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PeaceJam welcomes Leymah Gbowee to Board of Directors! |
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Posted 1/31/2012 at 11:06 AM by Alison W in HQ News
Affiliate: PeaceJam HQ |
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The PeaceJam Foundation is proud to announce the addition of 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Leymah Gbowee as the 13th Nobel Peace Laureate to join their board of directors.
Gbowee, 39, led a peaceful women's movement in Liberia, which played a pivotal role in ending the Liberian Civil War. She and the women of Liberia also took a powerful stand against the use of rape as a weapon of war. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway in December of 2011, together with Co-Winners Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Tawakkol Karman.
Gbowee came of age in a war-torn country. After dealing personally with the displacement, chaos, and death associated with war, she began to believe that the women of her country would be willing and able to put a stop to the Civil War which was then raging in Liberia. After training as a trauma counselor and working with former child soldiers, she joined the Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET) and became their voice as they called for an end to war. Her outreach to both Christian and Muslim women created the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace Movement, the efforts of which led to a meeting with Liberian military dictator Charles Taylor himself and the resuscitation of high level peace talks. The pressure they exerted was instrumental in pushing Taylor into exile and smoothed the path for the election of Africa’s first female head of state. Gbowee is now leading the Liberia Reconciliation Initiative at the behest of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and she also serves as the Executive Director of Women, Peace and Security Network Africa (WIPSEN-Africa).
For more information, click here for the press release.
Welcome, Leymah! |
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