The Power of Women Peace Leaders
As we learn, honor, and uphold the legacies of powerful women peace leaders who have come before us, we celebrate and uplift women leaders active in the heart of peace work today. We invite you to listen to some powerful women in the Euphrates PPA peace leader community — from Nigeria to South Africa, Vietnam, United States, Afghanistan, Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cameroon — who have offered their voices on the importance, strength, and love of women leaders in peacebuilding through art, story, and declarations of their work. Individually and collectively they are global champions of peace, role models of transformation, and leaders of today.
Esther Doo, Nigeria
Esther, a legal practitioner in Abuja, integrates her legal expertise with a deep commitment to social inclusion and human transformation. With qualifications from the Nigeria Law School and Ahmadu Bello University, Esther has worked in various legal roles, including corporate law, litigation, policy analysis, and real estate. Her passion extends to championing gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, women's empowerment, and social justice. Beyond her legal career, Esther actively engages in community development and humanitarian efforts, volunteering with organizations like the Nigerian Red Cross, Every Life Matters Humanitarian Foundation, and Pride of Sheba. Her personal mission centers on inspiring personal growth and empowerment, aligning seamlessly with her dedication to peacebuilding and social justice.
Women Are Powerful Peacebuilders Because…
They have walked the corridors of fear,
Made homes in the wreckage of war,
Carried grief like a second skin—
And still, they rise.
Unbowed. Unbroken. Unrelenting.
"Dim your light," they were told.
Be small. Be silent. Be less.
Be likable. Be obedient. Be afraid.
But they are the daughters of thunder,
The mothers of revolutions,
The keepers of stories woven with fire and tenderness,
The architects of hope in a world built to cage them.
They have carried the weight of history on their backs,
Wrapped the bodies of the fallen in mats of mourning,
Welcomed back daughters with wombs heavy with violence,
Birthing children who are both love and war.
Daughters who may never be whole, yet still survive.
They have buried their husbands, their brothers, their sons,
Slain for daring to speak, to stand, to breathe freely.
They have known neglect like an old wound,
The sting of broken promises,
The raw taste of betrayal.
They have felt the weight of fists,
Of words sharpened into daggers,
Of nights where silence suffocates.
They have swallowed screams like bitter medicine.
Yet they are the ones who stitch the world back together.
They gather the shattered, the forsaken, the forgotten,
And whisper to them the songs of dawn,
The lullabies of defiance,The hymns of a world yet to be born.
They have stood where Wangari Maathai planted trees of freedom.
They have marched where Leymah Gbowee prayed and roared for peace.
They have resisted where Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti defied colonial chains.
They have fought where Harriet Tubman led the enslaved to freedom.
They have risen where the women of Liberia, Sudan, Myanmar, and Palestine
Sat in protest, sang in courage, and demanded justice.
They have been told to doubt, to shrink, to kneel—
Yet they stand.
They lead.
They become.
Unfolding like Mother Nature herself,
Both storm and sanctuary,
Both destruction and rebirth.
In seeking peace, they have embraced disruption.
In building peace, they have shattered barriers.
In embodying peace, they have become its fiercest warriors.
But peace is not the absence of pain or conflict;
It is the presence of defiance for justice.
Women do not just build peace.
They birth it.
They carve it from the wreckage of war,
Thread it through the fabric of broken communities,
Breathe it into spaces where hope was buried long ago.
And from their hands, a new world rises.
Daisy Duong Pham, Vietnam
Daisy is a life-long learner, community server, truth seeker and spiritual practitioner. She is passionate about ageless wisdom, esoteric philosophy, and the universal laws of life. Daisy is deeply interested in holistic education, green living, sustainable development, cosmology, psychology, and astrology. Sharing a bit about her journey as a peace leader, Daisy explains, “as Vietnam was the country that had suffered much from war throughout our history, I want to contribute my humble part in healing our land. Moreover, I know the important role of peace for a sustainable future world. Thus, it all leads me to choose peacebuilding.”
“I think women are essential in peacebuilding because of their loving and caring, soft and sweet feminine energy which has the power to heal the world, to bridge the gap, to connect people, to bring people together.”
Jenny Canau, South Africa
Jenny Canau’s involvement in the Anti-Apartheid struggle led her into practicing and lecturing in International Human Rights Law. After meeting His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1996, she shifted focus to “Inner development” and Co-founded Mindfulness Africa (2008) in Southern Africa. Jenny has offered retreats in meditation, mindfulness, compassion and community resilience, both in local and international communities for the past 20 years. Human dignity and innate compassion are at the core of her efforts to support ALL people, from vulnerable pregnant moms to marginalized youth. She is passionate to learn and unlearn from all wisdom traditions including the “neuroscience of the heart.” She has received facilitator training in International Interfaith Dialogue, Trauma and Resilience, Compassion and Integrity, Global Peace Leadership and more recently in Human Rights Advocacy at the United Nations (UNCHR).
“My greatest strength as a woman in peacebuilding is drawing from the inspiration and support that we have here locally in South Africa from all our peacebuilding networks – within our own hospitals, within our own youth groups, within our own interfaith. And also of course from our Euphrates team and huge collaborative network worldwide where we work together as peace leaders to uplift, to connect, to inspire, and to support peace builders everywhere in the world. Wherever there is conflict, wherever there is violence, wherever there is trauma, we gather together to support each other.”
Inner and Outer Peace now!
poem by Jenny Canau
Do you ever find yourself playing the enemy game?
The circular game of winning and losing?
Choosing to be on the right side, good side of an issue , a war?
