Coordination of Territorial Women Leaders of Mesoamerica: from now on, that’s the name of the most recent branch of the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests. This was decided this June 22-23 in Managua, Nicaragua, by ten female delegates from AMPB’s member organizations, during their I Coordination Meeting.
The women from indigenous peoples and forest communities of the region met to discuss their priorities, agree on strategic lines and define a mechanism of internal organization for the Coordination.
“This meeting has been our spearhead to start a political regional agenda and show the governance we the women have when it comes to the ways in which we organize ourselves. We could look for common ground amongst the delegates of the Commission. This allows us to be more visible before the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests’ agenda and to include a perspective from the knowledge we the women have from territorial incidence processes, rights, and our contributions against climate change. We strive for unity, solidarity, the development our communities want, but by taking our participation into account. We aspire for women to be visible in spaces; this has been a constant fight for us, many women have come before for us to be able to stand in a coordination inside AMPB”, said Sara Omi, from the Emberá Congress of Alto Bayano in Panamá, who was elected by the women to coordinate this space for the first term.
The Coordination is made up by one woman leader from each member organization of AMPB, as an organ of this platform that will strengthen women’s participation on the local, regional and international level.
The ten delegates are: Mayra Morales (Asociación de Comunidades Forestales de Petén, ACOFOP); Juana Sisimit Sinto (Alianza Nacional Forestal de Guatemala); Cándida Dereck (MASTA); Fredy Amalia Hernández (FEPROAH); Nancy Enriques (YATAMA); María Cristina Feliciano (Nación Mayangna); Yanisbeth González (Congreso General Guna); Florita Martínez (RIBCA); Soledad Tlehuactle González (Red MOCAF) and Nancy Hitucama (Congreso Emberá-Wounaan). They are members of territorial organizations which represent indigenous peoples and forest communities and have been elected by these organs to represent their territories’ women in the Coordination.
The Coordination of Territorial Women Leaders of Mesoamerica was born in November 2018, during the “Precongreso Mesoamericano de Mujeres Líderes Territoriales por una Mesoamérica con identidad y equidad – in memoriam Victoria Flores”, held in Panama City.
