Program: Wednesday, May 29, 2024

7:30 PM EDT

Dee Murphy
Congress Coordinator
Welcome

Deanna (Dee) Murphy is a social justice advocate for the rights of demographics that experience disproportionate challenges which serve as deterrents to the actualization of all of our full human potential. After 28 years of struggling uphill and against the odds, she achieved a B.A. in Leadership and Organizational Communication in 2015.  She is currently working on the completion of  the last year of an M.A. in Social Responsibility, with a certificate in Gerontology, as well as performing volunteer duties in social justice-oriented organizations.

Dee is the founder and current Chair of the Domestic Prisoners of War (DPoW)  Issue Committee in WILPF US. After serving as a delegate to WILPF’s International Congress in 2021, she is serving in a newly created role of International Advisory Representative from the US Section, as well as contributing to various other committees in WILPF.

Dee is pleased to have conceived of the topic for and to have organized this year’s WILPF US Triennial Congress in her role as Congress Coordinator and wants to extend a shout out, with much gratitude, for the many dedicated volunteers who have contributed tirelessly of their time, ideas, energy and work to make this year’s exciting program happen!

7:30 PM EDT

Margo Schulter
WILPF US
Opening Day Land Acknowledgement

Margo Schulter is a peace and human rights activist. She was born in 1950, and became a consistent WILPF-USA member in 2020.

She holds a Masters degree in Sociology from Boston College, and is a lifelong opponent of the death penalty. She has done volunteer legal research and writing for the Florida and California State Public Defenders Office, and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California as well as California Death Penalty Focus.

She is concerned with issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) within WILPF-USA, and the larger WILPF struggle to confront First World privilege and promote equity for the global South, the region most impacted by climate change.
 

7:40  PM EDT

Sylvie Ndongmo
WILPF International President

Sylvie Ndongmo, WILPF’s President is a peace leader with 28 years of experience. Over the years, she educated and raised communities’ awareness on public issues and social justice and created networks of women and CSOs working and including women in peace processes. Her background is multi-disciplinary with the implementation of multiple socio-economic development projects targeting policy reforms, fighting violence against women and girls, and assuming managerial roles at national, continental, and global levels. She is an AU Trainer in peace support operations with extensive experience advocating for political and social rights of women worldwide. She leads key instruments in Cameroon including The Women Situation Room with a Call Centre which provides a hotline and instant referral for victims of violence and a Legal Clinic providing timely support and remedies to victims/survivors of violence. She has extensive experience in psycho-social support after numerous training courses on mental health and psychosocial support.

8:00  PM EDT

Melissa Torres
WILPF International Vice President

Melissa I. M. Torres, PhD, MSW, CHW is a Research Scholar at the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. She is an international expert and consultant on exploitation and human trafficking with a focus on displacement vulnerabilities in the Latin American diaspora. She developed and taught classes on human trafficking, human rights, and policy at the University of Houston, University of Texas at Austin, and Yale. Dra. Torres has been invited to present, train, and testify on migration, border militarization, racism and other human rights violations for the United Nations Human Rights Council, U.S. State Department, and Department of Health and Human Services. Her work has been published in textbooks on human trafficking and human rights both in the United States and Mexico. Of Mexican descent, she is a native of the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

8:10  PM EDT

Julie Kabukanyi
WILPF US International Advisory Board Alternate
"Our Work", International

Julie Kabukanyi is a healthcare professional with over two decades of experience as a Registered Nurse, complemented by advanced academic achievements in Public Policy and International Relations. Currently pursuing a PhD in Public Policy at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts, Boston, she demonstrates a passionate commitment to health, education, and the empowerment of underrepresented communities. Julie Kabukanyi has a proven track record of leadership in community involvement and advocacy at both local and international levels, including roles as the President/CEO of the Congolese American Women Empowerment and Leadership (CAWEL) in the United States and the Leadership et Autonomisation de la Femme Congolaise (LAFCO) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her work as the alternate International Advisory Board Representative with the Women International League for Peace and Freedom underscores her dedication to fostering positive change and societal impact.
 

8:20  PM EDT

Darien De Lu
President, WILPF US Section

Darien De Lu, WILPF US President and Congress Tech Team Core Member is a peace, justice, and Latin America solidarity activist in the Sacramento branch. She writes her California ballot guide (for over 20 years) plus political and labor songs – and sings frequently!  Prior to retiring, she bicycle-commuted for twelve years to her California state jobs, addressing substance use and co-occurring disorders.  She and her husband bike, especially to the local food co-op. Darien speaks several languages and has traveled extensively. An activist for over fifty years, Darien has been a consensus process and nonviolence trainer. Her civil disobedience, direct actions, and subsequent jail time inform her activism.   

8:35  PM EDT

Mary Hanson Harrison
Former WILPF US President

Mary Hanson Harrison served as WILPF US president (2015-2019),  WILPF US Des Moines Branch president, Congress Coordinator, 2008 Simpson College (IA)\ and Virtual Congress Coordinator 2021. She sits on the board of Jane Addams Paper Project, Ramapo College (NJ). Mary brings not only an academic career but also a policy researcher and hands-on activism with and for nonprofit peace/feminist oriented organizations.  She convened and participated in several presentations on Ecofeminism and the necessity of a revolution in global agriculture and food systems: in The Hague, at the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and the WILPF International Congress – Ghana, and past WILPF US congresses. She is a published essayist and translator. She has a degree in History and a Masters in Literary Criticism and Theory.

8:55  PM EDT

Barbara Nielsen
WILPF US Treasurer
Nielsen will speak on notable landmarks and WILPF accomplishment

WILPF US: 

• Joined c. 1971; Life Member (2005)
• Member, Berkeley Branch (now East Bay) and active participant (1971 – c. 1989)
• Member, San Francisco Branch since 2005 and active participant
• Branch, Regional service focus until 2008; when added National, International, UN focus, service & work
• National Board Elected Service: Treasurer & Finance Committee Chair; Nominating Committee Chair; Program Committee Chair, (2008 – 2019)
• Bylaws Committee Service: Member (2007 – Current) 
• National Program Committee, National Issues Committees Service/Participation: (2008 – Current) 

US Triennial Congress Service/Participation: 

• 2008 Iowa 30th Congress: Co-Facilitator/Presenter, Bylaws Workshops and seated on National Board as member-elected Treasurer
• 2014 Detroit 32nd Congress: Parliamentarian; Member: Congress Rules Committee, Congress Committee, Congress Program Committee, Resolutions Committee
• 2017 Chicago 33rd Congress: Parliamentarian; Member: Resolutions Committee,  Congress Rules Committee; Facilitator/Co-Presenter, four workshops
• 2021 Virtual 34th  Congress: Parliamentarian; Member: Congress Rules Committee, Congress Resolutions Committee; Participant, Workshop on Member Development

International Triennial Congress Service/Participation: 

• 2015 Centennial International Congress, The Hague, Netherlands: Voting Member. USA Section Delegation
• 2018 International Congress, Accra, Ghana: Chair, Congress Resolutions Commit-tee; Alternate Member, USA Section Delegation
• 2022 International  Virtual Congress: Participant in USA contributions to Int’l Program; voting member, US Delegation; invited service as Facilitator, Congress Resolutions Plenary

WILPF at United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Annual Meeting:

• Attended CSW and supported WILPF US CSW programs.