impact

An Invitation

This blog is like all others, a developing work. And it is an invitation to “stand on my shoulders.”

The mission being pursued here, is to provide those who: have a sense of mission or purpose in our world—the NGO leaders, staff and volunteers, the social activist, the missionary, with resources, ideas, links and information that help build their capacity to accomplish the missions they have felt called to do.

By the way, this is the work of someone who also loves adventure, travel, family, motorcycles, the ocean, skydiving, beading, watching the sunrise across the One Tree Plain, sitting in the Vienna Cafe in the UN and watching and wondering, “How? Why? Where?” …. and more.

Stand on my shoulders

This blog is a building upon and sharing of experiences and lessons learned in over 26 years of being involved in training, education and activism. I started with developing a training program for international youth to learn boating, navigation, seamanship…and how to catch Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, some over 1,000 lbs!

Since then I have worked with international women’s organizations, with inter-religious activists and have trained and worked with staff and volunteers engaged in advocacy at the United Nations. Any outcomes? Yep. Directly because of our initiating efforts, a series of General Assembly resolutions have “fallen into place” and have made their own contribution to changing what people now talk about at the UN, and with the collaboration of like-minded, politicians and diplomats, have resulted in “high level dialogues” on topics that but a few years ago, were virtually taboo in the hallowed halls of the UN.

Did we do it all? For sure not. Did we initiate? Yes! Would it have happened without our efforts? No. Now it’s all history.

While the UN may be a unique creature with different challenges than community advocates or those on the ground in Washington DC and other local, state or national governments, the heart of the work is change leadership. So many of elements are similar, even if they get “dressed up” a little differently.

It’s still all about people

In the end, it’s all about making relationships, having clarity of purpose, knowing yourself and taking action. And as for any area of life, when we can hear others’ stories and get additional perspectives and ideas on those things we are already engaged in, we can often improve and sharpen our existing abilities, and in the case of social leadership, to impact our communities, our families and our world.

Share your comments and stories! We are here to help you become better leaders of your own life and your community. And feel free to contact me when you like at: kjs@NGO-Academy.com Then there is twitter, linkedin and facebook.

My name is Karen Smith, founder of the NGO Academy and author of “Our Sacred Space: Where We Shape Our Destiny.”