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

I was enthralled when Georgetown University Law Center Professor Emma Coleman Jordan gave the Fourteenth Annual Derrick Bell Lecture on Race in American Society.  Her talk, “Race and New Economic Connection in Subprime Crisis” was the most coherent analysis of economic justice I’ve ever heard.  Everything she spoke about relates to points I’ve made in my recent posts on Inequity and to issues I’ve explored for decades.  But she wove together myriad strands of insight into the most magnificent whole cloth that made simple to grasp incredibly complex topics.  She is best known for establishing the field of economic justice in legal theory and for her work in financial services and civil rights.  Listening to her at NYU Law School... 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.

Dear friend and champion of every issue of importance in the 20th and start of the 21st century, you will be so missed by so many.  The world knows you as the unmatched “Lion of the US Senate”: you are ONE in a lifetime and your loss is irreplaceable.  Those privileged to call you friend, know your passion and dedication to the great social justice issues of our time was mirrored by your intense passion for and utter loyalty to your friends and family. We are grieving and sharing our heartfelt condolences with your family who we know were more important to you than anything. We were profoundly honored to be on vigil during the final hour Ted’s casket was at the Kennedy Library before... more

Women and girls are the key to sustainable development and have the capacity to resolve myriad crisis that plague our world.  I applaud the many insightful articles in today’s The New York Times Magazine with the cover “Why Women’s Rights Are the Cause of Our Time” (emphasis my own).  I have been an advocate of the perspective highlighted in these pieces and I encourage you to read all of them.  As Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn wrote in their 21st century manifesto, there is growing recognition among leaders from all sectors – public and private – that supporting women and girls throughout the world is the solution for many of the world’s problems.  As Mark Landler wrote in his piece... more

Akash Kapur’s New York Times article describes through his personal experiential lens, “creative destruction,” a concept Joseph Alois Schumpeter popularized in his 1942 book Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy.  Kapur describes how innovative entrepreneurial development that can sustain long-term economic growth bringing wealth to some in previously impoverished areas, simultaneously often destroys the values of a culture, fabric of a community and the natural beauty of an environment.  The July 2009 issue of the Chicago Journals Economic Development and Cultural Change’s articles address this phenomenon from different perspectives in various countries’ initiatives.  Since I’ve long supported sustainable development initiatives in the US and throughout the world, I continue to explore with all types of leaders – from local communities to national governments... more

The speakers at 10 Downing Street included our host Sarah Brown, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Anne Aslett of the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Dillon Woods of the Donald Woods Foundation (DWF) who each explained why they support the comprehensive services provided by DWF, all created with shared ownership by the residents in the Mbashe area of South Africa’s Eastern Cape. They believe as I do that only through an engaged, empowered multi-faceted approach do local communities achieve self-sustainability. I have learned over decades of work that whether you are a business, an NGO or a government when you follow the guidance of local leadership, help strengthen local capacity and collaboratively address problems from multiple angles, you can create sustainable success. DWF does exactly this... more

I attended the preview screening for “Black in America 2, Soledad O’Brien Reports”, a CNN four-hour documentary that premieres on July 22 with “Tomorrow’s Leaders” and July 23 with “Today’s Pioneers.”  I encourage you to watch this two-part series as it features extraordinary programs that serve as highly successful and replicable models. While I was inspired by all six, I was particularly touched by an initiative Malaak Compton-Rock started at the Bushwick Brooklyn Salvation Army Community Center called Journey for Change. Thirty children were chosen to participate.  First they served their own community and then had a two-week service trip to a South African township. Read the Journey for Change blog to see what these kids have learned and what they... more