Carleton alumnus and UNICEF Canada president David Morley was back at his alma mater as part of the alumni association’s Great Grads speaker series May 12.
Morley, who graduated from Carleton with a history degree in 1977, took over as president and CEO of UNICEF Canada in March. UNICEF Canada works to mobilize resources and fundraising to support UNICEF’s work around the world.
Morley said he has a clear goal for his organization, based on the idea that everyone should be given the same opportunities.
“Every child should get every opportunity,” said Morley in his address. “No exceptions.”
Though he is new to UNICEF, Morley has almost four decades of international social work experience. It began in 1977 when he graduated from Carleton and decided to go to Costa Rica to work with street children.
He thought some time spent helping children in South America would help him choose his future career path.
“I had just graduated with a history degree and was unsure of what to do next,” said Morley.
He has since worked for Doctors Without Borders, working for conflict and disaster relief in places like Sierra Leone and Haiti. This was one of the challenges Morley spoke about — the difficulties of working in conflict zones with the dangers of violence constantly on social workers.
He said he remembered a girl telling him how the militants had burned down their school while on a tour of Pakistan’s Swat Valley.
“The danger of this girl not being able to go to school . . . was far greater than anything else for me,” he said.
“We try to be apolitical,” said Morley. “But sometimes, just by being in an area, we are making a stance.”
During his speech, Morley recalled how five of his Doctors Without Borders colleagues were assassinated in Afghanistan, forcing the organization’s departure from the country. Simply being apolitical and providing health care aid isn’t enough.
“We realized that we didn’t actually have security,” said Morley.
Morley went on to talk about the effectiveness of the global community working together, using the example of HIV-AIDS relief in Africa. He said with concerted global action and a strong will to help, the required funds were put up and access to antiretroviral drugs was improved infinitely in Africa.
“When we choose to act as a global community, we will be effective,” said Morley.
“It’s not that we don’t know how to make things better,” said Morley. “We’re not ignorant.”
Morley said all social welfare organizations need are the tools and funding to make a difference.
“I think it was very inspiring,” said Carleton president Roseann Runte about the speech. “There are a lot of problems in the world, and I hope that Carleton students, like Morley, will try to make a difference.”