Jody Williams

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Jody Williams

Jody Williams (born October 9, 1950 in Brattleboro, Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a U.S. state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. The state ranks 43rd by land area, , and 45th by total area....
, USA) is an American

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
teacher

Teacher

In education, a teacher is a person who teaches. A teacher who teaches an individual student may also be described as a personal tutor.The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out by way of Occupation or Profession at a school or other place of formal education....
and aid worker who received the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize is one of five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel. According to Nobel's will , the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for :wikt:fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the h...
jointly with the campaign she worked for, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines

International Campaign to Ban Landmines

The International Campaign to Ban Landmines is a coalition of non-governmental organizations whose goal is to abolish the production and use of anti-personnel mines....
(ICBL). Williams first trained as a teacher of English as a Second Language

English language learning and teaching

ESL , ESOL , and EFL all refer to the use or study of English language by speakers with a different native language. The precise usage, including the different use of the terms ESL and ESOL in different countries, is described below....
(ESL), receiving a BA from the University of Vermont

University of Vermont

The University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, more commonly known as The University of Vermont, is a national public research university and the state of Vermont's land-grant university....
in 1972 and a Master's degree in teaching Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
and ESL from the School for International Training

School for International Training

School for International Training, or SIT, is an accredited college in Brattleboro, Vermont. The president is Carol Bellamy....
(also in Vermont) in 1974. In 1984 she received a second M.A.

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Encyclopedia

Jody Williams (born October 9, 1950 in Brattleboro, Vermont

Vermont

Vermont is a U.S. state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States United States. The state ranks 43rd by land area, , and 45th by total area....
, USA) is an American

United States

Teacher

Nobel Peace Prize

International Campaign to Ban Landmines

English language learning and teaching

University of Vermont

Spanish language

School for International Training

School for International Training, or SIT, is an accredited college in Brattleboro, Vermont. The president is Carol Bellamy....
(also in Vermont) in 1974. In 1984 she received a second M.A. in International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University

Johns Hopkins University

The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Hopkins or JHU, is a private university research university located in Baltimore, Maryland, Maryland, United States....
. She taught ESL in Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
, and finally Washington, D.C. before her first appointment in aid work, becoming a grocery worker of the "Nicaragua-Honduras Education Project" from 1984 to 1986. She then became deputy director of a Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
-based charity, "Medical Aid for El Salvador", a position which she held until 1992 when she took up her position with the newly formed ICBL.

The organization ultimately achieved its goal in 1997 when an international treaty (Ottawa Treaty

Ottawa Treaty

The Ottawa Treaty or the Mine Ban Treaty, formally the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction, bans completely all anti-personnel mines ....
) banning antipersonnel landmines

Land mine

A land mine is an explosive device designed to be placed on or in the ground to explode when triggered by an operator or the proximity of a vehicle, person, or animal....
was signed in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the Capital of Canada. The city has population of 812,000, the List of the 100 largest municipalities in Canada by population municipality in the country and second largest in Ontario....
in 1997 (though some nations, notably the United States

United States

China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
and Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
refrained).

One broader aspect of Williams' work was her pioneering use of People Power: massively distributed collaboration

Massively distributed collaboration

The term massively distributed collaboration was coined by Mitchell Kapor, in a presentation at UC Berkeley on 2005-11-09, to describe an emerging activity of wikis and electronic mailing lists and blogs and other content-creating virtual communities online....
in trans-national political action, initially via fax and eventually via email -- Williams' own explanation,

Imagine trying to get hundreds of organizations – each one independent and working on many, many issues – to feel that each is a critical element of the development of a new movement. I wanted each to feel that what they had to say about campaign planning, thinking, programs, actions was important. So, instead of sending letters, I’d send everyone faxes. People got in the habit of faxing back. This served two purposes – people would really have to think about what they were committing to doing before writing it down, and we have a permanent, written record of almost everything in the development of the campaign from day one.

Williams continues to serve the ICBL as a campaign ambassador

Ambassador

An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents their country. They are usually accredited to a Sovereignty or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of their country....
and editor of the organization's landmine

Land mine

A land mine is an explosive device designed to be placed on or in the ground to explode when triggered by an operator or the proximity of a vehicle, person, or animal....
report, and, since 2003, has held a faculty position of distinguished professor

Professor

The meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the Academic department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual....
of social work

Social work

Social work is a discipline involving the application of social theory and research methods to study and improve the lives of people, groups, and societies....
and global justice at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work

University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work

The University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work is one of twelve academic colleges at the University of Houston. Established by the Texas Legislature in 1967, the college provides Master's degree and Doctorate degrees in the area of social work....
.I

In 2006, Williams was one of the founders of The Nobel Women's Initiative along with sister Nobel Peace Laureates Rigoberta Menchu Tum, Shirin Ebadi

Shirin Ebadi

Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer, human rights activist and founder of Children's Rights Support Association in Iran. On October 10, 2003, Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her significant and pioneering efforts for democracy and human rights, especially women's, children's, and refugee rights....
, Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai

Dr. Wangari Muta Maathai is an environmentalism and political activist. In 2004 she became the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for ?her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.? Maathai was an elected member of National Assembly of Kenya and served as Assistant Minister for Natural environment and Na...
, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire. Six women representing North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
and South America

South America

South America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere....
, Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, the Middle East

Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
and Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
decided to bring together their experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality. It is the goal of the Nobel Women's Initiative to help strengthen work being done in support of women's rights around the world.

She was the Head of Mission of the High-Level Mission dispatched by the Human Rights Council to report on the situation of human rights in Darfur and the needs of Sudan in this regard (established at the 4th special session of the Human Rights Council in decision S-4/101). The Mission issued its report on 7 March 2007.

Jody Williams recently offered at the Universidad de las Americas Puebla (UDLAP) a conference entitled "An Individual's Impact on Social and Political Change"

Jody Williams

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