Tarcila Rivera Zea

Tarcila is a Quechua activist from Ayacucho. She has dedicated more than 30 years to defending and seeking recognition for the Indigenous Peoples and cultures of Peru. 

She founded the Taller Permanente de Mujeres Indígenas Andinas y Amazónicas del Perú, CHIRAPAQ (Centre for Indigenous Cultures of Peru) and the Enlace Continental de Mujeres Indígenas de las Américas. She has participated in international forums, including in Nairobi, Cairo, Beijing and Durban, as well as in the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. In addition to being FIMI’s executive president, she is the Vice President of CHIRAPAQ.

In 2011, she was recognized by the Ford Foundation as an extraordinary global leader and was appointed the following year to UN Women’s Global Civil Society Advisory Group. She was elected as a member of the Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues for the period of 2017-2019.