Development Through the Eyes of A Child: U.S. International Assistance Programs and the World's Children
May 3, 2004

The single best investment towards a better, more secure future for the world is investment in the basic education and health of children around the world, UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy told Yale University students and members of the New Haven, Connecticut community at a town hall meeting, the second in InterAction's multiyear advocacy campaign, "The Global Partnership for Effective Assistance."

Citing the long-term and ripple effects of an educated and healthy citizenry, Bellamy traced the benefits of simple, cost-effective actions to a child's well-being and future, as well as that of the child's family and community. Bellamy, who has traveled to over 100 countries in her eight years at UNICEF, compared the nearly 11 million children that die every year before their fifth birthday to dozens of jumbo jets filled with children crashing every day, and lamented the lack of outrage from the international community at this preventable tragedy.

Mary McClymont, chief executive of InterAction opened May 3 town hall meeting entitled, "Development through the Eyes of a Child: U.S. International Assistance Programs and the World's Children." The discussion, co-sponsored by the Yale chapter of the Student Campaign for Child Survival, brought together over 130 students, faculty and community members discussed the status of the world's children and what U.S. citizens can do to help.

Former Connecticut Rep. Sam Gejdenson, a Democrat who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1981-2000, spoke of his experience as a child in a refugee camp after World War II where he received U.S. assistance. A former senior member of the House International Relations Committee, he stressed the importance of constituent contact in bringing issues such as development and poverty alleviation to the public agenda.

Adam Taylor, executive director and co-founder of Global Justice, quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s statement that "(we) will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people," to urge the audience to get involved in the issues that are keeping people in abject poverty, Taylor used examples of Global Justice groups such as the Student Global AIDS Campaign and the Student Campaign for Child Survival as ways university communities can become engaged on critical issues to children.

Students and participants raised issues of immunization campaigns, capacity building with local organizations, and differences between U.S. and European public awareness about development issues. Asked what the best use of a meager student donation to help a child would be, the panelists agreed that low-cost interventions in basic health and education are the most significant to building a better future.

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Speaker Biographies

CAROL BELLAMY
Executive Director - UNICEF

Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund since 1995, Carol Bellamy is a respected voice in the international community. Now entering her eighth year at the helm of UNICEF, Ms. Bellamy has led the organization in becoming 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.

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. Trained in corporate law and finance and 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 their data gathering so that global goals set for children in 1990 could be monitored effectively.

Prior to joining UNICEF, Ms. Bellamy was Director of the United States Peace Corps. Ms. Bellamy has had a distinguished career in the private sector as well. 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. Finally, Ms. Bellamy 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.

SAM GEJDENSON
Former U.S. Representative from Connecticut (2nd District)

From 1981 to 2000, Congressman Sam Gejdenson served the people and communities of eastern Connecticut in the U.S. House of Representatives. He distinguished himself as a passionate advocate for children, senior citizens, and working families in the United States and abroad. Gejdenson fought to bring modern technology to all schools and to make college more affordable.

Throughout his tenure in Congress, Gejdenson has been a leader on human rights and democracy, ensuring that U.S. foreign policy reflected the values and compassion of the American people. He is known throughout the world for his efforts to curb international trafficking of women and children and promote self-help programs for the poor through micro-credit assistance.

Gejdenson, the first child of Holocaust survivors elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, was born in 1948 in an American displaced persons camp in Eschwege, Germany. He received an A.S. degree from Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut in 1968 and a B.A. from the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut in 1970. In 1974, he was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives, serving two terms before accepting a post in the administration of Connecticut Governor Ella T. Grasso.

Gejdenson is now involved in international trade in his own company Sam Gejdenson International. He continues to serve as a positive force for international democracy, participating in a high level election monitoring delegations to Belarus, Peru, Cambodia and Ukraine under the banner of the National Democratic Institute (NDI). In addition, Gejdenson serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards. He is married to Betsy Henley-Cohn, and they are the parents of four children: Mia and Ari Gejdenson and Juri and Jesse Henley-Cohn.

MARY E. McCLYMONT
President & CEO - INTERACTION

Mary McClymont is the President and Chief Executive Officer of InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international development and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations. InterAction's 160+ members work in every developing country and enjoy broad support from the American public. Under her leadership, InterAction has placed a greater focus on the effectiveness and coherence of US assistance programs, working actively to influence the new Millennium Challenge Account Initiative and recently releasing a policy paper on "Emerging Trends" in U.S. foreign assistance programs.

Previously, Ms. McClymont served at the Ford Foundation, as Senior Director of the Peace and Social Justice Program, and as Acting Director, Deputy Director, and Program Officer in the Rights and Social Justice Program. She also was the National Director for Legalization of the Migration and Refugee Services, U.S. Catholic Conference; Senior Staff Counsel, the National Prison Project of the American Civil Liberties Union; Trial Attorney, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Department of Justice; and Assistant Director for Corrections, National Street Law Institute, Georgetown University Law Center.

She has an LL.M. in International Legal Studies from the American University Washington College of Law; and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.

ADAM TAYLOR
Executive Director - GLOBAL JUSTICE

Adam Taylor currently serves as Executive Director of Global Justice, an organization that he co-founded in 2001 to educate, train, and mobilize students around issues of human rights, development, and social justice. Taylor also serves on the Boards of Jubilee U.S.A. Network and Sojourners magazine.

Taylor gained extensive management experience while working at the NYC Department of Housing, Planning and Development (HPD) and the NYC Commission to the United Nations. While At the NYC Commission, he served as a project manager for the Sister to Sister program; coordinated a new partnership between the City of New York and Santo Domingo consisting of a literacy and economic development program. At HPD, Taylor worked on strategic management and financial planning for the Commissioner's Office to re-structure homeless housing and improve middle-income housing.

Taylor's organizing experience includes a national education campaign to increase access for students of color to higher education, as President of Harvard NAACP; and a fundraising and advocacy campaign with Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka to support Radio Kudirat, a pro-democracy radio broadcast in Nigeria. Taylor worked in AIDS prevention in Zambia with Africare in 2000. Taylor worked as a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy in 2001. He also currently serves as an Associate Minister at Shiloh Baptist Church.

Taylor received his Masters in Public Policy from the JFK School of Government, Harvard University (2001) and a BA from Emory University with a major in International Studies (1998).