Honoring peacebuilders
MCC creates Michael J. Sharp Global Peacemaker Award
Caption: Michael J. Sharp, second from left, participates in a 2013 meeting at camp for internally displaced people in the town of Shasha, North Kivu, Eastern Congo.
Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) is pleased to announce the establishment of the annual Michael J. Sharp Global Peacemaker Award, which will recognize and encourage courageous peacebuilders across the world.
The award will be open to a person or organization who is currently involved in peacebuilding and is an MCC partner or with whom MCC has had significant engagement. The award, which will include a monetary prize of $4,000, will be stewarded by the MCC United Nations Office, with the awardee chosen by a global selection committee of MCC staff. Nominations can be made by MCC staff throughout the world. The first recipient of the award will be announced in June 2023.
The Global Peacemaker Award is named in honor of Michael J. Sharp, who served in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with MCC and later with the United Nations.
His name in this country has value, is respected, is honored. Even in government circles. They have come to understand what he stood for, defending human rights of the people."
-- Mulanda Jimmy Juma, MCC representative in Dr. Congo
On March 12, 2017, along with his UN colleague Zaida Catalán of Sweden, Sharp was ambushed and murdered by unknown assailants in DR Congo. A UN expert on armed groups, Sharp was on his way to meet with a new militia group and to document human rights abuses. He was 34. Sharp and Catalán’s interpreter, Betu Tshintela, also may have been killed, but today he and three motorbike drivers are still missing, according to conflicting news sources.
Prior to Sharp coming to DR Congo with MCC in 2012, courageous Congolese were working for many years, risking and sacrificing their lives for peacebuilding in eastern Congo. When Sharp came to DR Congo, these Congolese welcomed him, educated and connected him to networks, and encouraged him in his front-line peacebuilding work with MCC and later with the United Nations.
After his murder, Sharp’s name generated national and international interest. The peacebuilding work of Congolese partners now continues.
MCC consulted with MCC Congolese and African representatives, who support the award in the name of Michael J. Sharp given his commitment to peacebuilding, anticolonial work and Mennonite peace witness. As Sharp was a young adult, MCC hopes that this award will be an inspiration to young adult peacebuilders.
Michael J. Sharp Global Peacemaker Award will recognize and encourage courageous peacebuilders across the world.
Mulanda Jimmy Juma, who is currently serving as MCC representative for Burundi and Rwanda, is from DR Congo, served as an MCC representative there and worked closely with Sharp.
From a Congolese perspective, says Mulanda, “an award in Michael’s name is warmly welcomed. His name in this country (DR Congo) has value, is respected, is honored. Even in government circles. They have come to understand what he stood for, defending human rights of the people. Michael lived among us and learned from us.”
The Michael J. Sharp Global Peacemaker Award honors the faithful work of the Congolese peacebuilders who Sharp worked alongside, and of Sharp with both MCC and the United Nations. Through the award, MCC hopes to provide an ongoing means of recognizing peacebuilders who exemplify MCC’s commitment to peace and justice across the world.
For MCC, peace is more than a wish. It’s our work. We’re pleased to offer this recognition for those who work so diligently and faithfully to build peace and offer reconciliation with God, others and creation.
