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UN Accredits VGIFUW

VG UPDATE July, 1997
by Wes Cady

During 1997 the Department of Public Information at the United Nations officially accredited the VGIFUW as a recognized member of the community of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Thanks and congratulations should go to past Gildersleeve Presidents and Board members whose persistent lobbying hastened the acceptance and accreditation of the VGlFUW; particularly the Fund is indebted to the efforts of Jean Colburn, Virginia Maynard, Claire Fulcher and Hope Miller. For some years there has been an informal Gildersleeve presence through many of our members who carry credentials from other NGOs such as the AAUW, IFUW, Altrusa, Business and Professional Women, the UNA-USA, the Jane Addams Conference and many others. At last the VGIFUW will have a visible and viable presence in its own right. Official status will open additional doors for the VGIFUW to network and to advance its labors. At the same time, in promoting better living conditions and improved human conditions globally through ducational/economic training and by working toward self-sufficiency, the Gildersleeve Fund promotes the peaceful mission and purposes of the United Nations. It will be a mutually beneficial relationship-partners in the struggle to eradicate poverty and to improve the quality of life! The U.N.offers expanded channels through which the Gildersleeve can identify and evaluate community-based civic organizations involved in charitable labors. Expanded networking will help the Fund as it seeks to establish its Global Network for making on-site visits to the projects of grant recipients.

The Gildersleeve President will be listed each year as the Fund's Representative and Virginia Maynard, already prestigiously established in NGO circles, will serve on a continuing basis as VGIFUW's Alternate Representa- tive. New York-based Maynard can provide continuity as well as liaison especially valuable considering that the VGIFUW presidency is a three-year term and successive Gildersleeve presidents may not live in or conveniently near New York. Maynard, one of IFUW's energetic and hard-working NGO representatives, already identified as an advocate for women's issues and human rights, routinely attends the Thursday morning NGO Briefings in the basement conference room of the Dag Hammarskjold Library and has enjoyed a leadership role in the NOC Committee on the Status of Women, serving as its Vice Chair. She has been identified as the VGlFUW spokeswoman. Maynard is an experienced and diplomatically skilled advocate.

The current VGIFUW president, Wes Cady, has served for some years as the Alternate NGO Representative accredited to the U.N. by the Chicago-based Jane Addams Conference, a Women's International Leadership Program and Training Organization for Participation in International Affairs. She regularly attends the Annual DPl/NGO Conferences. Whenever she is in New York she also attends the weekly Briefings and other meetings that coincide with her visits.

The Gildersleeve Fund will be represented at the 50th Annual DPI/NGO Conference to be held at the United Nations in New York, 10-12 September 1997.

The Gildersleeve Officers and Board are delighted with this new opportunity and these new channels through which they can pursue the Fund's purposes. They anticipate a fruitful and fulfilling, however strenuous, working relationship.