About Dr. Myrna Kay Cunningham Kain

Myrna Cunningham Kain, is a Medical Doctor and works as a Public Health Practitioner with the Miskitu indigenous population on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua.  She is committed to the development of indigenous peoples and has pressed for their autonomy on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua.

Dr. Cunningham Kain is a human rights activist and served as the Chair of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues at the UN, as well as advisor to the President of the UN General Assembly during the World Conference of Indigenous Peoples at the UN in 2014. She has been collaborating with PAHO / WHO on issues related to the health of indigenous peoples over the last 25 years.

She has been the Coordinator of the Itinerant Indigenous Chair (CII) since 2005, composed of 60 indigenous wise men / women from 18 countries in Latin America, which is a course that is part of the curricular offer of the postgraduate courses offered by the UII in 25 Associated Academic Centers, designed to provide information, analysis, conceptual and methodological contributions to knowledge, spirituality, world view, rights and processes of struggle of indigenous peoples.

She currently serves as the President of the Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the CARIBBEAN- FILAC and Chairperson of the Center for Autonomy and Development of Indigenous People (CADPI).

About Teresa Zapeta Mendoza

Teresa is a Maya K’iche Indigenous, originally from Guatemala. She has been linked to the struggle of indigenous women for over 15 years and continues from this space with conviction and vision. She has worked as a government officer, like a Defender of Indigenous Women, being responsible of the Office of Indigenous Women for the Central America region at the UN WOMEN. Through her work in FIMI, she aims at strengthening the network with all organizations and allies to continue articulating in a sustainable manner, influencing together for the advancement of the human rights of all indigenous women in the world.

About Animatu Gambo

Gambo Aminatu is a human rights advocate from the mbororo Pastoralist indigenous community in Cameroon. She has been actively working in the promotion and protection of the right of the indigenous people in Cameroon since 2011. Aminatu presently Works with International Indigenous Women’s Forum (FIMI) as the Political participation and Advocacy coordinator.

Building effective leadership in the areas of human rights, good governance, peace building, women’s rights, environmental issue, intellectual property rights, research and developments are the areas she has been focusing. Aminatu obtained her Bachelor’s degree in law at the University of Yaoundé II in Cameroon. 

About Jim Enote

Jim Enote is a Zuni tribal member and CEO of the Colorado Plateau Foundation. He serves on the boards of the Trust for Mutual Understanding, Grand Canyon Trust, and formally with Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation. He is a National Geographic Society Explorer, a New Mexico Community Luminaria, and an E.F. Schumacher Society Fellow.

Jim’s service the past forty years includes natural resource, cultural resource, philanthropic, and arts assignments for many organizations including UNESCO, UNDP, International Secretariat for Water, Nordic Council of Ministers, Tibet Child Nutrition Project, the Mountain Institute, National Geographic Society, US Bureau of Indian Affairs, US National Park Service, Zuni Tribe, and several major charitable foundations, museums, and universities. He has written in Heritage In the Context of Globalization; Science, Technology, and Human Values; Sacredness as a Means to Conservation; Mapping Our Places; Indigenous People and Sustainable Development; A:shiwi A:wan Ulohnanne, and Redrock Stories, to name a few. Recent short pieces include; We Cannot Live by Sentiments Alone, The Museum Collaboration Manifesto, Buyer Beware, What I Tell Boys, and Please Don’t Call Me a Warrior.

In 2010 while serving as the director of the A:shiwi A:wan Museum Jim was awarded the first Ames Prize for Innovative Museum Anthropology during the American Anthropological Association’s annual conference. In 2013 he received the Guardian of Culture and Lifeways Award from the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums, and in 2016 received the Hewett Award for leadership and service to the New Mexico museum community and for achievements in the museum field.

In his role as CEO of Colorado Plateau Foundation, Jim plans, directs, and evaluates the foundation’s program of grantmaking, fundraising, development, and fund investment in addition to managing staff, overseeing operations, and working with the CPF board of directors. As a fundraiser and educator to the philanthropic community, Jim connects, engages and leverages funding to support regional issues on the Colorado Plateau.

Jim lives in his hometown Zuni, New Mexico.