- Vital Voices
The Vital Voices Global Partnership is an international,
non-profit ,non-governmental organization which promotes and advocates the participation of women in leadership roles in the political processes of their societies and countries. It was started in 1997 as aUnited States initiative, the Vital Voices Democracy Initiative byFirst Lady of the United States Hillary Rodham Clinton andU.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright , who following the events of theFourth World Conference on Women inBeijing saw the advancement of women in all countries of the world as an important goal forUnited States foreign policy .cite web | url=http://www.vitalvoices.org/desktopdefault.aspx?page_id=8 | title=Vital Voices - Our History | publisher=Vital Voices | accessdate=2007-10-25] Deemed successful, in 1999 it was created as an NGO under its present name.Former Hillary Clinton aide and chief of staff
Melanne Verveer is co-founder of the global partnership and its board chair.cite web | url=http://www.vitalvoices.org/desktopdefault.aspx?page_id=9 | title=Vital Voices - Board of Directors | publisher=Vital Voices | accessdate=2007-10-25] Besides now Senator Clinton, honorary chairs include current and former U.S. SenatorsKay Bailey Hutchison andNancy Kassebaum Baker . Funding has come from a variety of sources, including individual donations, corporate sponsorships such as fromExxonMobil , [cite web | url=http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/news_speeches_20070118_RAL.aspx | title=vital voices of Africa: pan-African summit for women and girls | author=Roberta Luxbacher | publisher=ExxonMobil | date=2007-01-18 | accessdate=2007-10-25] and the efforts of theClinton Global Initiative . [cite web | url=http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2006/3/31/91014.shtml | title=Bill Clinton Hoping for Billions in Pledges for His Charity | publisher=NewsMax | date=2006-03-31 | accessdate=2007-10-25]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 theTaliban inAfghanistan . [cite news | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A02E3DF173AF932A05750C0A9649C8B63 | title= 'A' for Afghan, 'S' for Schoolgirl | author=Kari Haskell | publisher=The New York Times | date=2002-03-31 | accessdate=2007-10-25] Vital Voices gives a "Global Leadership Award, Women Changing Our World" in an event at theJohn F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ; March 2007 recipients included DoctorGao Yaojie of China, whose request to Chinese authorities to leave the country to accept the award attracted international attention, [cite news | url=http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Feb26/0,4670,ChinaAIDSWhistleblower,00.html | title=Chinese AIDS Activist Heads to U.S. | author=Alexa Olesen | publisher=Associated Press forFox News | date=2007-02-26 | accessdate=2007-10-25] along with three other women from China and three women from India, Guatemala, and Sudan. Previouslysign language translator andOrange Revolution heroNataliya Dmytruk ofUkraine was among winners of Vital Voices' 2005 awards. [cite news | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/28/AR2005042801696.html | title=As Ukraine Watched the Party Line, She Took the Truth Into Her Hands | author=Nora Boustany | publisher=The Washington Post | date=2005-04-29 | accessdate=2007-10-25]References
External links
* [http://www.vitalvoices.org Official website]
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