As a member of the Executive Director’s Leadership Council for Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), what thrilled me the most about the Annual General Meeting (AGM) was the motivation, focus and determination of the multitude of young human rights activists.  OK, having members of Amnesty’s International Secretariat, Country Directors, Board Members and Nicolas Cage sing Happy Birthday to me was pretty cool too!  But, seriously, the myriad times I hear people bemoan, “Where are Gen X, Gen Y and the Millennials?”  I confidently say, “They were out in extraordinary numbers organizing brilliantly, building on the tools Amnesty has developed over its 50 year history and bringing an entirely new fresh twist to it with their energy, insight and technological know-how.”   While... more

As we approach the end of International Women’s Month, I am reflecting on “the tipping point.”   In so many ways we are at its cusp, with all sectors recognizing that the empowerment of women and girls is the critical component globally not just for social development but for economic and military security.  Yet, in other ways we are not even close.  Chris Grumm, director of the Women’s Funding Network (WFN), crystallized this at pivotal moment during one of the many events held at or concurrent with the UN session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).  She said “next year, bring a man with you and then we’ll really be at the tipping point.” Bingo!  Her words echoed... more

I’ve just been invited to become an Executive-in-Residence at an extraordinary international executive education business school in Lausanne, Switzerland, IMD.   While visiting there, I met with their president, deans, program directors and faculty and am deeply impressed by the depth and breadth of their offerings.  I especially appreciate their emphasis on “real life, real learning.” In collaboration with their remarkable team, I will focus on responsible leadership and corporate social responsibility.  I welcome your input on specific issues you think I should explore and I will continue to post as this new work unfolds. Among their 100 MBA candidates, are 60 nationalities.  Similarly, the thousands of executives who participate in their specialized programs hail from myriad countries and their international faculty is comparably diverse.  IMD is ranked... more

As a board member of the World Policy Institute I heard my SheSource colleague Patricia DeGennaro, an expert on National Security issues, describe recent efforts to improve civilian-military cooperation in Afghanistan.  She outlined a comprehensive update of the “whole of governance” philosophy and practice that integrates defense, diplomacy and development as integral, inter-related components to achieving effective foreign policy objectives.  Her analysis of the impact this has on foreign policy was striking and it reinforced my experience-based perspective on all for- and not-for-profit capacity-building efforts local, national, regional or global.  I have been a staunch advocate of cross-sector collaboration for decades, yet I still was jolted by DeGenarro’s stark statistics.  Multiple indicators show positive progress in those areas with provincial... more

I often say my social activist life can be summed up, “from Selma to Soweto with a feminist perspective.”  So, to be with friends from many decades at The Feminist Press kick-off event for their 40th anniversary year was a sheer joy.  Award recipients included: Arianna Huffington, the trailblazing founder of Huffington Post; Taslina Nasrin, an extraordinarily brave Muslim physician, writer and human rights activist from Bangladesh; and Rhonda Copelon, a groundbreaking human rights attorney who worked at the Center for Constitutional Rights. Huffington spoke of a “tribe of women” who as feminists are pioneering a way “to succeed differently than men.”  Nzarin said, “as an exile I have no home; but I have a home with you.”   Copelon said, “a... more

Graham Bowley’s pieces in The New York Times “Bailout Helps Fuel New Era Wall Street Wealth” and “Bonuses Put Goldman in Public Relations Bind” and The Financial Times editorial “Public Needs More Bang for Its Buck” are among a rash of recent articles describing a disparity that virtually everyone is experiencing.  I find great cause for concern about the trend these pieces expose, as history shows that depriving many people of even the fundamental basics while a select few benefit astronomically never is sustainable. Frank Rich’s earlier op-ed “The Rabbit Ragu Democrats” highlights how the main relationships businesses currently cultivate are with lobbyists who can press their pet concerns with government officials.  His is a cautionary tale of the adverse affects... more

At 4:58am Archbishop Desmond Tutu sent me an email about President Barack Obama being the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.   Tutu used the affectionate terms by which I call him and his wife Leah and the one we use for fellow Nobel Peace Laureate President Nelson Mandela in writing, “Leah was crying with joy and disbelief as we watched an epoch-making event unfolding before our eyes.  What a fantastic result, what a fantastic human being, what fantastic people, what a fantastic country.  What hope you all have aroused in the rest of the world.  Thank you God, thank you friends, thank you for filling us all with hope that change is possible.  Yippee…it is so like when Madiba became... more

I’d worked with diplomats and women’s rights activists from several nations to promote the passage in 2000 of 1325, a UN Security Council Resolution that mandates the protection, participation and promotion of women and their involvement in all aspects of peace processes.  Last week, during the opening of 64th UN General Assembly, I attended “Peace and Security through Women’s Leadership: Acting on 1325 and Climate Change” chaired by Presidents Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Tarja Halonen of Finland.  They once again declared a call to action for implementation of 1325 before its 10th anniversary next year.  They also focused on the incorporation of a gender perspective to be included in the negotiations for a new agreement on climate change.  This meeting was a follow up... more

Today my husband Jerry Dunfey and I visited Arlington Cemetary to pay our respects at the graveside of Senator Edward M “Ted” Kennedy and his brothers US President John F. Kennedy and US Senator Robert F Kennedy.  Having been at Ted’s funeral Aug 29, we wanted to say good sailing to our friend.  I was struck  when we went to Walter Cronkite’s memorial this Wednesday how at the respective services Teddy and Walter’s love of sailing was a metaphor for what they each had done with their remarkable lives.  As many spoke about leadership, I thought about how the sea – particularly when it gets rough – can either knock you around or you can navigate it with skill and patience and respect.