Vital Voices
| Founder(s) | Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Melanne Verveer, Theresa Loar, Donna McLarty, Alyse Nelson, Mary Daley Yerrick |
|---|---|
| Type | Women's Rights International Development |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Motto | Invest in Women. Improve the World |
| Website | www.vitalvoices.org |
Vital Voices Global Partnership is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization that works with women leaders in the areas of economic empowerment, women's political participation, and human rights. The organization is headquartered in Washington, D.C..
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[edit] History
The nonprofit Vital Voices Global Partnership grew out of the U.S. government's Vital Voices Democracy Initiative. The Vital Voices Democracy Initiative was established in 1997 by First Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, following the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing to promote the advancement of women as a U.S. foreign policy goal.[1]
The Vital Voices Democracy Initiative led to the creation of Vital Voices Global Partnership as a nonprofit non-governmental organization (NGO) in June 2000.
Former Hillary Clinton aide and chief of staff Melanne Verveer is co-founder of the global partnership and its board chair.[2] Other co-founders were Alyse Nelson (current President of Vital Voices Global Partnership),[3] Donna McLarty, Mary Yerrick, and Theresa Loar.[4] Loar was the founding President of the Vital Voices Global Partnership[5] and also served as Director of the Vital Voices Democracy Initiative at the U.S. Department of State, the Senior Coordinator for International Women's' Issues at the U.S. Department of State[6] and Director of the President's Interagency Council on Women.[7]
Besides Clinton, honorary chairs include current and former U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and Nancy Kassebaum Baker.[2]
Funding has come from a variety of sources, including individual donations, corporate sponsorships such as from ExxonMobil,[8] and the efforts of the Clinton Global Initiative.[9]
In 2002 Vital Voices was asked by First Lady Laura Bush to drive the effort to supply school uniforms to the many girls returning to school for the first time following the U.S. led overthrow of the Taliban in Afghanistan.[10]
[edit] Mission and programs
Vital Voices' website states that its mission is "to identify, invest in and bring visibility to extraordinary women around the world by unleashing their leadership potential to transform lives and accelerate peace and prosperity in their communities."[11]
Vital Voices works in Africa, Asia, Eurasia, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Middle East and North Africa, focusing on the business, political and civil society sectors. The organization regularly hosts international forums, capacity-building workshops, and training seminars for women.[12]
Vital Voices’ Human Rights program currently focuses on combating human trafficking and other forms of violence against women and girls.[13]
[edit] Global Leadership Awards
Each year, Vital Voices hosts the Global Leadership Awards, honoring international women leaders who are working in the areas of human rights, economic empowerment, or political reform.
The 2009 program was named that year's "Most Inspirational Event" by Washington Life Magazine.[14]
The 10th annual Global Leadership Awards will be held on April 12, 2011, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
[edit] Board of Directors
- Susan Ann Davis (Chair of the Board) (Chairman, Susan Davis International)
- Bobbie Greene McCarthy (Vice Chair of the Board and founding member) (Director, Save America's Treasures & National Trust for Historic Preservation)
- Alyse Nelson (President and CEO, co-founder)
- Jaspal Bindra (CEO, Standard Chartered Bank Asia)
- Beth Brooke (Global Vice Chair, Ernst & Young LLP)
- Paul Charron (Senior Advisor, Warburg Pincus)
- Tia Cudahy (Attorney)
- Deborah Dingell (Vice Chair, General Motors Foundation)
- Sonnie Dockser (President, Dockser Family Foundation)
- Samia Farouki (Founder and CEO, HII-Finance Corporation)
- Sally Field (Actor and activist)
- Carly Fiorina (Former CEO, Hewlett-Packard)
- Mary C. Foerster (Vice President, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Communications and Marketing)
