Carol Bellamy - part II

June 14, 2010

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She had to work as a switchboard operator and waitress meanwhile she was studying at the New York University &#&School of Law&#&, from which she earned her &#&law school&#& degree in 1968.

Once graduated Carol Bellamy worked as an associate at the prestigious law firm of Cravath, Swain & Moore in New York City, since 1968 to 1971.

She began her political career, obtaining different results. Sometimes she succeeded, and sometimes she didn't. By example in 1972 Carol Bellamy was elected to the New York State Senate representing a Brooklyn district and in 1977 she was elected the first female president of the New York City Council, remaining there until 1985.

In 1993, appointed by President Bill Clinton she became the director of the Peace Corps, a position she held until 1995, being the first person to have been both: a Peace Corp Volunteer and a Peace Corp Director.

In 1995 Carol Bellamy was nominated Executive Director of the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) by Boutros Boutros-Ghali, then the Secretary-General of the United Nations. In this nomination Carol prevailed over several European candidates with impressive credentials.

She remained in such position until 2005, being granted a second five-year term in 2000 by Boutros-Ghali's successor, Kofi Annan. At the end of her first five-year period Carol Bellamy had shifted the emphasis of UNICEF efforts to education.

She couldn't continue with this role because United Nation's policy states that agency heads may serve no more than two five-year terms.

Carol Bellamy took on the enormous tasks of restructuring and decentralizing UNICEF by strengthening the organization, which is one of the largest in the United Nations. When she left UNICEF it had become a fiscally healthy organization with strong internal controls. Carol Bellamy doubled UNICEF's resources from roughly $800 million in 1994 to more than $1.8 billion in 2004.

To do so she focused on five major priorities: immunizing every child; getting all girls and boys into school, and getting all schools to offer quality basic education; reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS and its impact on young people; fighting for the protection of children from violence and exploitation; and introducing early childhood programmes in every country.

As a result of these politics UNICEF became an icon of global investment in children. Carol Bellamy sustains that "each of us can practice rights ourselves, treating each other without discrimination, respecting each other's dignity and rights."

Carol Bellamy is a remarkable woman who coming from humble origins, and being successful in the private sector dedicated an important part of her life to humanitarian objectives, obtaining excellent results.

She was named in 2004 to Forbes magazine's 100 Most Powerful Women in the World.