OAS Secretary General Luis Almargo and Vital Voices Cofounder, President & CEO Alyse Nelson to participate in ceremony to launch the partnership, which will help women and girls in 35 countries across the Americas
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Vital Voices Global Partnership, a women’s organization founded more than 25 years ago, will sign a memorandum of understanding with the Organization of American States (OAS) on Monday, January 29 at Vital Voices Global Headquarters for Women’s Leadership. This momentous agreement, which has a focus on women’s leadership, climate change, gender equality, and Indigenous women, will help thousands of people and communities across 35 nations in the Western Hemisphere.
In making the announcement, Vital Voices Cofounder, President & CEO Alyse Nelson said, “We look forward to bringing our expertise to those in the OAS network that we can also provide general leadership training to as we continue our important work in identifying and developing future women leaders in different areas of women’s rights and across all communities.”
Since its founding in 1997, Vital Voices has provided early support for leaders who went on to become Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, U.S. Youth Poet Laureates, prime ministers, and breakthrough social entrepreneurs. Vital Voices has directly supported more than 20,000 women change makers across 185 countries and built the most powerful global network of women leaders who are daring to reimagine a more equitable world for all.
The Organization of American States is the world’s oldest regional organization. Bringing together the countries of the Americas, it constitutes the main political, juridical, and social governmental forum in the Hemisphere. The Organization was established in 1948 to achieve among its member states “an order of peace and justice, to promote their solidarity, to strengthen their collaboration, and to defend their sovereignty, their territorial integrity, and their independence.”
The OAS uses a four-pronged approach to effectively implement its essential purposes, based on its main pillars: democracy, human rights, security, and development.
Looking ahead to the agreement, the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, said that, “Joining the efforts of the OAS and Vital Voices is a very valuable opportunity. This association will allow us to learn and create by connecting women from across the Americas.”
Vital Voices chapters have already been engaged in Latin America, with groups in eight different countries, including Guatemala, Mexico and Honduras. The work in these chapters is focused on fostering mentorship, delivering technical capacity building, awareness campaigns and driving advocacy for attitudinal and policy change.
For members of the media interested in learning more, or attending on January 29 at 9am ET, please contact: media@vitalvoices.org
###
About Vital Voices Global Partnership
Vital Voices Global Partnership was cofounded in 1997 by Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton and the late Secretary Madeleine Albright. Now celebrating 26 years, Vital Voices has directly invested in more than 20,000 women leaders across 185 countries and territories since its inception. Driven by the universal truth that women are the key to progress in their communities and nations cannot move forward without women in leadership positions, Vital Voices has provided early support for leaders who went on to become Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, U.S. Youth Poet Laureates, prime ministers, award-winning innovators, pioneering human rights defenders, and breakthrough social entrepreneurs, including Amanda Gorman and Malala Yousafzai. In an effort to advance and expand this work, in 2022 Vital Voices opened the doors to the world’s first global embassy for women, the Vital Voices Global Headquarters for Women’s Leadership. It is a first-of-its-kind space that allows for convening, innovation, planning, and action—all in the pursuit of serving women leaders who are taking on the world’s greatest challenges.