Leymah Gbowee MA [Major: Conflict Transformation]
Leymah Gbowee MA [Major: Conflict Transformation]
The Nobel Peace Prize 2011
Co-nobelists: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee
Name: Laymah Roberta Jbowee
Birth: 1 February 1972, Monrovia, Liberia
Residence when prize awarded: Liberia
Award: “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work”
Subject: Peace movement, Women’s rights
Portion of cash: 1/3
“Went from being an angry, broke, virtually homeless, 25-year-old mother to listening to the voice of God.”
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Biography
Generously contributed by Leymah Gbowee.
2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist, trained social worker and women’s rights advocate. She is the founder and current President of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa. She was the founding head of the Liberian Reconciliation Initiative and the co-Founder and Executive Director of Women Peace and Security Network Africa (WIPSEN-A). She is also a founding member and former Liberia Coordinator of Women in Peacebuilding Network/West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WIPNET/WANEP). Leymah currently serves as a member of the High Level Task Force for the International Conference on Population and Development. She is a board member of the Federation of Liberian Youth. Leymah’s leadership of the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace – which brought together Christian and Muslim women in a nonviolent movement that played a pivotal role in ending Liberia’s civil war in 2003 – is chronicled in her memoir, Mighty Be Our Powers, and in the award-winning documentary, ‘Pray the Devil Back to Hell’. She has appeared on numerous television programs including CNN, BBC, and France24 to speak on issues of conflict resolution and human rights. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Nobel Women’s Initiative, Gbowee Peace Foundation and the PeaceJam Foundation. She is a member of the African Women Leaders Network for Reproductive Health and Family Planning. Leymah is an Oxfam Global Ambassador. She has received honorary degrees from Rhodes University in South Africa, the University of Alberta in Canada, Polytechnic University in Mozambique, Cedar Crest College in the United States and University of Dundee in Scotland. She holds a M.A. in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia, USA. After receiving the Barnard College Medal of Distinction, she was named a Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice at Barnard College in 2013. Leymah is the proud mother of six children.
Eastern Mennonite University alumna Leymah Gbowee
The Institute for Inclusive Security
Working Group on Women, Peace and Security
Leymah Gbowee Founder, Women Peace and Security Network Africa