
Fund Non-Profit Fighting for Indigenous Rights
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Hi, my name is Fatima Valdivia. I am the Executive Director of Cecaddhi and looking to keep the organization that I lead open to continue serving the Raraumari indigenous community in Northern Mexico. I am an anthropologist and lawyer by training. I received my PhD at the Teresa Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies (LLILAS) at The University of Texas at Austin. I have worked in this region for 14 years fighting to protect the rights of the indigenous communities in this area. I am looking to fundraise enough money to continue paying the staff a living wage while we secure additional funds from foundations.
Cecaddhi is a nonprofit organization located in the Tarahumara mountains in Northern Mexico and staffed by five women, some who are indigenous from the communities we serve. We work for the self-determination of indigenous Rarámuri people and the defense of their territories and rights. With an intersectional perspective, we also work for the active inclusion and political participation of women and youth in our region and eradicating racism against indigenous people in Mexico. Our methodologies are based on popular education and community collaboration. Part of our team belongs to the indigenous communities we work with; in this way, we ensure that the communities we work with are not our beneficiaries but our partners.
We have four areas of work:
- Providing free legal defense of indigenous territories,
- Conducting activist research,
- Supporting the advancement of the gender and care agenda for indigenous women defenders, and
- Designing and implementing training programs focused on analyzing, questioning, and transforming the logic of racism, and strengthening the systems of organization and learning of indigenous peoples, prioritizing the full and equal participation of women and youth.
How can you help us?
In the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, most of our funding has focused on addressing the pandemic's impact on our communities. While this has been important, it has left aside other causes on which the well-being of indigenous populations also depends. The unintended expenses of the pandemic have depleted our budget almost completely, and we are looking to diversify our financial sources.
We have 3 months to raise the necessary funds to continue our work in 2024 and keep the doors of Cecaddhi open. Your monetary contribution will help us carry out the following projects:
- The legal defense of the territory of the Rarámuri community of Ojo de Buey.
- A security protocol for indigenous women defenders of that territory.
- Conclude and publish the gender study elaborated by women defenders in Ojo de Buey.
- A video documentary on the first 10 Rarámuri women in authority in their community.
- A traveling school of indigenous rights for 10 Rarámuri communities.
- Implement an educational project to create spaces free of racist and gender violence in five schools that serve the indigenous population.
Because we are an organization that pays a living wage and conducts essential work for the community, we also include a breakdown of our operational costs that your donations will help support:
- $1700 pays a person's monthly salary, including benefits.
- $1000 pays a monthly operative expense.
- $700 pays the monthly operating costs of implementing the indigenous rights school in one community.
- $450 pays the costs and logistics of conducting interviews for the documentary.
- $250 pays a work session with the Raramuri women defenders.
We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization incorporated in Mexico. Although we are a “donataria autorizada” (tax-deductible) in Mexico, we are still not incorporated in the United States.
Organizer

Fatima Valdivia
Organizer
Anaheim, CA