USD Welcomes Women Thought Leaders for PeaceMakers Fellowship

Thursday, December 1 marks the beginning of the residency in the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice’s Women PeaceMakers Fellowship. For 20 years, the annual Women PeaceMakers Fellowship has brought together women peacebuilders and leading international peacebuilding organizations. The fellowship facilitates collaboration between women from conflict-affected communities, and helps initiate research aimed at shaping the peacebuilding field.

Over the next two weeks, the Fellows will live together on the University of San Diego campus, where they’ll take part in a number of activities – here and around San Diego – and get ample time to collaborate and learn from each other. During that time, they’ll also meet with students, faculty and staff, and community groups to share ideas and plan the focus of their Fellowship research projects.

This year’s four Women PeaceMakers Fellows are:

-   Juanita Roca Sanchez (Bolivia) – Her activism is centered on promoting inclusion and nation building, as well as the respect for human rights and the rule of law in Bolivia.

-   Tania Cecilia Martínez (Honduras) – She focuses on democratic governance and the collaboration between government and civil society groups to improve citizen participation in their own governance and development contexts.

-   Nattecia Nerene Bohardsingh (Jamaica) – She is a lawyer and advocate that has worked in reparatory justice, gender-based violence, and human rights at the domestic and international level.

-   María Dolores Hernández Montoya (Mexico) – She has worked in program design and implementation with various global organizations to strengthen international and domestic cooperation efforts for urban development and safety.

After their residency, they will begin work on their research, which will focus on addressing chronic violence at the national level, and how it perpetuates social instability and inequity. That research will explore national-level policies, approaches, and programs to address chronic violence.

On December 6 all four Fellows will convene for a public panel, moderated by journalist Sandra Maas. There, the public will have a chance to hear from the women about their background, what inspires them to work to end violence, and their approaches to peacebuilding. The December 6 panel will go from 7-8 p.m., followed by a light reception, and is free and open to the public. 

If you would like to cover the event, please RSVP with press@sandiego.edu.

About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.