Biography
Jill W. Sheffield, Founder and President, Family Care International: Jill is an educator whose experience in the design and implementation of health and education projects in developing countries spans more than three decades. Prior to founding FCI, she served as an Executive Officer for the International Program of Carnegie Corporation of New York, where she developed a new grant-making program supporting educational projects and action-oriented research in Commonwealth countries and initiatives to educate U.S. citizens about development issues. Jill also worked as an Africa Regional Representative and Director of Programs for Latin America for World Education, a non-profit organization that provides technical assistance in the developing world. She obtained her MA in Comparative and International Education from Columbia University Teacher’s College and graduated magna cum laude with a BA in Education from Glassboro State College.
As President of FCI, Jill has conceptualized and guided all of FCI’s global and country-level programs, and raised the funds necessary to cover the organization’s $5 million annual budget. Internationally, she has taken a lead role in FCI’s work to advocate and shape reproductive and sexual health policies. Jill played a central role in negotiations at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in 1994, and in the ICPD+5 review process. She was one of 15 members of the International Advisory Group which helped to plan the NGO activities during the Hague Forum in February 1999, and subsequently guided NGO participation during the Preparatory Committee Meetings for the U.N. General Assembly session on ICPD+5 (UNGASS). In addition, Jill also guided FCI in its role as secretariat of the Inter-Agency Group for Safe Motherhood (IAG) from 1987 to 2004, working in collaboration with a range of U.N. agencies as well as international and national NGOs on this global effort to improve maternal and newborn survival and well-being by promoting the implementation of cost-effective interventions in the developing world. Jill also has a long history of pro-bono activity. She is a former Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the International Planned Parenthood Federation/Western Hemisphere Region and the Central Executive Committee of the International Planned Parenthood Federation. She served on the Board of Directors of Population Communications International from 1993 until 2003, has served as an advisor to the Global Fund for Women, and currently sits on the Board for the Center for Health and Social Policy. |