Has this fight for good, where you make the other an enemy ever taken Everyone forward?
Or does the win, cause more causalities, hatred and revenge ?
Do wrong or right debates ever produce anything useful to humanity?
Has it ever lead to any lasting peace for Everyone?
Is the enemy to blame for all the world’s problems or is it partly our own fault?
What does the “good fight” serve in us, does it remove the bitter pill of looking at ourselves?
Does it serve to deny our own contradictions, frustrations, insignificance , our own trauma and pain?
Does it serve as a moral high, allowing us to look down on others, reaping the dompanine rush of blaming others?
The injustices of the world including war, violence, greed and hate will not magically disappear.
Unless we ourselves reconcile them within ourselves, own them and end them from within.
We all have a choice to respond to all these conflicts within our minds where these opposites can co-exist.
We all have hearts that can reconcile our own contradictions and see all others in the same light.
Where holding ourselves and others accountable is considered a compliment.
Where confrontation and goodwill sit together comfortably.
Where our ignorant intolerance is softened by care and love and connection.
Let’s begin the work of Inner and Outer Peace. Throwing hope in the face of our anger.
Confronting each other with a bigger vision of humanity.
One that includes all and leaves no-one behind to suffer!
Mahbooba Zamani, Afghanistan
Mahbooba is originally from Afghanistan and moved to Germany three years ago. In Afghanistan, she was involved in various cultural activities alongside her studies. She volunteered with different organizations, including AYEPO, and was a member of the Rahila Cycling Team. The aim of the team was to promote women's sports, especially cycling, in Afghanistan. Since moving to Germany, she has participated in numerous social and cultural programs, connecting with many wonderful people. One of her most impactful experiences was participating in a storytelling program, which helped Mahbooba express emotions and write her own story. Currently, she works as a football coach at an organization in Berlin that supports migrants and helps provide better opportunities for them. Additionally, Mahbooba also works with OlmaAid which focuses on providing support for migrants.
“My greatest strength as a woman in peacebuilding is [my] ability to listen, to connect with different people, create understanding even in difficult situations, turning challenges into chances for growth.”
Rebecca Hoskyn, United States
Rebecca has always loved traveling and learning about other cultures. In 2014, she joined the Euphrates Institute trip to Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, which changed her life forever and opened doors to learning more about the Middle East and peacebuilding. Since participating in the Euphrates Peace Practice Alliance (PPA) she started a monthly online platform called Culturing Peace, which brings together youth from around the world to learn more about peace leadership and developing peace building skills.
“Women’s voices are needed in peacebuilding. They have love, compassion. They guide, they guard, they protect. They have moral courage, strength and resilience, and they have heart. ”
Wazieh Offuh, Nigeria
Offuh Wazieh Anthony is a peace builder, faith change maker, a trauma healing facilitator, an advocate for women and children safety, an estate surveyor and valuer, and an entrepreneur. She is also an alumni of the Euphrates Institute Peace Practice Alliance program of 2021, a member of Euphrates Institute PPA program Learning Committee, a grant advisor committee member and lead advisor for the panel of empowerment women and girls of the Pollination Project.
“Women’s voices must be heard because women are key drivers for change, progress and development of any society. A woman’s voice is an important aspect of humanity. In a woman’s voice lies her power and her freedom. Women are powerful peacebuilders because women are agents of transformation and sustainability of any society. Women peacebuilders inspire, motivate, promote, empower women in their society to step into leadership roles to discover their voice and be heard to speak and be heard. ”
i build peace in…
Nwabufo FrancoisE, PPA ‘24
-
“I build peace in Cameroon by engaging out of camp refugees, women, and children in nonviolent communication, and to develop an inner peace. Also engage in intercultural dialogue for a peaceful and a sustainable community.”
Anjana Dayal de Prewitt, PPA ‘24
-
I build peace here in the US and wherever I go through inclusive approaches, and reminding myself and reminding others, to practice empathy, kindness, and compassion with each other regardless of the differences or disagreements we may have with each other so that we can build a beloved community around us.
Dima Mahjoub, PPA ‘23
-
“I build peace in Germany as a member of Network for Dialogue, and as a Co-Founder of NISA. NISA is an organization that fosters inner peace. Together with my colleague Obi from Nigeria, we strive to provide an inclusive space of conversations where thinkers and believers from Syria, Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Iraq feel respected and honored. Our goal is to create a space where dialogue instead of conflict, more understanding and social cohesion instead of exclusion. Respect for human rights regardless of skin colors, nationality or ethnicity.”
Lejla Hasandedic-dapo, PPA ‘21
-
I build peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina by creating safe spaces for young people from divided communities to come together, connect, and build bridges of hope for a better future. We are peacebuilders, we believe that peace is possible.
Oluchi Achi Uzodimma, PPA ‘21
-
I build peace in Nigeria by uplifting young voices to participate in peace practice through Peacebuilding Academy for children.
The power of her voice: A global celebration of women’s voices
In March 2025, Euphrates launched a special initiative to create an e-magazine in honor of Women’s History Month. We invited feminists from around the world to share their self-expression through art, poetry, storytelling, and other creative mediums. Our goal was to provide a dedicated platform to amplify the voices of women globally, particularly those living in conflict zones. The response was extraordinary, and we received deeply moving and inspiring contributions.
We are honored to showcase these courageous artists who, despite immense challenges—and even personal risk—have boldly expressed themselves. Their voices deserve to be heard, and their stories must be told. We hope their work moves and inspires you as much as it has inspired us. Click here to explore and download this magazine.