- Nancy Folger (Former Chairman, White House Endowment Trust)
- Baroness Mary Goudie (Member of the House of Lords, United Kingdom)
- Lorie Jackson (Director, Women and Girls Program, ExxonMobil Corporation)
- Kate James (Chief Communications Officer, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation)
- Ambassador L. Craig Johnstone (Managing Director, jSolutions; International President, Manti Oil and Gas)
- Nancy Kamel (Managing Partner, Strategic Expansion Partners)
- Dr. Alice Kandell (President, International Opera Alliance)
- Dr. Carol Lancaster (Dean of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University)
- Marlene Malek (President, Friends of Cancer Research)
- Donna McLarty (Founding Board Member)
- V. Sue Molina (Retired Partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP)
- Dr. Karen Otazo Hofmeister (Manager, JKH Group LLC)
- Dina Habib Powell (Global Head of Corporate Engagement, Goldman Sachs)
- Victoria Sant (President and Co-founder, the Summit Foundation)
- Roselyne Swig (Former Director, US State Department Art in Embassies Program)
- Kathleen Vaughan (Executive Vice President for Wholesale Lending, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage)
- Diane von Furstenberg (Fashion Designer and President of CFDA)
- Mary Daley Yerrick (Co-Founder)
- Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley (Director Emeritus)
- Betty Bumpers (Director Emeritus)
- Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Director Emeritus)
- The Honorable Judith McHale (Director Emeritus)
- Jan Piercy (Director Emeritus)
- Ambassador Melanne Verveer (Chair Emeritus)[15]
[edit] References
- ^ "History of Vital Voices". Vital Voices. http://vitalvoices.org/about-us/our-history. Retrieved 2010-03-04.[dead link]
- ^ a b "Vital Voices - Board of Directors". Vital Voices. Archived from the original on 2007-09-04. http://web.archive.org/web/20070904132611/http://www.vitalvoices.org/desktopdefault.aspx?page_id=9. Retrieved 2007-10-25.
- ^ "Alyse Nelson profile". The Hill. 2011. http://washingtonscene.thehill.com/people/3125-alyse-nelson. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
- ^ America's Commitment Women 2000. The White House. 2000-01-05. http://books.google.com/books?id=GcPc5Ef57OIC&pg=PA220&lpg=PA220&dq=theresa+loar+director+of+the+vital+voices+democracy+initiative&source=bl&ots=ZEgD72NKEf&sig=14aQSRHTV476I261UXpYVcANUas&hl=en&ei=quJFTdX3EMvdgQfNkOmyAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CE8Q6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=theresa%20loar%20director%20of%20the%20vital%20voices%20democracy%20initiative&f=false. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
- ^ "Powell Report on Slave Trading". The New York Times. 2002-06-06. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50D1FF6345E0C758CDDAF0894DA404482. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
- ^ "Global Partnership for Women". Princeton University. 2003-10-17. http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S04/28/19O80/index.xml. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
- ^ "Trafficking in Women: International Cooperation". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 1997-09-29. http://www.carnegieendowment.org/events/index.cfm?fa=eventDetail&id=94&. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
- ^ Roberta Luxbacher (2007-01-18). "vital voices of Africa: pan-African summit for women and girls". ExxonMobil. http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/news_speeches_20070118_RAL.aspx. Retrieved 2007-10-25.[dead link]
- ^ "Bill Clinton Hoping for Billions in Pledges for His Charity". NewsMax. 2006-03-31. http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/3/31/91014.shtml. Retrieved 2007-10-25.
- ^ Kari Haskell (2002-03-31). "'A' for Afghan, 'S' for Schoolgirl". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E3DF173AF932A05750C0A9649C8B63. Retrieved 2007-10-25.
- ^ http://vitalvoices.org/about-us/
- ^ http://www.vitalvoices.org/what-we-do/
- ^ http://www.vitalvoices.org/what-we-do/issues/human-rights
- ^ "The 2010 Social List: Year in Review". Washington Life. http://www.washingtonlife.com/2009/12/10/washington-social-diary-we-pick-2009-best-events/. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
- ^ http://www.vitalvoices.org/about-us/board-directors
