphasizing that “France promotes women’s rights, including the right to take part in decision-making processes. SHE responds to this objective by encouraging women to access scientific knowledge and the governance of the deep seabed through SHE Law of the Sea.”
Ambassador of Belgium to Jamaica and Permanent Representative of Belgium to ISA, H.E. Ms. Ellen De Geest, stated that “For Belgium, the S.H.E. programme brings together three strategic priorities: advancing marine scientific knowledge, fostering international cooperation, and promoting gender equality.”
The high-level dialogue also brought perspectives from partner institutions. The WISTA International Secretary and Board Chairperson of the Ghana Maritime Authority, Ms. Jemilat Mahamah, described mentoring as central to WISTA’s mission: “With respect to the Global Compact, WISTA can act as the gateway to reach the global community of more than 6,000 women in offshore, thus increasing its impact.”
Scientist of the Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India, Dr. Sandip Kumar Mukhopadhyay, highlighted India’s standing as one of ISA’s original pioneer investors and one of its most active Contractors, noting that women now compose around 43 per cent of STEM enrolment in India, above the global average.
Citing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said India’s approach was guided by the view that “we should empower women through science but also empower science through the contribution of women.” He welcomed the Compact’s attention to vessel-readiness protocols and onboard reporting structures as measures that are “concrete, operational, and clearly informed by sea-time.”
The President and CEO of Ifremer, Mr. François Houlliet, also joined the panel, speaking to the institute’s role as an early Implementing Partner of the Compact.
In closing the SHE launch event, Madam Secretary-General Leticia Carvalho looked three decades ahead. “Thirty years from now, someone else will stand where I stand today,” she said. “Perhaps she is in this room. Perhaps we have already met her. My hope for her is simple. She will not be the first anything, just the best person for the job.”
About SHE
See Her Exceed (SHE) is an ISA mentorship programme launched to bring more women experts from developing States into deep-sea research, law and policy. Since its pilot cohort, SHE has grown into a global platform spanning science, law and institutional partnership, anchored by the voluntary SHE Gender Compact.
About ISA
ISA is an autonomous intergovernmental organization mandated by UNCLOS to manage the mineral resources of the seabed beyond national jurisdiction for the shared benefit of humankind. ISA is committed to ensuring that all economic activities in the deep seabed, including mining, are regulated and responsibly managed using the best available scientific evidence for the benefit of all humankind.
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