Women of the Americas driving Human Rights, Workers' Rights, and Gender Equity Education
March 8th was International Women’s Day, a to commemorate and redouble the feminist struggle for social, political, and economic equity, the end of gender-based violence and discrimination, and other injustices that women have long been working to eliminate.
We believe that International Women’s Day must be every day. In honour of global feminist struggles, we've curated for you a list of CoDev’s women-led partners at the forefront of emancipatory social transformation!
Watch the IWD message below from Deanna Fasciani, CoDev’s Executive Director.
Learn about CoDev's Latin American partners working for gender equity:
Education Partners
ANDES 21 de Junio (The National Association of Salvadoran Educators) - El Salvador: Since 2010, ANDES 21 de Junio and the Women's Secretariat have been training teachers in the Non-Sexist and Inclusive Pedagogy (NSIP) approach, collectively creating and disseminating lesson aids, such as the textbook, Ourselves, others and the world which surrounds us, and developing an accredited four-month Diploma Program in the theory and methodology of NSIP.
The Women's Network of COPEMH (The Honduran Middle School Teachers' College) – Honduras: A CoDev partner since 2011, COPEMH and the Women's Network develop teachers' skills and facilitators in the Non-Sexist and Inclusive Pedagogy (NSIP) model through national workshops and online training. COPEMH organizes an interdisciplinary team of science and social studies teachers who apply the NSIP lesson unit, "Neither Little Red Riding Hoods nor Big Bad Wolves,” and are currently testing other lessons with high school students, such as "Time and Space, why we migrate?" on forced migration, and "Naia and the greenhouse effect" on climate change.
PRICPHMA (The First Professional Teachers' College of Honduras) – Honduras: A partner since 2015, PRICPHMA provides training in the Non-Sexist and Inclusive Pedagogy (NSIP) teaching model for early educators, deepening knowledge of alternative mediation and the critical use of information and communication technology. Teachers collectively analyze and create inclusive and participatory lesson aids that teachers and parents apply in the classroom and at home. PRICPHMA also opens opportunities for strengthening women's political and organizational empowerment within the union from a gender-sensitive perspective.
SEC (The Costa Rican Education Workers' Union) - Costa Rica: A CoDev partner since 1995, SEC and the Women's Secretariat have taken on a process for greater integration of women teachers in the different organizational levels, creating local and regional committees and an internal gender equity policy and offering quality training to its members.
SUTEP (The Peruvian Education Workers' Union) – Peru: A partner since 1985, SUTEP and the Women's Secretariat develop women's leadership training in different macro-regions across the country and participate in national and international campaigns for the eradication of violence against girls and women. It has been successful in creating local and regional committees, establishing an internal gender equity policy and increasing the number of women in decision-making spaces such as the National Executive Committee.
Human & Labour Rights Partners
APSIES (The Salvadorian Association for Intercommunity Health and Social Services) - El Salvador. Since 1991, APSIES has been working on gender equity and the exercising rights to health care. APSIES organizes and educates women in the eastern municipalities of San Miguel and Usulután. Five women's associations boosted by APSIES work with authorities and other institutions to improve the spaces of democracy for women.
CODEMUH (The Honduran Women's Collective) – Honduras. Since 1989, CODEMUH has been educating, organizing, and accompanying women assembly-for-export (maquila) workers in Cortes Province to defend their human and labour rights. CODEMUH also advocates before authorities for better conditions for maquila workers, such as by proposing new laws and regulations for Occupational Health and Safety.
The Network (The Central American Network in Solidarity with Maquila Women Workers) – Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. Since 1995, The Network has coordinated a regional strategy to advocate for maquila workers’ labour conditions. The Network educates the leadership of women's organizations to promote occupational health and safety for maquila workers and to denounce violations to their human and labour rights.
The Association for Research and Social Action (NOMADESC) – Colombia. Since 1999, NOMADESC has been working with communities impacted by forced displacement. Through the Intercultural University of People, led by the NOMADESC, women's organizations in the central and southwest of the country participate in a pedagogical process to develop their leadership skills to defend human rights. One of the leaders who participated in NOMADESC’s education program through the Intercultural University of the Peoples is Francia Marquez, the current vice president of Colombia.
Nuestra Voz (Women's Association Our Voice) – Guatemala. Nuestra Voz is a feminist organization working with Indigenous and Mestiza women since 1984. Nuestra Voz works in the process of women's empowerment as individuals and as a collective. They fight against gender-based violence and raise awareness of women's human rights.
Colectivo Artesana (Artesana Collective) – Guatemala. Since 2007, Artesana has been working to improve the conditions of women deprived of liberty and their children, providing legal and humanitarian support and creating conditions for their reintegration into society once they are released from prison and recover their liberty.
Sector de Mujeres (Political Alliance Women's Sector) – Guatemala. Sector de Mujeres is a feminist political alliance that gathers 32 women's organizations in Guatemala. They struggle for women's rights and the prevention of violence against women. Sector de Mujeres builds the space to educate women to develop their own critical analysis of power relations and helps to create and strengthen alliances to advocate and fight for the symbolic and material conditions for women to fully exercise their human rights.
Nuevo Horizonte (The New Horizons Cooperative) – Guatemala. Since 1998, Nuevo Horizonte has been building an alternative local model of development where the community is central. Their health clinic and midwife provide care for their members and for those of surrounding communities.