Women’s Learning Circle—Intercultural training for indigenous women leaders
Organization: Sunu Group for Intercultural Action (Grupo SUNU de Acción Intercultural)
Priority area: Leadership, voice-agency, and women’s political participation
Country: Paraguay
Sunu Group for Intercultural Action accompanies the initiatives of indigenous peoples, seeking to promote intercultural links and raise awareness on the issue of cultural, ethnic, and religious segregation.
The empowerment and leadership of indigenous women as well as the strengthening of their advocacy capacity to influence public policies for a life free of violence. Their project focuses on (1) training in gender, human rights, and indigenous people’s rights, and (2) capacity building of indigenous women’s organizations.
Paraguay is known for elevated rates of poverty and inequality, where land ownership is concentrated in the hands of a few, and indigenous women are at the greatest risk of abandonment. Indigenous communities are affected by the dispossession of their lands, and they suffer environmental pollution.
To strengthen the participation of women within indigenous organizations, promote their leadership and the transmission of knowledge, and increase the skills of indigenous women raising awareness about their rights to a life free of violence.
“The work done during the first months was internal; we focused on strengthening our ideas and making agreements about where we stand to make an impact. This process has allowed us to detect opportunities that will lead to greater participation, and to make institutional agreements to strengthen the gender perspective of the organization. In addition, we are designing a communications strategy.”