Global Innovators in Peacebuilding: Summary

Setting The Scene This year’s five winners of the Vital Voices Global Leadership Awards come from diverse backgrounds and countries including Pakistan, Brazil, Kenya, Bahrain and Afghanistan, but all have exhibited the leadership potential to transform lives and bring peace and prosperity to their communities.  These women represent the next generation of innovative and creative strategies toward peacebuilding, from the grassroots to the regional level.  Introduced by Alyse Nelson, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Vital Voices Global Partnership, Afnan Al Zayani (Bahrain), Panmela Castro (Brazil), Andeisha Farid (Afghanistan), Rebecca Lolosoli (Kenya), and Roshaneh Zafar (Pakistan) discussed how they have developed and implemented innovative peacebuilding strategies within their communities or regions.

Roshaneh Zafar

Though the microfinance model has been around for years, Roshaneh Zafar, a mentee of Muhammad Yunus, has made her mark on the model and spread it to Pakistan.  Her first innovation was starting a “credit card for the poor,” which would grant emergency loans anytime for any reason so that women could meet contingencies without having to sell off needed possessions to raise capital.  Zafar’s persistence also enabled her to persuade insurers to offer very low cost premiums on insurance to her clients, resolving many of her clients’ worries about who would pay off the loans in the event of their or their husband’s deaths.  Zafar also succeeded in adding “residency contracts” to her home improvement loans, which require that a husband who has availed himself of the loan cannot evict his wife from their home. 

Rebecca Lolosoli

In a culture in which there is no word for domestic violence, Rebecca Lolosoli has created a safe haven for victims of domestic violence and has asked her people to question parts of the culture that are destructive for women.  Lolosoli is chief of the Umoja (meaning “unity”) Uaso Women’s Village in Kenya, home to 48 women.  Lolosoli holds workshops and meetings involving the elders and men, noting that nothing would change for the women without also engaging the men.  By holding open meetings, she hopes to find the men who will listen and help start the slow process of changing certain cultural norms. She works to create peace and relationships between the regional communities engaged in conflict with one another and hopes to stop the cycle of retribution by engaging the only men living in her women’s village – the sons.  Lolosoli attempts to give these boys alternatives to raiding and violence, such as by starting a “Umoja United” football team, and working to present opportunities in business.
 

Andeisha Farid

After spending a difficult childhood in refugee camps, Andeisha Farid dreamed of seeing her own country. On returning to Afghanistan, however, Farid found only a nightmare of war and killing, and resolved to do something about it.  Farid wanted to “pay forward” her education by creating a place to house those children who had left school due to family financial problems.  A graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women training program, Farid started a non-profit that grew to 10 orphanages housing over 450 children.   Farid’s orphanages attempt to remedy some of the problems she has seen within her country.  Farid removes ethnic differences by picking children from different ethnicities to live together and share the same resources.  Children are allowed freedom of religion, and can choose to practice or not without any force.  Boys and girls live together within the orphanages so that they can grow up understanding equality.  Farid’s next dream, now, is to create a school that can provide a standard of education that equals the standard of care she has worked to provide these children.
 

Panmelo Castro

A survivor of domestic violence herself, Panmela Castro knew that the recently passed Maria da Penha law on domestic violence in Brazil would remain on paper unless she worked to bring it to the ground.  Castro is accomplishing spreading the word about the law by harnessing the power of graffiti and art as a vehicle for social change.  Castro found that many teenagers were reluctant to come to a lecture about the law, which they perceived as boring, but if asked to come to a graffiti workshop, they would all attend.  At the workshops, Castro incorporates education about rights and the new law, knowing that many of the participants would leave and talk to their friends, mothers, and boyfriends about the law, which would multiply awareness.  By using her art to reach those previously uninformed of their rights, Castro empowers Brazilian women to speak out about domestic violence. 
 

Afnan Al Zayani

Among her myriad accomplishments, Afnan Al Zayani cites her organization of a “National Dialogue Day” in Bahrain as her most innovative accomplishment.  Communication is important, because often people have misconceptions, and if simply given the chance to speak, problems manifest themselves and allow for solutions to be created.  When huge demonstrations by women against passage of the family law (or personal status law) occurred, Al Zayani wondered why so many women were against it.  Al Zayani decided to organize a day of dialogue, and put up billboards that simply said, “Have you read the draft of the family law?” with a logo of her women’s organization.  Al Zayani thought that the women who were protesting the law should read the law before deciding they were against it, and hoped that this would dispel many of the myths going around about the law. And to those who opposed her involvement in the issue of the family law as playing with fire, she replied that she was a woman before a businesswoman.  Al Zayani got several groups of stakeholders to agree on persons to represent them in the dialogue, and was extremely proud at how civilized the panel was, and how many valid points came out about why certain groups supported or opposed the law.  This dialogue triggered further work with groups and eventually resulted in passage of a Sunni half of the law last year, and ongoing work with the Shia to fill the gaps and form a more inclusive version. 
 

Conclusion

The women on this panel have all developed innovative ways of changing the status quo and promoting greater peace in their communities, whether by creating safe and equal spaces for women and children, or using art, dialogue or microfinance to foster greater awareness of and access to rights.  All five women cited support from Vital Voices as inspiring them to “do more,” but their discussion will also inspire future leaders to innovate in their peacebuilding efforts.