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Their common thread is resistance to systems that push people to the margins, and a shared insistence on putting people back at the centre.
The 2026 Right Livelihood Award, also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize,” has been awarded to Jalila Haider from Pakistan “for breaking barriers, as the first female lawyer from her Hazara community, to challenge ethnic, state and patriarchal persecution, guided by the conviction that no human being is illegal,” the Rural Women’s Assembly “for organising rural women across Southern Africa into a united force defending land, seed, and bodily autonomy against corporate and patriarchal dispossession,” the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association “for building and safeguarding Georgian democracy and sustaining civic power in the face of an autocratic crackdown,” and Timnit Gebru from the US “for challenging concentrated power in artificial intelligence and pioneering digital technology rooted in justice, lived experience and human agency.”
World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay commended the women honored. “These Right Livelihood laureates exemplify the kind of empowerment that is life-flourishing, deep-rooted, and of the people,” he said, adding a special congratulations to the Rural Women’s Assembly from his home country of South Africa. “I have seen firsthand the power of volunteers who can put the region’s food systems back into the hands of resilient people and communities.”
For over 45 years, the Right Livelihood Award has honoured and supported people leading the way to a just, peaceful, and sustainable world for all.
The 2026 awardees were chosen from 200 nominees from 72 countries. They will be honoured during a televised award presentation in Stockholm on 1 December.