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UNICEF Chief to Head Up Vermont-Based World Learning and its School for International Training
UNICEF Chief to Head Up Vermont-Based World Learning and its School for International Training
Published 01-25-05
Submitted by World Learning
Bellamy, who succeeds James Cramer, will become World Learning's seventh president. She comes to World Learning from UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, where she is now completing her tenth year as Executive Director, the maximum permitted under U.N. policy.
Commenting on the appointment, Plimpton said, "The trustees and staff of World Learning are delighted that Carol Bellamy has chosen to continue her work on behalf of those in need and in the service of building peace and sustainability by leading our effort to do the same. From the first meeting with her it was clear to all of us - trustees and staff - that Ms. Bellamy's dedication to making the world better, for all its citizens, aligned well with World Learning's vision and outreach in international education, cultural exchange and community development.
Carol Bellamy brings to World Learning invaluable experience, energy and enthusiasm, and an impressive record of achievement throughout a wide-ranging career in public service. We look forward to working with her to take World Learning forward."
During her years at UNICEF, Bellamy made education for all one of her key priorities, often stating that there was no better investment the world could make than educating every child.
At World Learning her mandate will expand to include persons of all ages for whom education and training are the most effective pathways out of poverty and toward intercultural understanding. Bellamy's experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer, as Director of the Peace Corps, and as head of UNICEF will serve her well in advancing the mission of World
Learning: to promote democracy, social justice, and economic development as bridges to peace.
"I am delighted to accept this challenge," Bellamy said. "Educational opportunity is something I feel passionately about, and it will be a great honor to lead World Learning toward even greater reach and relevance in today's interconnected world. It's a great follow on from my years at UNICEF, during which I saw very clearly how important education is for both individuals and nations."
World Learning - Dedicated to the Building of Peace
When she takes her new post in June 2005, Ms. Bellamy will lead an organization whose scope and intensity has grown in the 72 years since its founding as The Experiment in International Living, the first program designed to enlighten U.S. youth about our world's many and varied cultures.
World Learning today is comprised of four operating divisions - School for International Training, The Experiment in International Living, and World Learning for Business, and World Learning for International Development - through which it delivered and maintained, in 2004, 175 programs in 108 countries.
In addition to its Vermont headquarters location, World Learning maintains offices in Washington, D.C. - home of World Learning for International Development and its Delphi International Visitors Program
- and a multitude of program sites in the U.S. and abroad. School for International Training, or SIT as it is known, is equally global in its reach. For more information, visit www.worldlearning.org
School for International Training (SIT)
World Learning's accredited institution of higher education, SIT prepares graduate students and professionals to be interculturally effective leaders, professionals, and citizens. In so doing, the school fosters a worldwide network of individuals and organizations committed to responsible engagement in a changing world. This mission is fulfilled with degree and certificate programs in teaching, as well as in conflict transformation, sustainable development, organizational management, international education and social justice in intercultural relations. For more information about SIT graduate and professional programs, visit www.sit.edu
In addition to its graduate school in Brattleboro, SIT campuses are located in over 40 countries on six continents serving students in its study abroad programs. SIT Study Abroad supports the school's mission with field-based academic programs - most in non-traditional study sites. To date over 26,000 students from over 200 sending colleges and universities have studied abroad through SIT. For more information about SIT Study Abroad, visit www.sit.edu/studyabroad
The Experiment in International Living
World Learning's flagship program, The Experiment continues its 70-plus year tradition of fostering international understanding through intercultural exchange. In three- to five-week summer programs offered in over 25 countries worldwide, high school students immerse themselves in the culture and language of another country by living as a member of one of its families. They engage in language training, community service, peace studies, travel and ecological projects. Over 1,000 young people from the U.S. and abroad went abroad in summer 2004. For more information, visit www.usexperiment.org
World Learning for International Development
World Learning for International Development designs and carries out projects that create democratic change and support peace, understanding and social justice around the world. The division specializes in grass-roots programs in three sectors - education, civil society and social change, and training and exchange. These programs are designed to build local capabilities through technical assistance and training for people and organizations. To date, World Learning has managed more than $650 million in programs funded by United States government agencies, including the U.S. agency for International Development
(USAID) and the Department of State; multilateral organizations, including United Nations agencies and the World Bank; private foundations and corporations; and foreign aid agencies of other governments. For more information, visit www.worldlearning.org/wlid
World Learning for Business
World Learning for Business provides customized training in global business communication to employees of international corporations. Working with a wide variety of global enterprises, the division offers a portfolio that includes programs in executive communication coaching, international orientation, and training in all languages, provided on site or in its offices in Vermont, Northern California, Washington, D.C., Houston, and New Delhi, India. For more information, visit www.worldlearning.org/business
About Carol Bellamy
Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) since 1995, Carol Bellamy has been a respected voice in the international community.
Now in her tenth and last year at the helm of UNICEF, Ms. Bellamy has focused the world's leading children's organization on five major priorities: early childhood care and survival; universal immunization for children; getting all girls and boys into schools that offer a quality basic education; reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS among young people; and fighting for the protection of children from violence and exploitation. Ms. Bellamy believes these priorities are mutually supportive and will help the world reach the Millennium Development Goals agreed to by all nations in 2000.
Under Ms. Bellamy's leadership UNICEF has become a champion of global investment in children, arguing that efforts to reduce poverty and build a more secure world can only be successful if they ensure that children have an opportunity to grow to adulthood in health, peace and dignity. She has challenged leaders from all walks of life to recognize their moral, social, and economic responsibility to invest in children and to shift national resources accordingly.
She encouraged the General Assembly to allow children to take part in the UN Special Session on Children in May 2002, and hundreds did, meeting directly with Heads of State to discuss the issues affecting their lives. The groundbreaking summit adopted new global goals for children and provided world leaders with ideas and inspiration for achieving them.
Ms. Bellamy has visited more than 100 countries, advocating for children and women with heads of state, cultural icons, corporate leaders, rebel commanders, and many others.
Deeply committed to global peace and development, Ms. Bellamy has brought a compassionate yet pragmatic ethic to improving the lives of children. Her first two years at UNICEF were devoted to streamlining operations, cutting costs, and giving UNICEF's 160 country offices more flexibility to respond to local needs. She also focused UNICEF on helping countries improve data gathering so that global goals set for children can be monitored effectively.
Prior to joining UNICEF, Ms. Bellamy was Director of the United States Peace Corps. Having served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala from 1963 to 1965, she was the first former volunteer to run the organization, which works in more than 90 countries.
Trained in corporate law and finance, Ms. Bellamy has had a distinguished career in the private sector. She was a Managing Director of Bear Stearns & Co. from 1990 to 1993, and a Principal at Morgan Stanley and Co. from 1986 to 1990. Between 1968 and 1971 she was an associate at Cravath, Swaine and Moore.
Ms. Bellamy also spent 13 years as an elected public official, including five years in the New York State Senate (1973-1977). In 1978, she became the first woman to be elected President of the New York City Council, a position she held until 1985.
Ms. Bellamy earned her law degree from New York University in 1968. She is a former Fellow of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and an honorary member of Phi Alpha Alpha,
The U.S. National Honor Society for Accomplishment and Scholarship in Public Affairs and Administration. Ms. Bellamy graduated from Gettysburg College in 1963. Born and raised in the New York City area, she is a Mets fan.
