Empowers 100 Zapotec women to be government

Dear friends and benefactors of Espiral por la Vida:

We hope this communication finds you very well, happy, healthy and full in your accomplishments!

Today we want to share with you the story of Elizabeth, Councilwoman of the Municipality of San Miguel Amatlán, who has worked tenaciously in her community to strengthen education in childhood and adolescence. Among her achievements, she has added more women to the Observatory of Political Rights of Women in the Sierra Juarez, recognizing this collective as a space for great learning, and has also integrated a network of women in her municipality. She mentions that regardless of the termination of her position, she will continue to work for her community, promoting participation in public spaces and decision making for women, acknowledges that "...beyond personal learning, the most important thing is the collaboration and contributions that we can give to our community and to other woman" . Without a doubt, Elizabeth is an example of perseverance and tenacity.

Did you know that your generosity has spread to 140 women who are trained to defend their rights to political participation, know fundamental elements of municipal government management, learn to lower federal resources for projects that encourage education and reduce inequality gaps?

The Diploma in Gender and Municipal Management (3ª. Emisión) is currently being developed, in alliance with the University of Sierra Juárez, in which 101 women are registered, where the principles of democratic education, government management with a rights perspective, social organization and "digital literacy" are set out, providing them with security in their government positions and allowing the use of technology to take advantage of support to municipalities from governments and/or private instances.

We'd love to hear from you!

 All the best,

 Espiral por la Vida, A.C.

Dear Donors and Partners in the Project 

Espiral por la Vida, Civil Association (Espiral) would like to thank you for your contributions to last June's Accelerator Campaign through GlobalGiving. Since we began this year's 2019 stage of the project "Empowering 100 Zapotec Women to be Government", donors like yourselves have given us the capacity to continue working with indigenous women for a more just and equitable development of their communities in Oaxaca, Mexico.

How your donation helps our project:

Your contribution has enabled us to help promote training for 100 indigenous women in 15 municipalities of Oaxaca, so they can develop their own objectives and strategies for change and to make the defence of their rights the basis for achieving development objectives in their communities.

To date we have: 

• Contact and sensitization of Authorities of 12 Municipalities of the Sierra Juarez of Oaxaca, who have shown interest and willingness to support and train women in their communities to feel confident to participate in political life and decision-making in favor of the inhabitants of their communities. 

• Development of a pioneering initiative to create and strengthen a Citizens' Observatory of Women's Political Rights in the Sierra Juárez de Oaxaca, with the integration of 20 women from 10 municipalities.  Supporting the creation of this network of networks is a fundamental effort to achieve greater inclusion of women in participation in the political life of communities in the Region. It is a unique Observatory, the first of its kind in the State of Oaxaca.

• We are supporting about 34 women, community leaders for the integration of support networks for women in municipal positions.- These communities are governed by their indigenous normative systems - "usos y costumbres" - and in most cases having a representative position is understood as providing a service to the community, with a duration of between 1 year and 1 year and a half; when they are just understanding the functions of their position... they have to stop!  The proposal to generate community networks will make it possible to train all its members, to be able to continue the proposals, that who are elected and the network will accompany them and makes their own these incipient policies in favor of women and even make them customary. 

• A six-monthly work plan has been drawn up, in which the third Diploma in Gender and Municipal Management has been established, which to be held in October, has been established in order to strengthen the training process for women leaders and  who hold government positions in their municipalities.

Once again, we are grateful for your continued support. You can find more information about our work on our website or by communicating with us through our email platforms or social networks.

We'd love to hear from you!  

All the best, 

Espiral por la Vida, A.C.

Links:

• Follow the actions of our projects and programs from our FB page
• Learn more about our work and our philosophy, go to our website!

• 1st_Espiral_por_la_Vida_Report_September_2019.pdf (PDF)