The Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice (Kroc IPJ) at the University of San Diego’s Kroc School of Peace Studies is proud to welcome a new cohort of the Women PeaceMakers Fellowship. More than 20 years old, this Fellowship unites women peacebuilders from around the world to discuss challenges, exchange good practices, and co-create research to shape the peacebuilding field. Each Fellow brings years of experience in peacebuilding through advocacy or activism. They will work together to share experiences, build networks, and contribute to research that aims to shape the peacebuilding field. The Fellows will complete a residency at USD November 1-15, 2023 to connect with each other and engage with students, faculty, staff, and the San Diego community. 

The 2023-2024 cohort of Fellows are all working to build peace in their countries of origin from another location. This cohort will focus their research on analyzing and addressing the challenges and benefits of peacebuilding from the diaspora. Organizing and activism from the diaspora can be a powerful way for peacebuilders to engage in reducing violence even if they have been displaced or chose to leave their country of origin. The Fellows, who come from Afghanistan, Burma, and Iran, bring unique and compelling experience working to build peace among some of the world’s most intractable conflicts.  

2023-2024 Women PeaceMakers

Sveto Muhammad Ishoq

Sveto Muhammad Ishoq is an award-winning women’s rights activist, a TEDx Speaker, and social entrepreneur from Afghanistan. Sveto is dedicated to empowering women economically and changing the "single story" narrative about her home country. Her work on national and international platforms has been instrumental in promoting unheard Afghan experiences and amplifying Afghan women’s voices during the Taliban regime. Sveto has founded several organizations, including Ayat and Chadari. Ayat is a social enterprise that empowers illiterate Afghan women to achieve financial independence through fashion, while Chadari is an NGO that raises awareness about the current situation of Afghan women and girls in Afghanistan through community projects, storytelling, and awareness building. Through Chadari, she trained over 300 women through community-building and educational programs. She is also Afghanistan’s first Schwarzman Scholar and the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the British Muslim Awards.

Shadi Rouhshahbaz

Shadi Rouhshahbaz is a young Iranian peacebuilder, activist, futurist and researcher hailing from Iran. She holds a Double-Joint master's degree in international development. Shadi's remarkable journey spans over 5 years in the Third Sector, focusing on youth, gender, peace, and security, including valuable experience with Alfred Deakin Institute, UN Women HQ, UNICEF, and UNIC in Iran, as well as the United Network of Young Peacebuilders. Shadi founded PeaceMentors, the first young-women-led peacebuilding initiative in Iran. She strives to influence policy by connecting the lived experiences of individuals with the gaps in systems. Using interdisciplinary methodologies to ensure her research brings about impactful solutions for the challenges of tomorrow, she continues to advocate for young people's voices wherever her journey takes her. 

Kay Soe

Kay Soe is a feminist, peacebuilding and gender equality advocate, specializing in Women, Peace, and Security policymaking. She currently serves as an advisor to several women’s alliances and networks in Myanmar. She is also an International Programs Executive Member of American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)’s Asia Subregional Committee member. With extensive experience in shaping organizations’ strategic directions and high-level policy dialogues on gender equality, labour migration, and peace and conflict, Kay is dedicated to fostering positive change in the ASEAN region. She has devoted her career to generating evidence for peacebuilding and development programming, reflected in her professional pursuit in the evaluation field as a certified external evaluator. Holding master's degrees from Sciences Po, Paris, and Webster University, St. Louis, USA, Kay's academic foundation further strengthens her contributions to national and international women, peace, and security research efforts. Kay's research studies have been published in peer-reviewed journals.