grantees » Guadalupe de Jesús González Arciniega

This grantee is still in the process of their leadership development with the JWH initiative.

Guadalupe is an impressively passionate and extremely intelligent young woman working to advance environmental education in the area of the San Pedro River Basin in Mexico. She began her efforts in environmental advocacy while working for the organization Pro-Regiones, where she formed part of the research project “The Social Regions in the 21st Century”. She coordinated the research team, participated as the Environmental Education instructor, and was responsible for the commercial projects throughout the region. Her five years of work and experience in multi-disciplinary groups has allowed her to understand that environmental and social practices, along with policies, often paralyze the development and growth of communities. To combat this in the San Pedro River Basin and Marismas Nacionales regions of Mexico, diverse strategies of intervention, along with strong young leaders like Guadalupe, are needed.

Guadalupe has shown she has a calling for and great dedication to community work, in offerings tools that help motivate community organization and participation in coastal areas. Her honesty and humility allow her to continuously learn from others and from her own mistakes. Her good nature has made it possible for her to overcome difficult moments during her work, and her loyalty to her work group is unbreakable.

Guadalupe has utilized her JWH Initiative grant to work towards a Master’s in Environmental Education at the Center for Biological and Agricultural Sciences at the Autonomous University of Guadalajara. In her work at the university, Guadalupe is developing her theory that “indigenous communities have interesting elements that can contribute to environmental education on different forms of relationship between society and nature”. Upon reflection of her educational experience thus far, Guadalupe says: “the environmental education got deep into my skin, my thoughts, it changed deeply my inner structures and now I am more aware of my role in the world. I try to look from a global to a local view and back.”

She also took two courses in English language (to better read about sustainability and environmental issues in academic journals, and to be able to share her own experiences in the environmental field), and one course in the Náayerij language (to be able to communicate with local native cultures and better create an atmosphere of trust while she performs her field work in their communities).

Guadalupe plans to continue her work with the JWH Initiative grant in finishing the last semesters of the Master’s program in Environmental Education, as well as completing more English and Náayerij language classes. She hopes the encouragement she has received from the JWH Initiative will propagate to the communities with which she works, inspiring them to believe in themselves and their own capabilities.