Mary Brownell

Mary Nema Brownell (12 March 1929 – 14 March 2017), known as Ma Mary, was a Liberian peace activist and educator. She was founder of the Liberia Women Initiative (LWI) and mobilised women to engage in the peacebuilding process following the Liberian Civil Wars.

Early life and education Mary Nema Brownell was born on 12 March 1929 in Cavalla, Maryland, Liberia. She moved with her family to Monrovia aged 5 and attended the Suehn Baptist Mission's school in Bomi County from 1937. After returning to Liberia, she worked as a schoolteacher.

Activism During the First Liberian Civil War (1989–1997), Brownell founded and became the head of the Liberia Women Initiative (LWI, a non-partisan organisation) in January 1994. The LWI was successor of the Liberian Federation of Women's Organizations, which had been banned in 1980. Through the LWI, Brownell mobilized Liberian women to engage in the peacebuilding process and politics.

When conflict resumed in the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003), Browell continued to advocate for peace through the women's initiative Marwopnet (Mano River Women’s Peace Network). Subsequent negotiations led to the Comprehensive Peace Accord in Accra, Ghana (2003).

Brownell was a later member of the Federation of African Women's Peace Network, was president of the Women Development Association of Liberia (WODAL), and was commissioner of the Liberian National Elections Commission (NEC). She gave testimony at the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in August 2008.

Death Brownell died on 14 March 2017 in Monrovia, Liberia, aged 88.