Luis Guillermo, a member of the Arhuaco People, one of the four Indigenous Peoples in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Mountain range, has been elected as the new President of the ICCA Consortium
First published on 07/24/2024
By ICCA Consortium
We are delighted to share that our 20th General Assembly, held recently, has elected Luis Guillermo Izquierdo Mora as the President of the ICCA Consortium’s Council. The General Assembly confirmed his election during its fourth session, held online on 27 June 2024.
He belongs to the Arhuaco People, one of the four Indigenous Peoples in Colombia’s Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Mountain range. He has been actively involved in the ICCA Network in Colombia (Red TICCA Colombia) since its establishment in 2018. His leadership and commitment have been instrumental in Red TICCA Colombia’s growth, which now includes 32 Indigenous, Black, and Peasant organizations and several partner organizations. Since then, he has been actively engaged as a member of its Coordinating Committee.
Luis Guillermo’s journey to the global Council presidency is a testament to his leadership and the Consortium’s members’ trust in him.
Luis was elected president of the regional Council in Latin America during the regional assembly in January 2023. Four months later, as per the consensus of the regional membership, he was nominated and formally elected during the 19th General Assembly as regional representative for Latin America in the ICCA Consortium’s global Council.
During his mandate in the regional and global Councils, Luis Guillermo has contributed renewed energy as a Council member to the regionalization and organizational change processes that the Consortium has been undertaking for some time now. He has received strong support, advice, and spiritual guidance from the wise men of his culture, the Arhuaco People mamos (spiritual leaders) of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Mountain range. In his own words, this is a precious resource as they are the true ancestral authorities of the territory.
Luis Guillermo is the third president of the ICCA Consortium. He succeeds Theodoro (Teddy) Baguilat Jr, elected for his first term in 2018 at the 13th General Assembly in Ethiopia, and Taghi Farvar, beloved co-founder of the Consortium, who passed away in July 2018.
Per our Consortium’s Governance Procedures, the President is the chair of the Council, the second-highest governance body after the General Assembly, and the Executive Committee within it. The Executive Committee is a standing body of the Council and is mandated by the Council to take responsibility for regular oversight and guidance of all aspects of the Association’s operations in close collaboration with the Secretariat.
Under the leadership of the President, the Executive Committee has the following responsibilities in addition to the regular responsibilities of the Council as a whole:
- Supervise the compliance and respect of all applicable legislation and rules of associations in Switzerland;
- Review and advise upon all institutional partnerships of the Consortium and approve relevant agreements and organizational commitments;
- Take necessary decisions and support the Secretariat to ensure operational continuity in between meetings of the General Assembly and meetings of the Council;
- Provide inputs to and consider preliminarily approving strategic plans and annual action plans, budgets, and reports before their submission to the Council and/or General Assembly; and
- Provide inputs to draft organizational policies and procedures before their submission to the Council and/or General Assembly.
Each position in the Council has a three-year term. For more information about the ICCA Consortium’s global Council, please refer to Section 2 of the Governance Procedures.
Luis Guillermo arrives at a pivotal moment in the Consortium’s history, with many ongoing changes and challenges for the future. Among them are the continuing organizational change process and the leadership transition underway in the Council and the Secretariat.
The ICCA Consortium welcomes Luis Guillermo and looks forward to a new, robust, committed leadership period.
