|
 The staff and Board of the International Women’s Health Coalition mourn
the death of their beloved friend and colleague, Joan B. Dunlop. Joan
passed away peacefully on June 29, 2012 at home in Connecticut,
surrounded by friends and family, after a final battle with cancer.
Because so many of Joan’s friends have asked what they can do in honor of Joan, the International Women’s Health Coalition has created the Joan B. Dunlop Fund with the goal to present an annual Joan B. Dunlop Award to a deserving women’s rights advocate in the field of sexual and reproductive rights and health from the Global South.
For more information on the Joan B. Dunlop Fund/Award please contact Kathleen Gerard by phone or email: 212-979-8500 x289 or kgerard@iwhc.org.
You can donate online to the fund here. Be sure to check the box on the lower left corner next to "My gift is for the Joan B. Dunlop Award."
Joan Dunlop: A Tribute
To read in depth about Joan's life and work, download a PDF of the book "Joan Dunlop: A Tribute" here.
The book includes a narrative about Joan's work as well as reflections from Tim Wirth, Carol L. Tucker-Foreman, Frances Kissling, Adrienne Germain, Mercedes Sayagues, Ellen Marshall, Rachel Kyte, Aryeh Neier, George Soros, Barbara Maltby & Michael Janeway, and Françoise Girard.
You may also read our online collection of condolences and download the text of the speeches from Joan's memorial service, which took place at the Cosmopolitan Club in New York on September 24, 2012 here. If you wish to contribute your memories, please email communications@iwhc.org.
Joan Dunlop was the first President of the International Women’s
Health Coalition, from 1984 to 1998. She inherited what was then a small
organization funding scattered abortion training and health service
projects in a few countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, with
$17,000 in the bank against a budget of $250,000, and a staff of three.
When asked why she left her high-visibility work in Vartan Gregorian’s
office at the New York Public Library to take this job, Joan recalled:
“I was furious about the Reagan Administration’s policy on abortion…. It
was time to get into the trenches.” With promises of funding from the
Hewlett and Ford Foundations, Joan took the plunge.
Joan was responsible for shaping IWHC’s mission and laying the
foundation for the Coalition’s work. A year after she took over, she
hired Adrienne Germain as Vice-President. Joan extended IWHC’s reach and
visibility and shaped its crucial role in global policy development
over her 14 years as President. By the time Joan stepped down, IWHC was
playing a leading role in influencing government and UN agency policies
to ensure that women’s human rights were at the core of population
policies. IWHC had helped mobilize women’s health and rights advocates
from around the world at the 1994 International Conference on Population
and Development and the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. It was
funding and providing technical support to dozens of women’s groups
working as service providers and advocates in Asia, Latin America and
Africa. IWHC proudly continues this pioneering and essential work today,
28 years on.
Read the New York Times obituary here.
Read a reflection from Aryeh Neier of Open Society Foundations here.
|
