Women Building Peace Award


Women Building Peace Award
The Women Building Peace Award reflects the Institute’s comprehensive commitment to gender and peacebuilding and demonstrates the important role women play in peacebuilding efforts. The award honors a woman peacebuilder who has made a substantial contribution to the pursuit of peace and security in her community, region, or issue area.
Sl | Name | Country | Flag | Year | Awarded For |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
4 | Pétronille Vaweka | Congo | 2023 | woman peacebuilder who has made a substantial contribution to the pursuit of peace and security in her community, region, or issue area. | |
3 | MarÃa Eugenia Mosquera Riascos | Colombia | 2022 | woman peacebuilder who has made a substantial contribution to the pursuit of peace and security in her community, region, or issue area. | |
2 | Josephine Ekiru | Kenya | 2021 | woman peacebuilder who has made a substantial contribution to the pursuit of peace and security in her community, region, or issue area. | |
1 | Rita Martin Lopidia | South Sudan | 2020 | woman peacebuilder who has made a substantial contribution to the pursuit of peace and security in her community, region, or issue area. |

Women Building Peace Award Laureates (2025 ~ 2020)

Pétronille Vaweka
Women Building Peace Award 2023
Pétronille Vaweka is a senior mediator and coordinator for Engaged Women for Peace in Africa (FEPA), a network of women working in conflict-affected areas in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Vaweka co-founded the NGO Fondation pour la Paix Durable in 2000 to push for ceasefire, seek solutions to the war, and advocate for peaceful coexistence in her native province of Ituri. Her team was invited by communities and armed groups to negotiate peace agreements to end hostilities.

MarÃa Eugenia Mosquera Riascos
Women Building Peace Award 2022
MarÃa Eugenia Mosquera Riascos is the legal representative of Comunidades Construyendo Paz en Colombia (CONPAZCOL), a grassroots network of 140 victims’ organizations in 14 departments across Colombia where violent conflict continues. As a peacebuilder and human rights defender, Mosquera Riascos has worked for over 30 years with Afro-Colombian, indigenous and small-scale farming communities that have been the victims of social and armed conflict in Colombia. Under her leadership, CONPAZCOL has implemented concrete initiatives toward justice and accountability for victims and their families.

Josephine Ekiru
Women Building Peace Award 2021
Josephine Ekiru, peace coordinator with the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), has pioneered an innovative approach to peacebuilding using environmental conservation as an entry point. She grew up as a member of the pastoralist Turkana community in Northern Kenya. Violent clashes and decades-long vendettas between tribal communities were the norm, exacerbated by poverty, climate change, and weak governance. Josephine witnessed people killing each other and the wildlife she loved.
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Rita Martin Lopidia
Women Building Peace Award 2020
Rita Martin Lopidia is a passionate and dynamic civil society leader recognized for being the driving force behind the inclusion of women in the South Sudan peace process. Despite threats to her life, Rita has shown an exceptional capacity to convene a diverse group of actors from across traditional lines of division. She is a leader among activists and civil society at the community level, as well as among national and international actors. Her tireless and thoughtful efforts for peace have resulted in measurable steps toward peace in her homeland.