“When my 14-year-old daughter says, “Mom, one day I want to be like you,”
I know that every struggle has been worthwhile.”
Lida Medina
Lida founded AMITLI to create economic opportunity for local women, building a space for mutual support, recognition, and the transmission of knowledge to future generations.
Lida Medina is an Indigenous entrepreneur from Vaupés, Colombia. For years, she and the women of her territory occupied a secondary place in community life, with most of their roles centred on domestic work and limited participation in public spaces. Although they occasionally participated in development projects, those initiatives rarely addressed their real needs. As Lida recalls: “The projects came with predetermined objectives and activities, without asking us what we needed, without identifying the needs we have as Indigenous women.” When the projects ended, nothing had truly changed.
Eventually, Lida realized that solutions would not come from outside, they would have to come from within. The turning point came when, at the end of a project, equipment and tools were left behind with no clear plan for how they would be used, and people began taking pieces home. Lida refused to let everything disintegrate. Instead, she proposed something radically different: that local women come together, form an association, and take ownership of their futures. That decision changed her life, and the life of her community.
This is how AMITLI was born — a women’s association dedicated to producing fariña (cassava flour) and other local food, as well as offering culinary services rooted in Amazonian cuisine. “We started with seven women and one basic need: to create job opportunity for ourselves,” Lida explains.
“We started with seven women and one basic need: to create job opportunity for ourselves.”
Over time, she and her partners began keeping detailed records of their operations, managing their own bank accounts and documentation, applying for certifications, and registering the association with the Chamber of Commerce. This set the foundation for growth. Their work soon extended beyond generating income for themselves: they began coordinating with neighbouring producers and families, strengthening the local economy, and contributing to the revival of traditional practices such as “chagra” — a traditional form of farming that promotes biodiversity and looks after the forest.
Alongside the economic and environmental impact, a deeper transformation was taking place. AMITLI became not only a driver of local production but also a powerful space for women’s leadership — a place where women could exercise autonomy, hold decision-making positions, and become agents of community transformation. Gender-sensitive training workshops, including those organized by the Regional Indigenous Incubator for the Amazon, played a key role in strengthening the capacities of rural Indigenous women who often face recurring barriers to access opportunity.
The journey was not free of challenges. Some community sectors criticized the women, accusing them of wanting to “abandon their husbands.” Yet today, when Lida hears her 14-year-old daughter say, “Mom, one day I want to be like you,” she feels that every struggle has been worthwhile. For this young girl, her role model is an Indigenous leader who travels, speaks for her community, runs an organization, and takes charge of her own time, work, and life.
Members of AMITLI
There is a striking fact about AMITLI: of the association’s 30 members, one is a man. When Lida is asked why a women-led organization has a male member, her response is simple: “He thinks like us, he feels like us. If he wants to work with us, that’s fine. We aren’t going to exclude him simply because he’s a man. If he thinks and feels the same, he is welcome.” AMITLI is not a restrictive space; it is an environment for growth open to anyone who believes in equity and recognizes the contribution of women to the community’s well-being and the care of the Amazon.
“I want Indigenous women, young women and girls, to believe in themselves. Life is not easy, but it’s not impossible for us to start our own ventures and support ourselves.”
Learn more about the women behind AMITLI and their work to pass on their skills and knowledge to the next generation:
