Kenya's Dr. Wangari Maathai was the first African women to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Maathai was awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize in the field of humanitarian work founding The Green Belt Movement.
Dr. Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan environmental activist who founded the Green Belt Movement. She became the first African women to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree.
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| Dr. Wangari Maathai awarded the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize in the field of humanitarian work |
Dr. Wangari Maathai
was born in Nyeri, a rural area of Kenya on April 1, 1940. She became the first
African women to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 and the first woman in
East and Central Africa to earn a doctorate degree. She earned her doctorate from
the University of Nairobi in 1971.
Dr. Maathai was a
Kenyan environmental activist who founded the Green Belt Movement (GBM). In
1976, while she was serving in the National Council of Women, Professor Maathai
introduced the idea of community-based tree planting. The GBM, main focus at
the time was poverty reduction and environmental conservation through tree
planting.
According to The Green Belt Movement, "Dr. Maathai saw the urgent
need to respond to the necessities of rural Kenyan women who reported that
their streams were drying up, their food supply was less secure, and they had
to walk further and further to get firewood for fuel and fencing. The Green
Belt Movement encouraged the women to work together to grow seedlings and plant
trees to bind the soil, store rainwater, provide food and firewood, and receive
a small monetary token for their work."
According to the Nobel Prize “Maathai's mobilization of African women was not limited in its vision to work for sustainable development; she saw tree-planting in a broader perspective which included democracy, women's rights, and international solidarity. In the words of the Nobel Committee: "She thinks globally and acts locally." Dr. Maathai died on September 25, 2011 at the age of 71 after a battle with ovarian cancer.
Below is a portion of Dr. Maathai Rise Up and Walk! speech at the Third Annual Nelson Mandela Lecture in Johannesburg, South Africa July 19, 2005.
“What
can be done to prepare Africa so that she benefits from the concessions and
opportunities that surely lie ahead...
Often,
those in power invent excuses to justify the exclusion and other injustices
against those perceived to be weak and vulnerable. But when resources are
scarce, so degraded that they can no longer sustain livelihoods, or when they
are not equitably distributed, conflicts will invariably ensue.
Equitable
distribution of resources cannot be effected unless there is democratic space,
which respects the rule of law and human rights. Such democratic space gives
citizens an enabling environment to be creative and productive. What is clear
is that there is a close linkage between sustainable management of resources
and equitable distribution of the same on the one hand and democratic
governance and peace on the other. These are the pillars of any stable and
secure state. Such a state has the enabling environment for development. People
who are denied the three pillars eventually become angry and frustrated, and
undermine peace and security in their neighborhoods and beyond.
For
that reason, we need to manage our resources sustainably and responsibly.
We need to share those resources equitably. Otherwise, we shall continue to
invest in wars and conflicts, fighting crime and domestic instability, rather
than promoting development and thereby eliminating poverty.
Over
the past thirty years of work in Kenya, I discovered something that is still
not very clear to me. It is perhaps the most unrecognized problem in Africa
today, especially at the grassroots level. It is the level of disempowerment of
our people. Wherever it comes from, it manifests itself in the form of fear,
lack of confidence, low self-esteem, apathy and lack of enthusiasm to take
charge of one’s life and destiny. To the disempowered, it seems much easier and
acceptable to leave their lives completely in the hands of third parties,
especially governments.”
Did
you Know?
Dr.
Wangari Maathai
·
Born: 1 April 1940, Nyeri, Kenya
·
Died: 25 September 2011, Nairobi,
Kenya
·
Residence at the time of the Nobel
Peace Prize award: Kenya
·
Prize motivation: "for her
contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace"
·
Field: humanitarian work
·
Prize share: 1/1
