2011 Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Roberta 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 (GPFA). She also currently serves as the Executive Director of the Women, Peace and Security Program at Columbia University’s Earth Institute in New York, USA. She is the Co-Founder and former Executive Director of the Women Peace and Security Network Africa (WIPSEN-A) and a Founding Member and former Liberia Coordinator of Women in Peacebuilding Network (WIPNET).
Madam Gbowee currently serves as a Member of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Advocate and alumina for the United Nations (UN) and UN High Level Advisory Board on Mediation. She is a Member of the World Refugee Council (WRC), African Women Leaders Network for Reproductive Health and Family Planning, International Honorary Committee of the Global Biosphere Institute, Aurora Prize Selection Committee and the Hilton Humanitarian Prize Jury.
She was appointed by Canadian Prime Minister to serve as a member of the Gender Equality Advisory Council of the G7. She was recently appointed a member of the Higher Committee for Human Fraternity, Abu Dhabi and a trustee of Carnegie Cooperation New York respectively. Madam Gbowee serves on various other boards across the world.
She holds a M.A. in Conflict Transformation from Eastern Mennonite University (Harrisonburg, VA), and a Doctor of Laws (LLD) honoris causa from Rhodes University in South Africa, Dartmouth College USA, Polytechnic University Mozambique and University of Alberta in Canada. After receiving the Barnard College Medal of Distinction, she was named as a Distinguished Fellow in Social Justice and a Visiting Transnational Fellow at the Center for Research and Leadership Studies at Barnard College for the 2013/2014 Academic Year. From 2014 – 2016, She was appointed Distinguished Activist in Residence Union Theological Seminary.
She is married to Mr. Jay Kesselee Fatormah and is the proud mother of Eight (8) wonderful children. Madam Gbowee is a Christian and proudly calls herself a “Daughter of Glorious Jesus”.
