Nobel Women’s Initiative organized an intergenerational feminist convening in Nairobi connecting women leaders from around the world to advance climate justice, peace, and environmental care.
Dates: 28 February - 05 March, 2026
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Participants at Karura Forest During the Rooted and Rising Convening in Nairobi.
In March 2026, Nobel Women’s Initiative (NWI) convened Rooted & Rising in Nairobi, Kenya. This was a global feminist gathering dedicated to climate justice, environmental protection, and peace.
The convening honored the life and legacy of Professor Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, environmentalist, and founding member of NWI, whose work showed the world that environmental justice, women’s leadership, and peace are deeply interconnected.
The convening brought together alumni of NWI’s flagship Sister-to-Sister program, alongside partners, Nobel Peace Prize laureates, and women leaders, to build networks and solidarity, and to strengthen feminist movements at a moment when women’s rights, climate justice, and peace work are increasingly under attack worldwide.
The convening also marked the 20th anniversary of the founding of Nobel Women’s Initiative, returning to Nairobi—the city where the idea for NWI was first born during a gathering of its co-founders, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, and Wangari Maathai.
Rooted & Rising was a celebration, a circle of learning, and a launchpad for collective action. The convening will strengthen feminist climate justice networks and leadership, while creating space for reflection, movement-building, and shared strategy among Sister-to-Sister alumni, women leaders, grassroots activists, philanthropists and laureates from across regions.
By grounding the gathering in African and Indigenous climate leadership, the convening challenged dominant narratives around climate action and promoted intersectional feminist approaches rooted in care, justice, and peace.
Participants engaged through dialogue, skill-building, community visits, cultural exchange, and collective reflection, honoring Wangari Maathai’s legacy while building pathways for sustained collaboration.
Climate change is not only an environmental crisis—it is a justice issue. Its impacts are felt most acutely by communities already facing inequality, conflict, and displacement, particularly in the Global South. Women and feminist movements are often at the forefront of responding to these challenges: protecting land and water, defending community rights, restoring ecosystems, and building peace.
Rooted & Rising centered these realities and amplified the leadership of women who are advancing climate justice and peace in diverse ways—through advocacy and storytelling, community organizing and policy work, creative expression and research, sustainable energy initiatives, and efforts to protect ecosystems, livelihoods, and human rights.
The convening created space for dialogue, skill-building, reflection, and solidarity, connecting lived experience with global advocacy and movement-building.
At the core of Rooted & Rising are young women leaders from NWI’s Sister-to-Sister program.
Almost thirty young women from the Sister-to-Sister alumni network took part in the convening, including members of the 2025 cohort, whose theme—Rooted & Rising—was inspired by Wangari Maathai’s life and work. These women come from diverse regions and contexts and are actively shaping change in their communities.
For more than a decade, NWI’s Sister-to-Sister program has been our flagship initiative, supporting young feminist leaders working for peace. Centering Sister-to-Sister at Rooted & Rising is therefore both intentional and symbolic—honoring the organization’s origins while lifting up the next generation of women leaders carrying that vision forward.
The Rooted & Rising convening aimed to:
Rooted & Rising brought together more than 75 participants from over 25 countries, including Nobel Peace Prize laureates Leymah Gbowee, Dr. Shirin Ebadi, and Oleksandra Matviichuk; members of NWI’s Board including Nermeen Shaikh and Negina Yari; young feminist leaders from across Africa and the Global South, civil society partners and Kenyan women leaders and activists.
Over five days in Nairobi, participants took part in:
Parallel spaces included regional meetings for Sister-to-Sister participants, advocacy and bilateral meetings, and laureate dialogues.
Participants also engaged in Tea & Feminist Dialogue, an open public-facing space for activists, partners, and allies to connect, share strategies and strengthen network which brought together 250 participants. Read the Tea and Feminist Dialogue summary report.
