United Nations

 

 YOUR UN REPRESENTATIVES

From Left to Right: Anne-Marie Carlson, Dr. Rita King, Dr. Jackie Abbott, Dr. Margaret Anzul, Grace Murphy, and Margaret Nielsen (seated). Not pictured, Phyllis Hickey.

The Delta Kappa Gamma members listed below are your official representatives at the United Nations Department of Public Information and the Economic and Social Council. We are also all members of CTAUN.  You can email us for further information.

 
Anne-Marie Carlson, New York, Chair of CTAUN
Phyllis A. Hickey, Texas, Representative to UNICEF
Margaret Nielsen, Connecticut, U.N. Liaison Network Facilitator
Jackie Abbott, Connecticut, Representative
Margaret Anzul, New Jersey, Newsletter Editor
Grace M. Murphy, New York, Representative
Rita King, New York, Primary Representative and CTAUN Advisory Council Chair

If you want to share the history of our beginnings with the United Nations up through the summer of 2007, please feel free to download a power point presentation that you can share with your chapter members.  The United Nations & Delta Kappa Gamma: Its Beginning   

United Nations Newsletter 2008

UNICEF honors volunteers with President's Volunteer Service Award

 

 

Spotlighting The History of Delta Kappa Gamma At The United Nations 

The dozen years that have now passed since Delta Kappa Gamma was first granted NGO status at the United Nations have seen great changes in education. Educators everywhere have become increasingly aware of the importance of understanding global issues for both themselves and for their students in the years ahead. Our Society’s work at the United Nations provides new opportunities for our members to cooperate with educators from other affiliations and participate in a global outreach. For this reason, we thought it would be helpful to summarize for all of our membership, but especially for new members and those who are taking on new offices, a brief history of our activities at the U.N. and the opportunities for growth and service they afford us. 

In August of 1993 it was proposed that The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International apply for Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) status with the Department of Public Information at the United Nations (UN/DPI). This proposal was supported by the Professional Affairs Committee. In September 1993 the proposal was approved by the Program Committee, and an amendment to the International Standing Rules was submitted to the Constitution Committee. In the following year, at the International Convention held in Nashville, Tennessee, in July 1994, the membership in attendance approved that this amendment be added to International Standing Rules—Part 1. Affiliations.  In June of 1995, Delta Kappa Gamma was granted NGO status with UN/DPI.  Anne-Marie Carlson of New York was appointed as Delta Kappa Gamma’s first primary representative to the U.N.  In the years that followed, Doris Salagi of New Jersey was primary representative from 1998-2000; Phyllis Hickey of Connecticut was appointed in 2000 and reappointed for a second biennium two years later.  The current primary representative is Dr. Rita King of New York. 

The Formation of CTAUN
Anne-Marie started to attend as many as possible of the weekly briefings held by DPI to keep its affiliates informed about U.N. affairs.  She gradually came to know representatives from other organizations, such as the International Schools Association, AAUW, and UNA/USA. During the course of that first winter, she was invited to join a small group of educators focusing on ways to teach about the United Nations, and the Committee on Teaching About the United Nations (CTAUN) was formed as a result of their early meetings.  Anne-Marie was asked to edit a manual for use in some schools, and CTAUN cooperated with three other groups to organize a conference at the U.N. in 1998.  While working on these projects, Anne-Marie became convinced that CTAUN should organize its own U.N. conferences, and the first CTAUN Conference was held in 1999.

To date CTAUN has organized nine conferences held at United Nations headquarters based on global issues of concern to the United Nations. Themes of recent conferences have been “A World Out of Balance: Searching for Answers Through Education and the United Nations” in 2005, “The Global Challenge of Water” in 2006, and “Responding to Children and Youth in Crisis: Educators in Partnership with the United Nations” in 2007. Anne-Marie has been Co-Chair from 1998-2002, and has been Chair of CTAUN since 2003.  She has chaired all nine conferences.  Additional information about CTAUN, summaries of the last three conferences, and links to teaching resources may be found at the CTAUN website: www.teachun.org.

Delta Kappa Gamma Partnerships with UNICEF
The Society has also worked in partnership with UNICEF to sponsor fund-raising drives that support educational efforts in some of the world’s most needy areas.  In 1996 the Gambia Project, a partnership with UNICEF to assist girls to remain in school by providing funds for their education, was launched.  In November 1999, we joined in the Pro-Maya Project to assist children and their schools in Chiapas, Mexico.  In July 2003, the Society was invited to support a partnership for teacher education in Afghanistan.  For just $24 a person, teachers are able to come together at the provincial level for training in lesson design and teaching methods, and efforts are also being made to develop a modern curriculum.  At the most recent count, Delta Kappa Gamma members have raised over $148,000 to contribute to the Afghan Teacher Project.

In 2005, because of the contributions of its members, Delta Kappa Gamma was named one member of an alliance of five NGOs working in partnership with UNICEF to support the Afghan Teacher Project. The other four members of this informal alliance are: Developments in Literacy (working to eradicate illiteracy in remote areas of Pakistan); Girls Learn International, Inc.; Girl Scouts of the USA; and the Women’s National Book Association. Since that time, Delta Kappa Gamma has been recognized in additional ways.  Our representative to UNICEF, Phyllis Hickey of Connecticut, was invited to serve at advisory meetings with the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to formulate recommendations for re-designing the Danny Kaye Visitors Center at UNICEF Headquarters.  Most recently, as described in the article above, the Society was recognized for its many contributions to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF with the President’s Volunteer Service Award.

Consultative Status with ECOSOC
In July of 2003, Delta Kappa Gamma was granted consultative status with the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).  This allowed us to expand our member involvement with the U.N. and, on a practical level, permits the Society to have additional representatives, thus granting more of our members active on CTAUN to have U.N. photo ID passes that allow them to attend selected meetings. CTAUN Treasurer and U.N. Network Facilitator Margaret Nielsen of Connecticut told about attending such a meeting:  “I attended an orientation seminar and was amazed to find over 150 organizations represented at this meeting alone.  It was a good opportunity to network with other organizations such as AAUW, Rotary International, The International Council of Nurses and several peace-oriented groups. We heard a number of speakers that were helpful in planning our next conference.”

The Delta Kappa Gamma U.N. Network
At the 2002 International Convention, the International Executive Board voted to establish a U.N. Network.  This means that each state organization selects a U.N.
Liaison to be kept up to date on DKG involvement at the U.N. and to receive important information, including this Newsletter, to be passed on to members in her stateMRNielsen@aol.com.

As we enter a new biennium for state officers, we urge that each new state president appoint a state U.N. Liaison and forward her email address to

 We Sing for the Children CD

 Human Rights: Reflections of the 61st Annual DPI/NGO Conference: REAFFIRMING HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL: The Universal Declaration at 60.