90. Flipping the Model: Innovating to Center Indigenous Wisdom in Guatemala

Natün Guatemala is a majority Maya-led organization passionate about elevating Indigenous leadership, rights and capacity. They equip local change agents and use existing local resources to effectively and sustainably build healthy, vibrant Maya communities. Natün has been through a period of intense transition in the last few years, moving from a problematic model of external intervention, hand-outs, and short-term thinking, to embody a locally-led, long-term systemic change model which centers Indigenous culture and expertise. Along the way, they have failed, learned, evolved, and ultimately stepped into doing impactful development work.Our speaker, Elena Wason, has been Natün Guatemala’s Executive Director since 2023, after having worked in leadership in the organization for four years.Prior to leading Natün, Elena served as Programs Director and Strategy and Operations Director in nonprofits in Guatemala, spent two years working on the ground in Honduras as a Field Facilitator, as well as multiple years in the UK’s non-profit sector and think tanks in roles ranging from fundraising to policy. Elena holds a Masters’ degree in Governance, Development and Public Policy from the Institute of Development Studies as part of the University of Sussex. She has published a book and numerous articles about the development struggles faced by communities in Central America.They post regular updates on our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn pages, where you can find out how to get involved:https://www.facebook.com/gtnatun https://www.instagram.com/natunguatemala/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/natunguatemala