Melanne verveer vital voices fellowship
“Women are Agents of Change” – Ambassador Melanne Verveer on Leveraging the Power of Women Leaders
“Our grandmothers were silent and our mothers were silent. It is time to end the silence.” On Hillary Rodham Clinton’s first visit to India, a female college student handed her a poem with this line. Its ideas resonated greatly with Clinton – who incorporated this sentiment into her landmark speech at the World Conference on Women in Beijing a few months later – and with her chief of staff, Melanne Verveer.
Ambassador Verveer has spent a lifetime raising her voice to advance the rights of women and girls in many roles, from Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, to co-founder and President of the Vital Voices Global Partnership, to executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, along with many others.
Verveer’s passion and commitment have made her a worldwide leader on gender equality issues. Since 2022, she has worked with The Rockefeller Foundation to co-convene the Global Women Leaders Summit at the Bellagio Center, bringing together women heads of state and other high-level female leaders to take on global challenges, including supporting women on the frontlines of crisis.
How does your work help address issues of gender equality and women’s rights?
When Hillary said “Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights,” at the Beijing Women’s Conference, it truly echoed. I will never forget seeing women from around the world stand up as she mentioned issues like dowry burnings, honor killings, domestic violence, human trafficking, and killing babies because they’re born girls. It was a call to action, one we’ve been building off of ever since.
When the Clinton Administration ended, we wanted to preserve the Vital Voices Democracy Initiative, which brought groups of women around the world together with Americans who could help them advance democracy, grow businesses,
11.11.22 — Melanne Verveer, director of Georgetown University’s Institute for Women, Peace and Security and former US ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, will deliver a special presentation at Northeastern Law’s 15th annual Judith Olans Brown Forum forWomen in the Law Conferenceon May 5, 2023.
As theinaugural US ambassador for global women’s issues, Verveercoordinated foreign policy issues and activities relating to the political, economic and social advancement of women, traveling to nearly 60 countries. During her four years in this position, she worked to ensure that women’s participation and rights are fully integrated into US foreign policy, and she played a leadership role in the Obama administration’s development of the US National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security. President Obama also appointed her to serve as the US Representative to the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
Verveer is the founding partner of Seneca Point Global (SPG), a global firm which partners with leading companies and institutions to design, implement and measure integrated strategies that focus on women and girls and drive sustainable results – whether social, economic or both. She is the co-author of the book, Fast Forward: How Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose.
From 2000-2008, Verveer was chair and Co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international NGO that she co-founded to invest in emerging women leaders. During the Clinton administration, she served as assistant to the president and chief of staff to the First Lady. She also led the effort to establish the President’s Interagency Council on Women, and was instrumental in the adoption of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. She is the co-author of Fast Forward: How Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose(2015).
Verveer holds a BS and MS from Georgetown University and several honorary degrees. In 2013, she was the Humanitas Visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge and in 20
Vital Voices
U.S. nonprofit organization
| Formation | March 1, 1999; 25 years ago (1999-03-01) |
|---|---|
| Founders | Hillary Rodham Clinton, Madeleine Albright, Melanne Verveer, Theresa Loar, Donna McLarty, Alyse Nelson, Mary Daley Yerrick |
Tax ID no. | 52-2151557 |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3)nonprofit organization |
| Headquarters | 1509 16th Street NW Washington, D.C. 20036 |
| Location | |
Chair | Kate James |
Vice Chair | Gerry Laybourne |
President, Chief Executive Officer | Alyse Nelson |
| Revenue | $12,385,050 (2015) |
| Expenses | $10,446,819 (2015) |
| Employees | 50 (2020) |
| Volunteers | 150 (2015) |
| Website | www.vitalvoices.org |
Vital Voices Global Partnership is an American international, 501(c)(3),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.
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 StatesHillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Secretary of StateMadeleine Albright, following the United NationsFourth World Conference on Women in Beijing to promote the advancement of women as a U.S. foreign policy goal. The first Vital Voices Democracy Initiative conference was held in 1997 in Vienna, and hosted by U.S. Ambassador to Austria Swanee Hunt.
The Vital Voices Democracy Initiative led to the creation of Vital Voices Global Partnership as a nonprofit non-governmental organization (NGO) in March 1999.
Former Hillary Clinton aide and chief of staff Melanne Verveer is co-founder of the global partnership and its board chair emeritus.[ American diplomat (born 1944) Melanne Verveer, born on June 24, 1944, in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, is the executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security at Georgetown University. She also holds positions as a founding partner of Seneca Point Global, a women's strategy firm, and as a co-founder of Seneca Women. Verveer co-authored the book "Fast Forward: How Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose" with Kim Azzarelli. From April 6, 2009, to May 8, 2013, Verveer served as the first United States Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, a position established by President Barack Obama. During her tenure, she directed the Office of Global Women's Issues. Previously, Verveer served as the chair and Co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, which she co-founded with Hillary Clinton in 2001. Vital Voices is a global NGO that supports emerging female leaders who are advancing economic, political and social progress in their societies. During the Clinton Administration, Verveer served as Assistant to President Bill Clinton and Chief of Staff to the First LadyHillary Clinton. Among her duties was overseeing Hillary Clinton's global initiatives on women's rights as human rights. Prior to serving in the White House, she was executive director of People for the American Way, a progressive advocacy group, where she was involved in the passage of civil rights legislation. Earlier, she was Coordinator for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs for the U.S. Catholic Conference. She served on the staff of US Senator George McGovern and Representative Marcy Kaptur. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and the World Bank Advisory Council on Gender and Development. She served as the 2013 Humanitas visiting professor at Cambridge University. In 20
Melanne Verveer