A Few Committed Mexican Women

Nov. 30, 2011 —Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

CEDPA has never doubted that fact, and, in mid-November, convened sixteen women from ten different states across Mexico to provide them with the tools to change their piece of the world. The women were part of the Advocacy and Management for Gender and Sustainable Development Programs workshop held in Mexico City.

The CEDPA workshop, sponsored by ExxonMobil/Mexico and Mexico’s Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT), strengthened the capacity of current and future women members of SEMARNAT’s Advisory Council for Sustainable Development. The council is made of up of representatives from various sector that include nongovernmental organizations, youth, government and indigenous groups, among others.

In its third year, the workshop was developed to build effective advocacy skills, strengthen strategic planning abilities and provide new tools for program management.

Throughout the workshop, participants were provided with themes, concepts and methods that are necessary to open lines of communication and establish a permanent dialogue with the gender and sustainable development key decision makers.

Guadalupe Yesenia Hernández Márquez, a participant who works on environmental sustainability projects, encountered gender issues while implementing her projects in Oaxaca, Mexico. She found it difficult to overcome these issues in the environment she was working in.

Santa Trujillo engages with her group members about their advocacy strategy.

“There are many times doors have been closed to me in the government. I want to look for more diplomatic ways to negotiate,” explained Guadalupe. “I think I’ll be able to do this with what I’ve learned here.”

With the tools she acquired during the workshop, Guadalupe will now integrate gender advocacy strategies to mitigate the discrimination and help ensure the success of her programs.

By design, the intensive, week-long workshop nurtured a bond between participants. The facilitators created a participatory environment in which participants shared their different experiences and learned from each other’s success and failures. The women developed trust and began to rely on each other.

“At the end, we have multiple women to reach out to for help and support,” said Santa Trujillo (pictured left), a participant working with rural communities in Sonora.

During the workshop, participants were divided into groups to create advocacy plans that set goals and objectives. This exercise provides participants with a template of an advocacy plan they can apply to their own work. Santa’s group created a plan to introduce gender inclusion to the projects of the National Commission for Water.

Santa and her team crafted a message during the workshop that will guide them in developing a proposal they will deliver to SEMARNAT to ensure a gender perspective is included in future projects.

As these women begin to influence policy makers in gender and sustainable development, they will continue to grow and support each other in forging change in their communities and the world.

Learn more about CEDPA’s workshops.

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