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Pida Ripley MA AKC Widely traveled as a child, she saw at first hand the suffering caused by poverty and the consequences of war, and she remains driven by a rage for change and for justice. 'Those of us enjoying freedom and with our basic needs met, have a moral obligation to engage in compassionate activism on behalf of those who have no freedom, who have no voice, whose situation is precarious, whose lives are in crisis.' For Pida Ripley, this is the meaning of humanitarian action. In 1987, after fourteen years of voluntary fundraising for various UN agencies, she founded WomenAid International, a humanitarian aid and development agency providing assistance to women and families in crisis and promoting human rights. She also created the Women of the World Awards and past recipients include Mother Teresa, Sadako Ogata, High Commission for Refugees, Professor Wangari Maathai, Founder of the Green Belt Movement. A post-graduate of both LSE (International Relations) and Kings College London (War Studies) she was awarded a Senior MacArthur Fellowship and was based in Washington where she studied national security issues. She is an Associate of King's College. In her early twenties she founded an international art exhibition business and a modern art gallery in the King's Road. Her art interests led to the creation of an interior design business and property development company. Among her many public appointments she is a Vice-President of the United Nations Association, an organisation she has been actively involved in for 25 years. She also served for five years on the UNICEF-UK National Board. She fought, as the youngest candidate, the Greater London Council elections in 1970 and became, for many years, an additional member of several Council Committees (Arts, Housing). She was appointed an Inner London Education Authority (ILEA) representative on the Board of Governors of St Martin's School of Art, one of Britain's most prestigious art colleges, where she was elected vice-chairman (3 years) and chairman (7 years) of the Board of Governors. She served as the Minister of Health's representative on the Board of the Royal Marsden Hospital, one of the leading cancer hospitals in the world. In 1989, she was appointed Director of Development at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, (Chatham House), one of the world's leading institutes for the research and analysis of international issues. This was followed in 1993 by her appointment as Executive Director of the Association of Business Communicators, a trade association representing the audio/visual industry. Recently she was the Director of a health promotion charity working in the former Soviet Union. An active human rights campaigner, she has also demonstrated a lifelong commitment to the principle of voluntary service and community engagement. Pida Ripley is a visionary and has voluntarily given decades of her life to those in need. Many volunteers have shared her vision, and for well over a decade, have freely offered their time, talent, skills and support to the work of WomenAid International. Perhaps that is the greatest of tributes to Pida Ripley. |
HRH Princess of Wales with Pida Ripley, presenting a Woman of the World Award to Mildred Robbins Leet
Pida Ripley in conversation with UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar |
INTERNATIONAL