About the Author: Melanne Verveer serves as the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues at the Department of State.
From warm and walled Cartagena to temperate and sprawling Bogota, Colombia is a country whose 46 million people represent the very definition of a nation redefining itself. I recently had the opportunity to spend a few days in Colombia, where Secretary Clinton launched WEAmericas, a new initiative focused on women entrepreneurs -- one of the greatest drivers of economic growth. I also visited Bogota, where I spoke with government and civil society leaders on the global scourge of gender-based violence (GBV) and how we can better collaborate to prevent, respond to and address this issue.
More than 50 years of internal armed conflict has had a devastating impact on many of Colombia's women. Nearly 80 percent of those displaced by the conflict are women and children. Only a small number… more »
It's not every day that the State Department gets to go back to school.
Last week, we partnered with Chicago Public Schools to link Lincoln Park High School students with secondary school students in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Algeria, and Peru via video conferencing technology. Students engaged in a range of human rights-related topics in anticipation of the 12th World Summit of Nobel Laureates, taking place in Chicago from April 23-25, 2012. Juniors and seniors from Lincoln Park High School connected with English-speaking youth brought together by our U.S. Embassies in Accra, Harare, Algiers, and Lima.
These incredible students from three continents discussed a wide range of issues candidly and respectfully. They touched on serious political issues, including women's rights, education, the Arab Spring, human rights, and access to medicine. Students also connected… more »
Today the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and several partners including UNICEF launched "Every Child Deserves a 5th Birthday". The premise of this awareness-raising campaign is simple: every child should have a chance to reach five. Over 7 million children -- most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia -- didn't reach their 5th birthday last year. That number is equivalent to the entire population of New York City.
At an event this morning at the Kaiser Family Foundation, USAID Administrator Raj Shah talked about his own three children. Dr. Shah mentioned his second child, Amna, who will turn five next year. I celebrated reaching five with a carousel cake and a Smurf-themed… more »
About the Author: Stacie Hankins serves as a Public Affairs Officer in the Bureau of Consular Affairs at the Department of State.
This week marks the 31st annual National Crime Victims' Rights Week (NCVRW). This week-long campaign sponsored by the Department of Justice's Office of Victims of Crime originated as an opportunity to remember the rights of victims of crime and to acknowledge the advocates who work on their behalf. The theme of this year's event is "Extending the Vision: Reaching Every Victim."
This theme falls very much in line with the overall mission of Overseas Citizens Services (OCS) in the Bureau of Consular Affairs. OCS is responsible for the protection and safety of all U.S. citizens traveling abroad -- many in far-off and isolated locations.
While overall U.S. citizen travel abroad has declined in recent years, the volume of young Americans choosing to study abroad… more »
When a massive earthquake hit Japan in March 2011, an informal global network of government officials and NGOs delivered real-time satellite images showing the exact extent of the earthquake and tsunami damage. Japan's emergency responders used this information to find disaster victims, determine evacuation routes, and prepare for further aftershocks. This is a significant yet small example of the ways we are using earth observing and other satellite information from space to respond to disasters, understand the environment and climate change, and improve the use of our natural resources.
For several decades, the United States and many other countries have worked together to develop advanced earth observing satellites that are literally changing the way we look at the world. Earth Day 2012 falls close to the 40th anniversary of the launch of the U.S. Landsat 1, the… 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-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer meets with Colombian woman entrepreneurs alongside the launch of WEAmericas. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0423_verveer_weamerica1_m.jpg)
![Youths attend the Nobel Summit in Chicago, Illinois, April 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0423_youth_chicago_m.jpg)
![Travelers walk through the terminal at Washington’s National Airport, Nov. 2010. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2010_1222_airport_travel_m.jpg)
![These images provided by NASA shows a Landsat 5 image of the Mississippi River in the Memphis, Tenn. area taken on May 12, 2006, left, and a Landsat 5 image of the Mississippi River in the Memphis, Tenn. taken area on May 10, 2011. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0422_landsat_image_m.jpg)
