Global Communities’ Selline Korir Honored with Mietek Pemper Award

Global Communities’ Selline Korir Honored with Mietek Pemper Award of Augsburg University for Reconciliation and International Understanding

Selline Korir, Director of the Kenya Tuna Uwezo program, was recently honored with the prestigious Mietek Pemper Award for her work in promoting peace and reconciliation. Korir directs the Kenya Tuna Uwezo program (“We have the power” in Kiswahili), a program implemented by Global Communities with support from USAID, which aims to reduce politically-motivated and inter-ethnic conflict within informal settlements in Nairobi. Kenya Tuna Uwezo works to strengthen social networks among residents and civil society groups to collaborate on community issues and address grievances. Under the program, Korir works closely with local residents and, in particular, by engaging youth who serve as catalysts within their neighborhoods for creating opportunities for dialogue and champions for peace.
In selecting Korir for the honor, the award jurists noted her “outstanding humanitarian commitment” in her work to promote reconciliation and conflict mitigation. They were also impressed by the “diverse strategies for communication and interaction” she used in her work and her ability “to find highly innovative solutions to complex problems.”
Prior to working for Global Communities, Korir served as the Director of the Rural Women Peace Link, a network of grassroots women’s organization operating in areas affected by armed conflicts in western Kenya. Korir co-found the Rural Women Peace Link to respond to the women-specific concerns and issues that resulted from ethnic clashes.
Korir is a graduate of the Africa Peace Building Institute, Zambia, with extensive orientation and exposure in conflict and peace building processes. She holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from Shivaji University, India.
About the Award
The Mietek Pemper Award of Augsburg University for Reconciliation and International Understanding was established to honor the legacy of the Peace of Augsburg (1555), which has earned Augsburg the designation “City of Peace.” The award is given to individuals or institutions that have made major contributions towards reconciling different peoples, ethnic groups, and religious communities. The Mietek Pemper Award is dedicated to acknowledging outstanding, sustainable, and unconventional achievements in the area of mediating in and solving secular conflicts in politics and society. The first recipient of the Mietek Pemper Award was former U.N. Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte in 2007, and the second was Mr. Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2009. In 2012 the award was given to Khaled Abu Awwad and Nir Oren, Managers of the Parents Circle Families Forum in Israel and Palestine.