Donna L. Goodman

Earth Child Institute Founder and Executive Director, Donna L. Goodman

“I am an action-oriented visionary with a passion for ‘connecting the dots’ (whether they are individuals, organizations, places, policies, etc)… and weaving more coherent, higher functioning structures. I have been blessed with the very practical life experience of raising three wonderful children as a single mother… and an amazingly unique career path in which I have worked as: a corporate executive, a hands-on educator, a youth facilitator, an international professional, an entrepreneur and participatory programme developer. The common theme among all of the seemingly diverse branches of my life is that each has centered upon service to the world’s children and to Mother Earth, her waters, trees and interconnected life systems. The Earthchild Institute brings all of these diverse experiences into what I hope will become a ‘midwife’ for the process of rebirthing the ways that people live, love and sustainably prosper in harmony with the Earth in the 21st century.”

Bio

Donna L. Goodman is the Founder of the Earth Child Institute, an international NGO dedicated to supporting governments, the private sector and UN system partners to develop and build local capacity to implement holistic, rights-based inter-sectoral educational solutions as a mechanism for community-based adaptation to climate change, water and environmental sustainability.

For the past 4 years, she served as an international professional for UNICEF, most recently as Programme Advisor, Climate Change and Environmental Education, leading development of UNICEF’s Environmental Education Resource Pack for Child Friendly Schools, children’s environmental health programming with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Health Organization (WHO) and initiating development of internal frameworks to address climate change. Prior to this, she worked on, Water, Environment and Sanitation for Schools and child and youth participation in the sector.

She was the lead author of Climate Change and Children: A Human Security Challenge, (link opens the PDF) published by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre , UNICEF Climate Change and Children, (Link opens the PDF) UNICEF Water Alert! interactive learning module game and many other publications and broadcasts most notably serving as key UNICEF advisor for MTV special on Water for Life with pop-star JayZ.

Every Drop Counts Every Drop MattersBefore joining UNICEF, she worked with the United Nations Department of Public Information as author of Every Body Counts, Every Drop Matters, United Nations Classroom Resource Guide on Water, United Nations Cyberschoolbus, Pumped Up for Peace project, United Nations Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues policy paper on Indigenous Peoples and Water, and the Council for the Parliament of World Religions in Jerusalem and Montserrat on issues of water, peace and sustainable access and trans-boundary cooperation.

Fun With Mixing and Chemistry Co Author Donna GoodmanPrior to her six years of service to the United Nations, she was co-Founder/President of Little Scientists® a hands-on approach to teaching science to young children and Development Specialist for Kids1, Inc., working with school systems to establish alternative schools for most “at-risk” student populations and specialized schools and programmes for children on the autistic spectrum.

Donna is a convener of the Millionth Circle Initiative, a basic level practitioner of Crystalline Consciousness Technique and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Marketing, and is currently engaged as a student of Core Energetics.