Work
Wisse Smit was co-founder of the "European Action Council for Peace in the Balkans" in 1994, which was a non-governmental organisation that strived for peace, democracy and stability in the Balkans, and had Margaret Thatcher, Simon Wiesenthal and Valéry Giscard d'Estaing among its members.
In 1995 she was one of the co-founders of War Child Netherlands, she was on the Trustee Board until 1999. In 1997, she was appointed director of EU affairs of the "Open Society Institute" in Brussels, one of the foundations of Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros. From 2002 to 2008, Princess Mabel has worked in the London branch of the Open Society Institute where she is the "International Advocacy Director", she "helps to coordinate all international OSI advocacy activities aimed at international policy change."
The World Economic Forum in Switzerland counted her as one of the hundred "Global Leaders for Tomorrow". She is a member of the worldwide Forum of Young Global Leaders, a thinktank and lobbygroup that aims to tackle global issues.
She is one of the founding members of the European thinktank European Council on Foreign Relations. She is also a member of the Interpeace Governing Council.
From July 2008 till May 2012 she was the first Chief Executive Officer of the Global Elders, a group of eminent individuals convened by Nelson Mandela to use their wisdom, independent leadership and experience to tackle some of the world's toughest problems. She oversaw the day-to-day operations for the Elders.
In May 2012, Mabel van Oranje resigned as CEO of The Elders, following the February 2012 accident in which her husband, Prince Friso, was caught in an avalanche and remains hospitalised. She will continue to assist The Elders as Senior Adviser on a part-time basis, providing strategic input on major initiatives, including 'Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage'.
Read more about this topic: Princess Mabel Of Orange-Nassau
Famous quotes containing the word work:
“... to work, to work hard, to see work steadily, and see it whole, was the way to be reputable. I think I always respected a good blacksmith more than a lady of leisure.”
—Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (1844–1911)
“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalms, 8:2.
“Man was kreated a little lower than the angells and has bin gittin a little lower ever sinse.” (Josh Billings, His Sayings, ch. 28, 1865)
“Bees plunder the flowers here and there, but afterward they make of them honey, which is all theirs; it is no longer thyme or marjoram. Even so with the pieces borrowed from others; one will transform and blend them to make a work that is all one’s own, that is, one’s judgement. Education, work, and study aim only at forming this.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)