On Boosting Creativity for Peace
By Daniel Agusi
In July 2025, history was made at the United Nations when Maryam Bukar Hassan, better known as Alhanislam, became the first Global Advocate for Peace. A Nigerian poet and storyteller, she has turned poetry into a powerful way to connect people and open conversations about peace.
From growing up in Borno, a place often spoken of only in terms of conflict, to standing on world stages in New York, Maryam’s journey is one of resilience, creativity, and hope. Her voice carries the weight of lived experience and uses art to highlight the struggles and strengths of women, youth, and communities often left out of peacebuilding.
For this special Peace Edition marking World Humanitarian Day, Raising Women Magazine spoke with Maryam about her groundbreaking role, the strength of storytelling, and the legacy she hopes to leave for the next generation of women and young people across Africa and beyond.
1. You’ve made history as the United Nations’ first Global Advocate for Peace. What does this role personally mean to you, and how do you hope to shape it for future generations?
Answer: Becoming the UN’s first Global Advocate for Peace is not just a personal milestone it is a collective victory for every young girl who has ever been told her voice was too soft to move the world. For me, it is a responsibility to remind future generations that peace is not an abstract policy, it is a lived reality woven into how we treat one another, how we build communities, and how we imagine justice. My hope is that this role opens doors so that those coming after me will not be “the first,” but one among many leading voices for peace.
2. Storytelling is at the heart of your peace advocacy. How do poetry and spoken word succeed in breaking barriers where policy papers and negotiations often fall short?
Answer: Policy can speak to the mind, but poetry reaches the heart. Spoken word has the power to translate statistics into human stories, to breathe life into headlines that would otherwise feel distant. When I perform, I am not just sharing verses, I am collapsing walls of difference.
Poetry makes peace tangible; it allows us to feel another person’s pain, joy, and resilience in ways a report never could. That human connection is often the missing link in negotiations.
3. As a young woman from Borno who now sits at the global table, how has your personal journey shaped your vision of peace and resilience?
Answer: I come from Borno, a place the world often associates only with conflict. Yet, I have seen both the scars of violence and the stubborn beauty of survival. My journey has taught me that resilience is not the absence of struggle ,it is the insistence to rise again, to rebuild, to reimagine. Carrying the weight of where I come from means I don’t just speak about peace theoretically. I speak as someone who knows what is at stake when peace is absent, and what is possible when people choose it.
4. You’ve often spoken about the power of youth in peacebuilding. What practical steps do you believe the international community must take to ensure young voices aren’t just included, but truly heard?
Answer: The international community must move beyond tokenism. Inclusion is not giving young people a seat in the back row it is trusting us with the microphone, the decision-making, and the resources to act. Practical steps include funding youth-led initiatives, creating mentorship pipelines, and integrating young people as partners rather than beneficiaries. When young voices shape the agenda, peace becomes sustainable because it is rooted in the future we are already living.
5. Women’s leadership in conflict and post-conflict settings is still underrepresented. From your vantage point, how can women shift peace processes from symbolic participation to real influence?
Answer: Women bring perspectives that often redefine what peace looks like not just the silence of guns, but the presence of dignity, education, and opportunity. To move from symbolism to influence, women need access to negotiation tables not as observers but as negotiators, mediators, and decision-makers. This means legal frameworks must mandate women’s participation, and cultural narratives must shift to recognize that women are not “additions” to peace processes we are architects of them.
6. You debuted your role with a performance at SummerStage in New York. How do you balance being an artist and an advocate, and what does the intersection of art and diplomacy look like to you?
Answer: For me, there is no separation art is my advocacy. The stage and the negotiating table are both arenas where hearts and minds can be shifted. At SummerStage, I didn’t just perform; I made a statement that diplomacy is not only about documents and handshakes, it is also about human connection. The intersection of art and diplomacy is where policy becomes personal, where empathy becomes strategy.
7. True My Voice,” your initiative, empowers young poets and digital storytellers. What has been the most powerful story or moment you’ve witnessed from this work, and how has it impacted you?
Answer: One of the most powerful moments was watching a young girl, who had never before spoken publicly, stand in front of a crowd and perform a poem about her community. She said afterward that it was the first time she felt truly seen. That moment reminded me that empowerment is not always loud it is sometimes a quiet unlocking of courage. It impacts me daily because it affirms that storytelling is not just art it is agency.
8. Looking ahead, what is the legacy you hope to leave as Global Advocate for Peace, and what single message would you like women across Africa and the world to carry with them from your journey?
Answer: I want my legacy to be proof that words can move mountains, that poetry can shape policy, and that peace is possible when we dare to reimagine it. If there is one message I want women across Africa and beyond to carry, it is this: your voice is not an echo it is an origin. Use it. Nurture it. And know that when you speak, you are not just telling your story you are shaping history.