Parallel spaces included advocacy and bilateral meetings with diplomatic representatives, and community engagements with Kenyan women’s organizations and grassroots partners to strengthen protection for women human rights defenders and expand feminist movements.
The convening is organized in collaboration with:
Wangari Maathai Foundation
Green Belt Movement
Institute on Gender, Law, and Transformative Peace (CUNY)
Nobel Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk Visits Kenya on War Crimes Mission. KTN News Kenya. 04 March 2026.
Mshindi wa Nobel mwaka 2022 Mwanasheria Oleksandra Matviichuk azuru Kenya. KTN News Kenya. 04 March 2026.
The Human Reality of Conflict: Lessons From Russia-Ukraine War | Oleksandra Matviichuk. NTV Kenya. 03 March 2026.
Chief Justice Martha Koome commemorates Wangari Maathai Day. TV47 Kenya. 03 March 2026.
Why Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai’s Legacy Matters More Than Ever. Morning Cafe. TV47 Kenya. 03 March 2026.
We should always fight for the truth - Oleksandra Matviichuk, Nobel Laureate. TV47 Kenya. 03 March 2026.
A shared commitment to humanity unites activists worldwide — Maria Butler, Nobel Women’s Initiative. TV47 Kenya. 03 March 2026.
Fighting for truth means fighting for a voice & lived experiences-Wanjira Maathai, Environmentalist. TV47 Kenya. 03.03.2026
Digital and Print Coverage
Nobel Laureates Plant Trees At Karura Forest To Honour Wangari Maathai And Demand Climate Justice. East Africa Business Times. 06 March 2026.
Three Nobel Peace Laureates converged in Nairobi on March 3to celebrate late Wangari Maathai legacy. The People Tribune. 06 March 2026.
The Nobel Women Initiative plant trees at Nairobi in honor of the Late Prof Wangari Maathai. Kiambu Observer. 05 March 2026.
Karura forest row: Environmentalists petition Ruto over NYS housing project. Radio Kaya. 04 March 2026.
Amb. Nakhumicha Wafula Participates In Reception Honouring Women Leaders In Climate Justice And Peace. Kenyan Mission to UN-Habitat. 04 March 2026.
Government told to prepare youth for Africa’s green economy. Capital FM. 03 March 2026.
Koome: Independent Judiciary key to protecting constitutionalism, women’s rights. The Eastleigh Voice. 03 March 3026.
Kenya to Host Nobel Laureates for Climate Justice in Honour of Wangari Maathai. Kenyan Vibe. 23 February 2026.
Nobel Peace Laureates to Visit Kenya for Wangari Maathai Day, Champion Climate Justice. Capital FM. 22 February 2026.
Radio and Print Coverage
Celebrating Wangari Maathai Day. Radio Kaya. 03 March 2026.
Wangari's Evolving Environmental Legacy in Kenya. The People Daily. 03 March 2026.
Nobel laureates gather at Karura to honour Wangari Maathai’s legacy. The Star. 03 March 2026.
Op-eds
Silencing the Guns. Lilian Mbuthi Njeri, 2025 Sister-to-Sister Alumni Fellow. 11 March 2026.
Rooted & Rising: In Crisis, We Gather. Maria Butler, Executive Director, NWI. 24 March 2026.
Among Giants: What the Rooted & Rising Convening Left With Me. Juno Hassan, 2025 Sister-to-Sister Alumni Fellow. 31 March 2026.
Photos of the delegation can be found here
Nobel Women’s Initiative is proud to announce the release of its official report on Rooted & Rising: In Crisis We Gather convening, held in Nairobi from 1–5 March 2026. Led by Nobel Peace Prize laureates Shirin Ebadi, Leymah Gbowee and Oleksandra Matviichuk, the gathering brought together feminist leaders, Sister-to-Sister fellows and alumni, and civil society actors from more than 35 countries to strengthen collective leadership in the face of escalating global crises. Click here or the poster to read the full Rooted & Rising: In Crisis We Gather convening report.