IREX congratulates Nobel Peace Prize winners Tawakul Karman from Yemen, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee. They exemplify the power of women civil society leaders to be true peacemakers and embody the focus of IREX’s work in gender, conflict resolution, media and civil society development.
IREX had the pleasure of partnering with Tawakul Karman in her work advocating for press freedom. The organization Women Journalists Without Chains, which she leads, received a grant from IREX through the MENA Media Project to produce a short documentary – Suicide in Yemen [12]. Karman also provided invaluable expert input to IREX’s Middle East and North Africa Media Sustainability Index [13] measuring the condition of independent media across the region and was active in IREX’s media law reform efforts in Yemen.
In Liberia, IREX works with civil society organizations such as the Liberia Women Media Action Committee, the Liberian YMCA, and Aiding Disadvantaged and Traumatized Women and Girls (AWANDA) that are making President Sirleaf’s vision for peace a reality. One of the eleven IREX Community Solutions [14] leaders from Liberia, Siatta Scott-Johnson, directed a documentary, “Iron Ladies of Liberia [15],” which chronicled President Sirleaf’s first year in government and showcased her work for peace.
IREX engages individuals and organizations like these Nobel Prize winners to develop and improve the skills, knowledge and confidence needed to become more effective change agents. IREX also works to enable women, youth community members, religious leaders and other groups to engage in dialogue on sensitive issues and in peace-building efforts. In turn, they are able to organize with others, explore constructive ways of addressing needs and challenges and implement sustainable solutions.
IREX is proud of the extraordinary accomplishments of the Nobel Prize winners and all women and men who work for peace to make a better world.
Photo of Tawakul Karman from Women Journalists Without Chains [16]. Photo of Liberian President Sirleaf courtesy of Community Solutions Leader Ambrose Forpoh, at left.