ABOUT THE PRINCIPAL CONTRIBUTORS

Marcia Bernbaum (Ph.D. in Development Psychology from The George Washington University, 1974) has twenty-five years of experience in international development, twenty with the US Agency for International Development (USAID) as a human resources development officer and subsequently in senior management. Since 1996, when she retired from USAID, Dr. Bernbaum has carried out consultancies in evaluation, strategic planning, and organizational development with an emphasis on promoting reform through supporting civil society organizations.

In 1998 Dr. Bernbaum conducted a case study of a program to train Peruvian community leaders in human rights, democracy, and citizen participation in which she piloted an innovative methodology to asses the impacts of a program that has a strong leadership and empowerment focus on the lives of community leaders. In 1999 Dr. Bernbaum received a Human Rights Community award from the United Nations Association of the United States for her work on the Peru human rights education study and for her work moderating an internet discussion group of psychologists around the word addressing issues of human rights violations.

Nancy Flowers has worked to develop Amnesty International USA's education program and is a co-founder of Human Rights USA. As a consultant to UN agencies, governments, and NGOs, she has helped establish national and international networks of educators, develop materials, and train activists, professionals, and military and police personnel in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. She is the author of articles and books on human rights education, most recently Local Action/Global Change: Learning about the Human Rights of Women and Girls (UNIFEM, 1999) and editor of the University of Minnesota Human Rights Resource Center's Human Rights Education Series.

Kristi Rudelius-Palmer is a human rights educator and activist and has co-directed the Human Rights Center at the University of Minnesota since its establishment in 1989. She worked with community members to found the Partners in Human Rights Education program, which trains lawyers, community representatives, and educators to facilitate human rights education in pre-K through high school classrooms in Minnesota. She was a co-founder of Human Rights USA and creator of the national Human Rights Resource Center and Web Site, which services the nation with resources and training for building a human rights movement. She also oversees the publishing of The Human Rights Education Series, produced by the Human Rights Resource Center with diverse organizational partners.

Joel Tolman is an educator and youth activist based in Washington, DC. He is currently a Program Associate at the United States offices of the International Youth Foundation and also serves on the Board of Directors of Global Youth Connect, an international youth-directed human rights.