WEA’s 2025 Mexico Collaboratory: Women Leaders Flourishing, Rooted in the Land
"2024 was a seed year, where we planted trust and relationships. Now, together, we have taken root. Our little seed has grown, and 2025 will be the time to decide where we want to direct our nutrients, and what leaves we want to sprout. We want our projects to strengthen from the land, with our voices, our own hands, and in collaboration with other collectives that also fight and dream."
— Lilia Heber Perez, Leader of Organización de Mujeres Ayuujk Poj Kää
In the heart of Veracruz’s misty cloud forests—one of the last ecosystems of its kind in the region—a collective of women leaders gathered, not only to reflect on their past successes but to shape the future of their communities and ecosystems.
From March 12-17, 2025, the Women’s Earth Alliance (WEA) Mexico Collaboratory was held in Huatusco, Veracruz. A collaboratory is a quintessential WEA training program that weaves a network of grassroots women leaders to share skills and knowledge through collaborative learning and co-creation. This gathering space brought together 25 women leaders from WEA’s six Mexico Program Leads at Las Cañadas—a center for agroecology, permaculture, and sustainable living—where the land served as guide, teacher, and mirror.
During the event, the group came together to celebrate the achievements over the last year, including:
- 3,211 hectares of kelp forests and coral reefs monitored and protected, ensuring the resilience of marine ecosystems and preserving biodiversity.
- 306 hectares of cloud forest preserved, ensuring the health of critical ecosystems and protecting biodiversity for generations to come.
- 33 hectares of agroecological systems established in Mexico City, Morelos, and other regions, enhancing food sovereignty, resilience, and long-term sustainability for local communities.
- 1,652 people trained in sustainable environmental solutions, including agroecological practices, eco-entrepreneurship, rainwater harvesting, and ocean monitoring—equipping them with the skills to drive a more sustainable and just future.
- A tilapia farming initiative launched to promote financial autonomy for Afro-Mexican fisherwomen in Guerrero—empowering them with sustainable income opportunities and economic resilience.
- $150,000 in initial funding distributed, directly impacting 843 women and girls, and providing resources needed to strengthen their economic resilience.
Aside from these incredible achievements, the leaders reflected on the holistic transformations and deep-rooted changes that have taken place within their first year of the program. Strengthening their belief in the power of women’s leadership has encouraged leaders to crystallize many of the systems that generations of women have been cultivating for decades: consolidating agroecological processes, systematizing medicinal and educational knowledge, and developing communication strategies from Afro-descendant and Indigenous perspectives. As these transformations were being realized, the Collaboratory at Las Cañadas became a place where knowledge and action met in the soil of Veracruz, furthering these women’s ability to implement change on the ground.
The choice of Las Cañadas as the fertile soil and gathering place for this Collaboratory was no coincidence. Its extensive experience in regenerative agriculture, food forests, and eco-technologies—such as dry toilets and rainwater harvesting systems—provided us with an ideal space for hands-on learning and knowledge exchange. Activities were designed as spaces for collective construction, ranging from agroecological skills training and participatory workshops, to dialogue circles, and moments of collective memory-making.
Leaders from WEA's Mexico Program Lead Poj Kää, came to the Collaboratory with one shared goal: to improve the systems that bring water to their communities. After participating in workshops at Las Cañadas, they now return to their communities equipped with the practical knowledge to install rainwater harvesting systems with greater precision. This newfound expertise will allow them to address water scarcity with more effective solutions, ultimately supporting the long-term resilience of their communities in drought-prone areas.
Similarly, Mujeres de la Tierra—dedicated to building an ecological school in their community—spent time learning biointensive gardening techniques, as well as how to manage eco-technologies like dry toilets. The hands-on learning experience at Las Cañadas gave them the tools they need to take these sustainable practices back to their school, teaching the next generation the importance of living in balance with the land. By incorporating these practices, they are not only building a sustainable future for their students but also nurturing their community’s connection to the land through knowledge-sharing and hands-on engagement.
Each Program Lead received specialized training to strengthen their projects while also sharing their own knowledge to enrich the work of everyone involved. Together, we are weaving a network of mutual support, where learning and collaboration drive the growth and continuity of our programs in Mexico. What was learned in this space not only empowers those who participated but will also have a direct impact on the transformations and projects they are implementing in their communities. Just like the first raindrops in a rainwater tank, the skills and knowledge of each woman leader create ripples that spread across the network—each one touching and amplifying the others in a deeply mutualistic relationship.
Throughout these exchanges, a shared vision was reaffirmed: to sustain self-managed processes that nurture networks of women leaders, localized knowledge, and systems of exchange. The importance of building a collective platform—a network of organizations, educational tools, and narratives reflecting diverse voices and contexts—was emphasized.
As the event came to a close, clear pathways for collaboration in 2025 were outlined: strengthening food sovereignty, water justice, and the management and monitoring of Mexico’s seas; advancing women’s eco-entrepreneurship through a collective brand; structuring market access via barter networks across regions; and amplifying territorial realities through self-managed storytelling tools. Much like the mycelial networks beneath the forest floor, the work of women leaders—nourished by the fertile ground of the collaboratory—spreads quietly yet profoundly, weaving deep, interconnected roots of transformation that will continue to flourish across Mexico for years to come.
The Collaboratory left a powerful message: Women’s land stewardship is not a promise for the future—it is a present force for transformation. From agroecology to water sovereignty, from citizen science to the milpa farming system, these initiatives do more than resist environmental and social collapse; they transform systems from within - with leadership, wisdom, strategy, and vision.
This is the moment. Women leaders in Mexico have long been ready—and today, they are more connected than ever. It’s time to invest in solutions that work. It’s time to bet on what fosters life. Because when women thrive, the Earth thrives.
Written by: Mirna Borrego, WEA Programs Storytelling & Communications Intern