GFW | Newsletter | August 2005 | Kuna Women Defending Deep-Rooted Values

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

Centro de Mujeres Kunas "Kikadiryai," Panama City, Panama
by Rachel Niederman, Intern

Kuna women view their relationship with the environment as one in which all living beings both nurture and are nurtured by each other. "The environment is what secures our lives and our culture.

A Kuna woman determines her earnings
from selling molas (textiles).

"Therefore, throughout our history, development of our communities has been rooted in sustainable environmental practices," says Florina Lopez, leader of the Centro de Mujeres Kunas "Kikadiryai." Founded by 20 visionary Kuna women in 2000, the group is named after a Kuna woman who embodied the strength, wisdom, and leadership of indigenous people.

Kikadiryai links gender inequity among indigenous people to environmental degradation. The group plans seminars and workshops to bring Kuna women into the public sphere, and help them voice their social and environmental concerns. The most successful seminar of the past year discussed biodiversity and traditional knowledge, and resulted in the creation of the Network of Indigenous Women in Panama on Biodiversity. The women involved realized that together they could accomplish concrete tasks in their communities to improve the environment.

Kuna girls do their homework.

In 2003, with the support of a $12,000 grant from the Global Fund, Kikadiryai held its first national workshop in Panama and its first annual meeting of the Network. The workshops trained women to take a stand on environmental issues since most policy-makers lack a clear perspective on gender equality and indigenous rights. In March 2005, Kikadiryai sent a delegation to the Beijing+10 conference in New York to influence international policymakers and share strategies with other groups of indigenous women to preserve their culture and environment.

The Global Fund has since made two grants totaling $27,000 to support the multi-faceted impact of Kikadiryai on community members, whose voices are now louder, and whose national and international environmental agendas are now stronger.

Centro de Mujeres Kunas "Kikadiryai"
Florina Lopez Miró, Coordinator
Avenida Peru, calle 36, Edificio Arboix,
piso 3, local 9
Panama City, Panama
Phone: (507) 227-5090
Fax: (507) 227-5090
Email: lopezflorina@hotmail.com