Alaa Murabit
A Libyan-Canadian physician, global strategist, and peacebuilder advancing women’s influence in peace and security, especially in conflict-affected communities, and founder of The Voice of Libyan Women.
BACKGROUND
Alaa Murabit grew up in Canada and comes from a Libyan family in which girls were encouraged to take on leadership roles alongside boys. But when she returned to Libya as a teenager during the revolution, she witnessed something striking: women were largely absent from the decisions shaping the country’s future. Determined to change this, she began speaking out and organising for women’s leadership in peace and security, convinced that lasting peace could not be built without women at the table.
WORK AND IMPACT
In 2011, during Libya’s civil war, Alaa founded The Voice of Libyan Women to make women’s participation a central pillar of peace and security, mobilise women, and build networks. Through initiatives such as the Noor Campaign, she mobilised religious and community leaders to actively reinterpret norms around women's rights and roles — drawing on Islamic texts as the basis for that argument. Human Rights Watch described her work as "a turning point in women's rights globally."
By her mid-twenties, she had briefed the UN Security Council and helped shape multiple resolutions advancing women's participation in peace and security processes. Her leadership was instrumental in shaping UN General Assembly Resolution 70/1 — better known as the Sustainable Development Goals — including the inclusion of Goal 16 on peaceful and inclusive societies, justice, and strong institutions. She was subsequently appointed a UN SDG Advocate by both Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and António Guterres and a UN High-Level Commissioner on Health, Employment, and Economic Growth.
She serves as Managing Partner for Sustainable Growth at the venture capital firm 500 Global, where she leads investments and strategies that advance sustainable and inclusive growth, particularly in emerging markets.
Alaa’s work demonstrates how empowering women at every level, from local communities to national policy, can create more peaceful, resilient, and equitable societies.
WHY ALAA IS A FINALIST
The jury nominates Alaa Murabit as a finalist for the 2026 WIN WIN Award for her bridge-building leadership that reshapes how peace and security are understood and implemented. She demonstrates how gender equality can be translated into concrete action, policy, and financing, becoming a tool for stability and societal resilience.
"The strength of a society has always been measured by who it chooses to see. I've spent my career working to ensure that women and girls in crisis are not afterthoughts — that their leadership is treated as structural, not symbolic. When women and girls shape their own futures, the rest follows.
This recognition belongs to the women and girls who were told there was no place for them and built one anyway, to the girls in Zawiya and Saskatoon, and I dedicate it to my grandmother Meyma, who passed away just a few weeks ago. She couldn't read, but raised six children with absolute certainty that they would have more than she did. She remains the most formidable leader I have ever known."
- Alaa Murabit