Leadership Award 2021: The Faces of Resiliencie

Since 2013, the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (FIMI-IIWF) has awarded the ‘Leadership Award’ in recognition of women or Indigenous Women’s collectives who through their work, duty and responsibility achieve significant changes in their own or other communities. In 2021, we dedicated the FIMI Leadership Award to the resistance and strength of Indigenous Women’s organisations united to fight COVID-19.

The organisations stood out for their perseverance, collective strength and leadership in preventing infections, protecting families and communities, and contributing to create the conditions for individual and collective physical, mental and spiritual survival.

We share their stories here to recognise and make visible the strategies that Indigenous Women have used in fighting the pandemic. All of them were able to cope with extreme situations and convert pain into transformative action. To do this, they used creative approaches based on the ancestral knowledge and practices of their peoples. As Rosimere Maria Vieira Teles from the Arapaço People describes: ‘our hearts were in pain, but we stood up and fought for life.’

Read the book here: LEADERSHIP AWARD 2021: Faces of Resilience