Jody
Williams proved that grassroots activism can bring about great
change in the world when she and the International Campaign to
Ban Landmines, the grassroots campaign she started and coordinated,
received the Nobel Peace Prize for helping to successfully secure
an international treaty banning landmines. The campaign began
in 1992 with the support of six NGOs (non-governmental organizations),
but under her leadership it grew to include a coalition of more
than 1300 NGOs in over 85 nations working with the United Nations,
many governments, and celebrities like Princess Diana, toward
the goal of ending the use of civilian-killing and maiming landmines.
Jody Williams' career as an activist and human rights advocate
began in 1981, after she was inspired by a flyer someone handed
her when she got off the subway in Washington, DC while working
for a temporary employment agency. She was moved to start working
in Central America for humanitarian relief and human rights projects
for the next decade. Then she met some veterans who were working
to raise awareness about the hundred million landmines that are
still buried in the ground where farmers till their fields and
children play in countries all around the world, killing another
innocent person every 20 minutes, and she decided to get involved.
The rest is history. Since receiving the Nobel Prize, Jody Williams
continues to teach, lecture and write to inspire others to work
for a better world. Forbes Magazine named her as one of
the 100 most influential women in the world in 2004, and she was
named Woman of the Year twice by Glamour Magazine for her
humanitarian work. Since 2006, Jody Williams has chaired the Nobel
Women's Initiative which she started with other women Nobel laureates
to help promote the efforts of women all around the world who
are working for a more peaceful, just and sustainable world.
