| The solutions developed by Indigenous women in their communities address structural challenges in education, health, well-being, conservation, and culture. |
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| This year, the 14th Indigenous Women’s Leadership Award recognizes four initiatives from Fiji, India, Kenya, and Ecuador that use sports and ancestral games as tools to expand opportunities, strengthen participation, and protect well-being, ecosystems, and culture. |
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In New York, Indigenous women leaders from Asia, Africa, the Americas, the Pacific, and the Arctic are meeting with government delegates and civil society representatives to advance three priorities: direct funding, effective participation, and decision-making power.
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New York, September 2, 2026 – After four decades of organizing and advocacy, Indigenous women are reaching a historic milestone: for the first time, the United Nations will officially commemorate the International Day of Indigenous Women and Girls on September 5. This milestone comes with a political agenda focused on direct funding for their organizations, effective participation in decision-making, and the implementation of international commitments to protect their rights.
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| On this first official commemoration, the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (IIWF) calls on Member States, multilateral organizations, cooperation agencies, and global civil society to translate these commitments into concrete policy action: |
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Ensure direct funding for organizations led by Indigenous women through dedicated mechanisms such as the AYNI Fund, which facilitate access to resources and strengthen their capacity to decide how those resources are used.
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Implement General Recommendation No. 39 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in national legislation and public policies, ensuring effective mechanisms to protect the rights of Indigenous women and girls.
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Ensure the full and effective participation of Indigenous women in decision-making on governance, conservation, development, and other policies that affect their lives and communities. |
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These demands are being brought to a high-level international forum. On September 9, FIMI and UN Women will bring together in New York official delegates from various countries, representatives of civil society organizations, and Indigenous women leaders from Asia, Africa, the Americas, the Pacific, and the Arctic for a meeting that places these priorities at the center of the international conversation.
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The agenda responds to deep economic, educational, and labor disparities affecting Indigenous women across different regions of the world. There are approximately 238.4 million Indigenous women worldwide, and 18.3% of them live on less than $1.90 per day, compared with 6.8% of the non-Indigenous population. In terms of education, 53.5% of employed Indigenous women have no formal education, a proportion that reaches 89.9% in Africa. In Latin America and the Caribbean, 82.6% of the Indigenous population works in the informal sector, —31.5 percentage points higher than the non-Indigenous population.
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“Behind these figures are Indigenous women and girls who continue to face barriers to education, access to health care, decent work, and participation in decisions that affect their lives. Recognition by the United Nations matters because it can help change that reality, but its true value will lie in what happens next: in the policies, resources, and opportunities that reach Indigenous women,” emphasizes Teresa Zapeta, Executive Director of IIWF.
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These demands are the result of decades of organizing, training, and advocacy. From Indigenous women’s participation in the 1995 Beijing Conference to the creation of their own networks and mechanisms for global coordination, this journey has enabled them to bring their demands to international forums and train new generations of women leaders. Through its Global Leadership School, IIWF has supported capacity development for more than 140 women leaders from 40 countries, and through the AYNI Fund, it supports initiatives led by Indigenous women worldwide to strengthen their autonomy and community-based responses.
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“We organized because it was necessary to make ourselves visible, to be heard, and to be respected,” says Tarcila Rivera Zea, founder and president of IIWF.
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This first official commemoration also brings renewed attention to the historical origins of the date and the legacy of Bartolina Sisa, a Bolivian Indigenous leader of the Aymara people who played a central role in organizing and leading Indigenous resistance to colonial rule before being executed on September 5, 1782. Since 1983, Indigenous organizations and movements have commemorated the anniversary of her death as the International Day of Indigenous Women and Girls. The date honors the memory of a woman who exercised political leadership while underscoring a demand that remains as relevant today as ever: that Indigenous women be recognized as leaders with the power to shape the future of their peoples.
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The Indigenous Women’s Leadership Award recognizes four initiatives turning sport and traditional games into tools for community transformation
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As part of the first official observance of the International Day of Indigenous Women and Girls, FIMI is presenting the 14th Indigenous Women’s Leadership Award, recognizing initiatives led by Indigenous women that are driving change in their communities and strengthening their capacity for collective action. This year, the award honors four initiatives from Fiji, India, Kenya, and Ecuador that use sport and traditional games to create opportunities, promote well-being, protect ecosystems, advance education, and keep cultural identities alive.
