Towards resilience, preparedness = bargaining power

In early January, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador met with the Nahuatl and Otomi peoples of the Otomi-Tepehua region of Hidalgo. The meeting’s goal was “to get to know the realities and aspirations of the life of the indigenous peoples of the country, as well as the solutions and alternatives that are being proposed, in order to jointly construct the policies and actions that will allow us to achieve development and integral well-being.”

Among those with whom the president met was Marisela Romero Cruz, the president of the regional organization we incubate, Siempre Viva, and co-Nahua leader of Yolki Ino Yolo. In preparation for the president’s visit, the region’s male and female indigenous leaders discussed with Marisela the agenda PSYDEH’s indigenous partners have formulated in recent years. And they agreed that she also would be charged with welcoming the President with a traditional ceremony from her people.

As PSYDEH senior advisor Damon Taylor states, “this meeting is clear evidence that our forward-thinking collaboration is making an interesting, spontaneous impact. Here, the women’s regional agenda forged and constantly updated in prior years now informs and makes possible this needed, direct conversation with President Lopez Obrador.” This is why we at PSYDEH are convinced that the network of councils (or organizations) are now clearly better armed to forge their own social capital, which is key to creating more predictability, which is key to contributing to the sustainable development of their communities.