Dr. Alaa Murabit is an award-winning physician, security strategist, and architect of systems-level change.
Her work has shaped policy in 193 countries and mobilized over $40B for health, sustainable development, and peace.
She is the Global Managing Partner for Sustainable Growth at 500 Global, a UN Sustainable Development Goals Architect & Advocate, a UN High-Level Commissioner on Health, Employment & Economic Growth, and a Lancet Commissioner on Health, Trust and Faith. She also chairs the Board of Girls Not Brides, serves as a Trustee for Women for Women International, and sits on multiple international commissions and advisory boards. At 21, amid civil war, she founded the Voice of Libyan Women, pioneering faith-based approaches to women’s rights and peace building.
Alaa is an Expert Senior Advisor with Bain & Company, Principal Advisor for Strategic Capital, Islamic Financing, Philanthropy, Social Value, & Economic Opportunity, and a Founding Leader of The NewNow. Previously, she directed a $350M+/year portfolio at the Gates Foundation, where she launched first-of-their-kind philanthropic funds and led the Foundation’s global fragile settings work. She created For Mama (now Every Pregnancy), a faith-based philanthropic collaborative that mobilized $13M+ for maternal and newborn health in its inaugural campaign, and incepted The Beginnings Fund, a $600M pooled fund dedicated to maternal and child health equity.
Her leadership has been recognized globally: she is a TIME100 Most Influential Person, Canadian Meritorious Service Cross, TED Speaker, WEF Young Global Leader, Harvard Radcliffe Fellow, and was profiled by The Lancet for her impact in women’s and children’s health.
ALAA IN THE NEWS
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Rather than resisting the securitization of climate, advocates and policymakers should be promoting the climatization of security. This means highlighting the shortcomings of current security frameworks and promoting gender inclusiveness and local leadership as holistic and long-term solutions for peace and sustainability.
The secret to inclusive societies: Women’s reproductive freedom
Defending reproductive rights nationally and internationally consequently creates a cycle of education, security, and prosperity, be it in resolving food security challenges, countering increasing polarization, or resolving domestic and cross-border conflicts peacefully. Decades of research show that when women are empowered, countries are more secure and more prosperous.
Around the world, violence disrupts schooling for some 80 million children, as students and their teachers become targets in conflict zones. With the frequency of attacks increasing, the international community must recommit to a global pledge made nearly two decades ago: education for all, everywhere