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The award will be presented on September 5 in Cambodia, at a ceremony led by renowned Indigenous leader and global activist Joan Carling.
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“Indigenous women and girls are not only confronting the challenges of our time—they are exercising their agency and leadership to create solutions rooted in their knowledge, cultures and communities. Their innovations are advancing the well-being of their peoples, protecting nature and strengthening future generations. As we celebrate the International Day of Indigenous Women and Girls, we must recognize their leadership, support their initiatives and ensure they have the resources and decision-making power to take their solutions further,” says Joan Carling, Indigenous leader and global activist.
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A soccer field in India, a hockey field in Fiji, a match in Lamu, and traditional games in a Kichwa community in Ecuador may seem like local stories. But the issues they address are global: education, health and well-being, violence prevention, equal opportunities, biodiversity, and climate change. Their experiences show how community-led solutions can offer models for other contexts.
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| INDIA | Soccer as a Gateway to Education |
In Assam, Girls for Goals, an initiative of Purva Bharati Educational Trust works with Adivasi girls and girls from tea plantation worker communities, using soccer to support their well-being and keep them engaged in school. The initiative supports 100 girls and also works with 200 parents to challenge gender norms that limit their participation. Some participants are also beginning to receive training in advocacy, public speaking, and governance. In 2025–2026, a statewide tournament brought together 58 teams, showing how a soccer field can become a space where a girl can begin to imagine new possibilities for her future.
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| “The field becomes a training ground for public life. When an Adivasi girl learns to call for the ball, she learns to make her voice heard at home, in her community, and in public spaces,” says Bulbuli Gorh, co-director of programs at Purva Bharati Educational Trust. |
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KENYA | The Field as a Space for Collective Care |
In Lamu, Awer Women Empowerment uses soccer and beach soccer to work with women and girls who have experienced violence and conflict. Here, sport serves as a tool for mental health and psychosocial support: playing together helps restore connections, strengthen self-esteem, rebuild trust, and rediscover a sense of belonging. The field thus becomes a space for collective care, where well-being is addressed not individually, but through the community.
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| “Safety is a precondition for healing. For participants who have experienced violence or war, having a safe and consistent space is necessary before they can begin to process their experiences,” says Alice Atieno, director of Awer Women Empowerment, Kenya. |
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FIJI | Hockey Can Also Protect Ecosystems |
In Fiji, the iTaukei Women in Conservation Youth Club works with iTaukei girls and young women to expand access to hockey and create new opportunities for participation. Between 2024 and 2025, the number of girls’ teams participating in the national school competition increased from 9 to 15, while some young women are finding pathways to become coaches, referees, and role models for other girls. Through sport, participation on the field becomes connected to ecosystem protection and community engagement: taking the field can also mean gaining the tools to play a more active role in caring for the places where they live.
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| “FHF also recognizes that women’s leadership must grow alongside participation. Training young women as coaches, referees, and officials will help build a stronger and more sustainable pathway for hockey,” says Rosyln Delaivoni, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at the iTaukei Women in Conservation Youth Club, Fiji. |
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ECUADOR | Ancestral Games as Living Memory |
In Camuendo a, Kichwa Otavalo community, AWAK is reviving ritual and traditional games such as chunkana, curiquingue, kari atallpa shina, and encender la vela. Over the past eight years, these practices have become a way to strengthen cultural identity while also addressing current challenges such as self-care, community mental health, and violence prevention. The initiative now reaches four Kichwa communities and seeks to pass on knowledge held in the memory of grandmothers to girls and young women.
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| “The game gives us back sovereignty over our bodies and the right to joy, allowing women to take on leadership roles that were previously denied to them,” says Paccha Yarina Moreta Cañamar, coordinator of AWAK. |
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| The four recognized initiatives show that Indigenous women are already creating solutions within their communities. The next step is to ensure that those creating these solutions also have direct access to the resources and decision-making power needed to determine how they are sustained, strengthened, and brought to other contexts. Because the solutions already exist; what is still missing is for the women creating them to also have a say in their future. |
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