Dundee launches Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa Scholarship

Published On Fri 20 Jun 2014 by Roddy Isles

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee will be presented with an honorary degree at the University of Dundee on Friday 20^th June. On the same day the University will launch the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa Scholarship.

The scholarship will offer one African female student, from Liberia, Nigeria or Ghana, the opportunity to undertake a one-year Masters degree at the University of Dundee fully sponsored for both tuition fees and living expenses, up to a total of £20,000.

“We are delighted to offer this educational opportunity to women from Africa for the next five years,” said Professor Pete Downes, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University. “Our core mission as a University is to transform lives, and this scholarship in Leymah Gbowee’s name will do exactly that for these students. Further, we are working through our Graduate School for Natural Resources to help develop infrastructure and good governance in Liberia, particularly in the oil and gas sector.”

Leymah Gbowee was a single mother of four, living in the war-ravaged nation of Liberia, struggling to feed her children and living in constant fear of brutal death at the hands of the country's warring factions. One day she decided she had had enough of this way of life, and set out to end the 14-year conflict that had devastated her nation and destroyed the lives and dreams of its people.

By day she gathered small groups of women in peaceful protest, by night she studied and taught the peaceful protest strategies of Martin Luther King and Ghandi. The women's peace movement in Liberia grew - and ultimately brought an end to the war. For her contribution to ending the war in Liberia, Leymah Gbowee shared the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.

She now works promoting the education of women in Africa which she believes is a potent force for the transformation of the continent and its leadership.

The Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa Scholarship is open to applicants starting their programme in the academic year 2014/5 (January 2015 entry). The scholarship will run for five years with one scholarship available each year.

Preference will be given to a candidate who has shown evidence of upholding the ethos of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Africa through sustained personal growth, involvement in community development, and a strong commitment to the advancement and education of women and youth in her home country.

Roddy Isles
Head of Press
TEL: 01382 384910
MOBILE: 07800 581902
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk