The accomplishments of Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee

Leymah Gbowee is someone that most people, including Tunde Folawiyo, will be familiar with. Gbowee is an advocate for women's rights and a peace activist, who is perhaps best known for founding and serving as the president of an organisation called the Gbowee Peace Foundation.

Whilst she has achieved many things throughout her life, her greatest accomplishment to date has been the establishment of a non-violent movement, which saw Muslim and Christian women assembling around Liberia to help end the civil war which had ravaged the country for more than 14 years. In 2002, Gbowee's work in this area led to her being named as the leader and spokesperson for the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. The women that she asked to participate in this movement held daily sit-ins and demonstrations, in order to protest against the injustices being carried out by the president Charles Taylor.

Today, in addition to running the aforementioned Peace Foundation, Gbowee also serves as the WIPSEN-Africa's executive director. Her role in this organisation is to offer guidance and support to a network of female peace-builders who are currently working in counties around Liberia. Gbowee has been a panellist at many important international and regional conferences, including the Arria Formula Meeting, held by the UN's Security Council, and the DDRR Process, arranged by UNIFEM.

In 2008, she served as the central character and narrator for 'Pray the Devil Back to Hell', a documentary which shares audio and film clips from the Liberian war. This work has since been used as an advocacy tool in both post-conflict and conflict zones around the world, including Sudan, Rwanda, South Africa, Iraq, Afghanistan and Bosnia. At the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, it was named as the 'Best Documentary Feature'.

Her activism work has won Gbowee numerous awards over the years; Tunde Folawiyo may recall that in 2007, the Harvard University Women's Leadership Board gave her the Blue Ribbon Peace Prize for her contributions to peace-building. Then in 2008, she received the Leaders of the 21st Century Award, and the following year, she won the Profile in Courage Award. In 2010, she was given the John Jay Medal for Justice, and in 2011, she was award the Nobel Peace Prize.