Join Us
Celebrate International Women's Day!
Confirmed Speaker, WIN's AC Member, Sima Osdoby
Sima Osdoby is a consultant to international and US organizations focusing on developing democratic institutions and strengthening civil society in newly emerging democracies and post-conflict countries, and strengthening nonprofit organizations. She is a Senior Partner in Global Concepts and Communications and has served as Deputy Director of the Democratization Department in the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, on numerous international election observation missions, as Senior Advisor for Civic Programs at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and as a consultant, trainer or coach for various organizations on leadership, advocacy and political engagement, strategic planning, organizational development, capacity building, monitoring and assessment. Her arms control experience includes serving as Director of Policy and Program for Women’s Action for New Directions, directing a national project to increase support for controlling the international arms trade and as a member of the governing board of the British American Security Information Council.
Working many years in US politics, advocacy and nonprofit management, she has consulted for, directed, served on governing or advisory boards, or been on the staff of many service and advocacy organizations. She especially values receiving WIN’s 2002 Karen Mulhauser Award for advancing young professional women. She has served on a range of public advisory boards and task forces on issues including election reform, housing, transportation, and citizen participation. In 1996–97 she chaired the Coalition for Women’s Appointments’ International Task Force advocating appointment of highly qualified women to key positions in the US Departments of State, Defense and related agencies. She has worked on national, state and local campaigns, run for office, and provided training and coaching for elected officials, candidates, civic leaders and journalists in the US and abroad. In the US she has worked on large scale regional and municipal infrastructure projects, in multicultural urban environments and with Native Americans. She has worked internationally in the UK, Central and Eastern Europe, the Former Soviet Union, Central Asia, the Middle East and Asia.
Sima has taught non-profit management at the graduate level and is a Peer Reviewer for Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations’ Standards for Excellence accreditation program. Other memberships include Women in International Security and the American Political Science Association where she is a member of the Comparative Democratization and the Representation and Electoral Systems sections. She co-founded the annual F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference, is a frequent guest lecturer and speaker, and has written on topics including citizen participation, women’s political participation, Woodrow Wilson’s Congressional Government, social and economic effects of limited nuclear war, and US arms export policies. She holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, a Master of Science in Social Service from Boston University and studied in the political science doctoral program at The Johns Hopkins University.
Directions By Metrorail
Union Station (Red Line): From the main entrance, turn LEFT and walk past the Thurgood Marshall Federal Judicial Building to the intersection of 2nd Street, NE and Massachusetts Avenue. Turn RIGHT onto Second Street. Travel for three blocks, passing the Senate parking lot and Hart Senate Office Building on the right. The Sewall-Belmont House and Museum is located just beyond the entrance to the Hart building.
Capitol South (Blue and Orange Lines): Exit metro and travel on 1st Street NE in the direction of the Capitol for four blocks until you reach Constitution Avenue. CROSS the street, turn RIGHT, and walk past the Dirksen and Hart Senate Office Buildings to the end of the block. The Sewall-Belmont House and Museum is on the corner of Constitution Avenue and 2nd Street NE.
The Sewall-Belmont House and Museum, on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, celebrates women's progress toward equality—and explores the evolving role of women and their contributions to society—through educational programs, tours, exhibits, research and publications.
The historic National Woman's Party (NWP), a leader in the campaign for equal rights and women's suffrage, owns, maintains and interprets the Sewall-Belmont House and Museum. One of the premier women's history sites in the country, this National Historic Landmark houses an extensive collection of suffrage banners, archives and artifacts documenting the continuing effort by women and men of all races, religions and backgrounds to win voting rights and equality for women under the law.
The Sewall-Belmont House and Museum and the National Woman’s Party are committed to preserving the legacy of Alice Paul, founder of the NWP and author of the Equal Rights Amendment, and telling the untold stories for the benefit of scholars, current and future generations of Americans, and all the world’s citizens.
