For the 2024-2025 year, the Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice (Kroc IPJ) has selected three peacebuilders from around the world for the Women PeaceMakers Fellowship. The Women PeaceMakers Fellowship cohort conducts applied research that builds mutual learning, facilitates more effective partnerships, and strengthens peacebuilding practice and policy. The theme of this year's Fellowship is peacebuilding within the diaspora. These Fellows live in a diaspora community and work to build peace within their country of residence using a gender-responsive approach. The Fellows will conduct research using a gender lens on diaspora-led movements to make their countries of residence more peaceful.
Read on to learn more about the 2024-2025 Women PeaceMakers!
Dr. Bochra Laghssais is a Doctor of Philosophy in International Studies specializing in Peace, Conflict, and Development at Jaume I University in Spain. Her extensive research focuses on the adversities, vulnerabilities, agency, and empowerment of Amazigh Indigenous women in Morocco and in the diaspora, and she has collaborated with organizations such as the U.S. Peace Corps Morocco and Project Soar Morocco on girls' education and empowerment.
Dr. Mariia Levchenko is an esteemed peacebuilder and international affairs expert, recognized for her pivotal contributions with the 2023 Luxembourg Peace Prize. Currently serving as the Project Manager at the Berghof Foundation, she specializes in social cohesion work in Ukraine and peacebuilding in Ethiopia. Dr. Levchenko's work, spanning over a decade, focuses on dialogue facilitation, strategic planning, and empowering civil society across multiple continents.
Temi Mwale is evolving visions for racial equity, community healing and transformative justice. Rooted in the fight for liberation, her work as a community organiser, educator, and artist is an uncompromising commitment to abolition, reparations, and collective care. Temi is the founder of 4FRONT, a community-led youth organisation on a mission to heal communities by building peace, knowledge and power. For over a decade, Temi has driven grassroots change in her neighbourhood while connecting communities across the UK and globally. Her mission goes beyond dismantling oppressive systems; she strives to build a world that uplifts, empowers and heals those most affected. Her storytelling—through writing, poetry, documentaries, and public speaking— reveals the deep scars of systemic harm, urging people to confront injustice while inspiring hope and action for transformation. At the heart of her work is the commitment to defining what true justice, healing, and repair look like for the community.
To hear directly from these remarkable peacebuilders, attend our annual Conversation with the WomenPeaceMakers being held on Thursday, November 14, 2024 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Registration details will be available soon.