Arise is pleased to announce that Sr Deirdre Mullan has joined its international board of trustees. Sr Deirdre brings profound experience in bridging the gap between frontline work - particularly that of religious sisters - and the international policy and aid communities.
As a Sister of Mercy, Deirdre served as Director of the Mercy Global Concern (MGC) at the United Nations for over ten years. From September 2012 to April 2014 she served as the Executive Director of the Partnership for Global Justice at the UN, responsible for providing access to UN events for over 125 small congregations who did not have the resources for a full-time representative at the UN. Since May 2014, she has worked with UNICEF as consultant adviser on their “Partnering Religious Congregations with UNICEF” initiative. She is one the founding members of the NGO The Mercy Girl Effect.
Deirdre has supported the building of schools in Cambodia (seventeen, at the last count), Nigeria, Kenya, Sudan and Zambia, as well as hospitals in the Philippines and homes in Nigeria for families displaced by Boko Haram. Currently, she is assisting the Great Green Wall project - the wall of trees that is being planted across the African continent to combat desertification.
During her time as the Director of the Mercy Office at the United Nations, Deirdre raised significant funds to allow Sisters of Mercy around the world to attend an annual conference at the UN entitled: Bridging the Gap. Over 200 Mercy Sisters took part in these conferences held over 8 years. She also served on the Executive Committee of the NGO-United Nations annual conference and was responsible for the mapping and strategic plan of the conference.
Growing up in Northern Ireland, she witnessed the Irish Troubles and saw how young minds can become sectionalized and dehumanized. This led her, in 1998, to coordinate The Dance of Co-existence project, which brought together teenagers from “both parts of the divide” (Protestant and Catholic) to look at each other’s history and culture and to express their differences and understandings in dance. This group of young people was invited to perform in Dublin for the President of Ireland and representatives from all second-level schools in Ireland.
Sisters are the largest humanitarian force in the world, but they do not get the support they need. Arise welcomes Sr Deirdre, inspired by her years of dedication to amplifying sisters’ voices and galvanizing support for frontline work. She is an incredible asset to the Board.
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