About the Author: Katie G. Kirkpatrick is a program analyst in the Under Secretary of Management's Office of Policy, Rightsizing, and Innovation. She also serves as the events coordinator for the State Department's Greening Council, which helped organize the 6K Walk for Water.
Yesterday, despite the gray skies and light rain, a crowd gathered outside the State Department's 21st Street entrance, where Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer kicked off the second Annual 6k Walk for Water.
Most of us in the United States take for granted clean and accessible drinking water. But, for millions of people -- mostly women and girls -- around the world, they must walk an average of six kilometers to collect water for their families. The task of collecting water keeps children out of school and prevents women from engaging in more productive economic activities. Water resources have widespread implications for gender equity, as well as for the global environment, health, economy, and food security.
Clean water resources are essential for a healthy planet. Experts estimate that by 2025, nearly two-thirds of the world's… more »
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta joined their defense and foreign minister colleagues for a joint ministerial meeting of NATO in Brussels, Belgium on April 18, 2012. Following their meeting, Secretary Clinton said:
"The main focus of our conversations today was Afghanistan, which I will focus on tomorrow at the meeting of our ISAF partners. But let me say how grateful the United States is for the solidarity and steadfastness of our NATO allies and ISAF partners.
"As difficult a week as this has been in Kabul and other parts of Afghanistan, the big picture is clear. The transition… more »
About the Author: Mark F. Brzezinski serves as the U.S. Ambassador to Sweden.
In his video message, President Obama speaks for all Americans who remember the courageous and selfless acts of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. In 2012, Sweden is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Raoul Wallenberg, a diplomat who chose not to be indifferent and to rise to a higher moral calling. We remember and revere this courageous man whose efforts saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust. Wallenberg paid with his life for his commitment to basic values. And we all have the obligation to ponder the full measure of Wallenberg's personal sacrifice and tragedy.
Born into wealth, for Wallenberg turning a blind eye to the hardship and suffering of others would have been easy. Instead, as First Secretary at the Swedish Legation in Budapest, Hungary during the darkest days of World War II, Wallenberg demonstrated a sense of self-sacrifice… more »
On April 19, people all over the world will commemorate Yom Ha'Shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. In Judaism, when we remember the dead we say "zikron l'vrach"-- may their memory be for a blessing. On this day, we stand united against one of the most sinister and evil chapters of history, scarred by the unthinkable deeds of governments and collaborators and the silence of so many.
In my job as Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, two of the tools I use in my outreach to governments and civil society are education and dialogue. They are mandatory first steps to prevent and overcome ignorance and hate. We must advance the universal message that such evil must be confronted rather than ignored. We must forge connections between students, between communities, and between faiths.
In January, I was honored to attend a United Nations… more »
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Brasilia, Brazil April 16-17, 2012. On April 16, the Secretary led the U.S. delegation for the third U.S.-Brazil Global Partnership Dialogue. She also met with Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, business leaders, and U.S. Embassy Brasilia staff and their families. In remarks with the Foreign… more »
DipNote is the official blog of the U.S. Department of State —a place to share stories, discuss experiences, and inspire new ideas on the important foreign policy issues of the day. more »
Across the eastern Horn of Africa, more than 11 million people -- a number greater than the populations of Houston and New York City combined -- are now in need of emergency assistance to survive. Learn more about the current crisis, including how you can help.
May 23: The State Department, through its office of the U.S.-Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), is pleased to announce $1.5 million in funding to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to support open governance and political participation in the Middle East and North Africa. more »
May 23: Today, Russia was invited to join the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) at a ceremony hosted by its parent body, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. ã more »
![Ambassador Melanne Verveer launches the second annual 6K Walk for Water outside the 21st Street entrance to the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., April 18, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0418_verveer_6k_water_m.jpg)
![Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta hold a news conference at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, April 18, 2012. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0418_clinton_nato_m.jpg)
![A candle is lit in front of a memorial wall holding the engraved names of tens of thousands of Holocaust victims in the Holocaust Memorial Center at the United Nations Holocaust remembrance day in Budapest, Hungary, Jan. 27, 2012. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0418_holocaust_remembrance_day_m.jpg)
