Fifth regional forum draws women from hidalgo and veracruz to organize, demand rights
On Thursday, June 27th PSYDEH produced the final action in our 2019 project funded by the Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) and our global crowdfunding 
campaign “Fruits of Change“, produced in collaboration with US-based GlobalGiving.
Here, our fifth regional public forum united Otomí, Tepehua, Nahua women from across the Sierra Otomí-Tepehua region of Hidalgo with Afro-Mexican women leaders from Veracruz to:
- LEARN from state government officials about how they can exercise their rights to public information and protect their personal data.
- EXPLORE women’s ideas on local problems and their solutions according to the seven chapters of their unprecedented development agenda.
- CELEBRATE how women working across cultures and state lines can lead to social action solutions to local problems codified as demands in their Agenda.
In addition to participating in a human-library oriented experience inspired in part by our learning from British Council’s Active Citizens training program, Forum attendees took part in an INE survey and PSYDEH’s “Fruits of Change” funded survey on whether and how our scalable program model (explored HERE in this animated lesson) impacts their lives.
We also learned from the Afro-Mexican youth leaders from Coyolillo, Veracruz on how their social and economic challenges mirror those of their indigenous sisters in Hidalgo.
Organizers and supporters of this social-infrastructure flavored experience, the newest installment of our unprecedented regional forum series–four since 2014, included (a) Mexican indigenous and Afro-Mexican women leaders, (b) local, state and federal government officials from INE and the Instituto de Transparencia, Acceso a la Información Pública Gubernamental y Protección de Datos Personales del Estado de Hidalgo (ITAIH), and (c) PSYDEH staff and volunteers from Mexico, the United States, Brazil, Chile, and Guatemala.
