The Red de Mujeres Rurales de Costa Rica (Costa Rican Rural Women's Network) is an indigenous and rural women's network established in 2007. It acts as a forum for women from rural areas to defend their rights and interests and help find work. These women belong to various other women's or local organisations, or participate as individuals. They often come from families with limited resources, with the majority living off agricultural income from small plots of land.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNeqOmFSnow
The indigenous women who participate in the network come from diverse ethnicities and territories, such as Ngöbes, Bribris, Borucas and Teribe people, and their economic activity is usually related to the land.
The purpose of the network is to strengthen the organisation of rural women, giving them local and national political influence in various areas such as human rights, access to land, protection of biodiversity, defending the right to water, employment diversification, and the development of agro-ecological production capacity.
This includes lobbying, protest, legal aid, reporting, production strengthening, workshop, forums, public action and support work. Key collective activities include rural and indigenous community workshops, regional and national meetings.
One of the organisation's major achievements has been the participation of the women themselves as subjects of their rights. Specific material projects have included the construction and equipping of two bakeries. The network sees the key to it's work is to recognising rights in order for the women to develop their own lives.
The network maintains permanent relations with the Colective Tinamaste, which facilitates joint activities and trainingworkshops and provides voluntary support.
The network has relations with other organisations and media channels, such as the Palabra de Mujer (Word of Women) programme of the UCR channel of the University of Costa Rica.
https://vimeo.com/95690841
Learn more about the network on Voces Nuestras.
