Maria Magdelana Ixquiactap Tuc – “Magdalena” – has been a key leader in a collaboration between TWP and Coordinadora de Mujeres Líderes Territoriales de Mesoamérica (CMLT). As part of the regional initiative, Magdalena facilitates capacity building and knowledge exchange amongst community-based organizations in Guatemala. From developing evaluations of needs and gaps, to building out strategic plans, Magdalena has supported these organizations in aligning their long-term visions with clear steps for action. 

Magdalena: “It is important to learn to make the conversation into action, isn't it? If we are talking about independence, autonomy, empowerment, we should make sure that all our actions go in that direction.”

As a Maya K’iche’ woman who has worked with community-based organizations nearly all her life, Magdalena holds a deep understanding of the opportunities and barriers communities face. Her experience, and her presence, ground the trust needed to navigate complex challenges. 

Magdalena: “The exercise of machismo is an issue in some organizations. They are beautiful, wonderful people, but they are also built in a machismo society, right? So coming and standing up and being with them, that opened the ability to enter and dialogue and discuss from the same place, looking each other in the eyes, recognizing each other.”

Magdalena’s work has focused primarily on the experiences of Indigenous women and women-led organizations. Reaffirmation of Indigenous identity and community values, especially amongst women, has been a foundation of orienting organizations towards the future. 

Magdalena: “Repositioning them in their Indigenous being was an early effort because the issue of identity is vital. Some say they are Indigenous peoples, but others tell me they are not. But I see their faces, and I notice their surnames, Indigenous surnames. So, I ask them, what do we do? We are Indigenous or we are not? And they say, well, yes, yes, yes, most of them…They start to recognize themselves.”

As much as Magdalena’s expertise has guided community organizations, her deep-rootedness in her own identity has served as an inspiration for the women she supports. Magdalena strengthens organizations by helping strengthen the people who make them, building a path forward from the ground up. 

Magdalena: What my being has allowed me, my security in myself, in my identity, is to put myself in front of these women and ask them, ‘who are you?’ It’s vital. Because, if you don’t know who you are, how do you plant your feet on the ground?