Elman Peace is a non-profit organization founded in Somalia in 1990 that is dedicated to promoting peace, cultivating leadership and empowering the marginalized brackets of society to be decision makers in the processes that ensure their wellbeing.
They provide innovative, life-saving support to those in need and strive to create more enabling and progressive environments. Their philosophy on aid and development is centered on locally driven solutions from a committed and professional collective of compassionate people.
Elman Peace is named after its founder, Elman Ali Ahmed; an ardent and pioneering peace activist, remembered to this day as the Somali Father of Peace. Elman and his wife, Fartuun Adan ran the organization together until the war worsened in Somalia, and they made the decision to split up; Elman would stay behind and continue to fight for peace and Fartuun would flee the country for the safety and future of their daughters. It would be the last time Fartuun and her children would see Elman alive.
The torch of activism was passed to their daughter, Ilwad Elman, who returned to Somalia in 2010 to work alongside her mother & take part in the rebuilding of Somalia. Together Fartuun & Ilwad lead Elman Peace, and under their visionary leadership, the organization has sustained Elman’s mission & legacy of promoting peace and protecting human rights.
ELMAN PEACE
Ilwad Elman
Ilwad Elman is a young woman leader at the forefront of the Somali Peace Process and a global authority on peace and security. After the assassination of her father, a prominent Somali peace activist, Ilwad and her family became refugees, eventually finding asylum in Canada.
Aged 19, she felt the responsibility to leave the safety of Canada and return with her mother to a Somalia still steeped in violent conflict, where they founded the Elman Peace Centre. At just 20, she co-founded Somalia’s first rape crisis center. Since then, Ilwad has become a champion of building peace through giving all those impacted by conflict — particularly women and girls — a seat at the table.
She has designed interventions aimed at security sector reform to create an inclusive space for women in peace building and developing programs for the disarmament and rehabilitation of child and youth soldiers as well as adults defecting from armed groups labeled as terrorist organizations for their socio-economic empowerment, rehabilitation and reintegration.
Having served as an advisor to two UN Secretary Generals on Peace & Security, Ilwad's expertise has shaped policy at the highest levels. She has briefed the UN Security Council on critical issues like climate and security, protection of civilians and has advocated for inclusive solutions to seemingly intractable conflicts. A mentee of the late Kofi Annan, she continues his legacy as an advocate for the Kofi Annan Foundation. Ilwad’s commitment to peace and justice has garnered global recognition, resulting in several esteemed awards, such as the Gleitsman International Activist Award from Harvard University, the Hessian Peace Prize, and three Nobel Peace Prize nominations among other distinguished accolades. Further testament to her impact and contributions to global peace and justice is her honorary Doctorate of Laws from SOAS University in London, England.