Between October 24 and 26th, Lake Atitlán in Guatemala was the site of the annual meeting and second in-person meeting held this year of the IM-Defensoras Driving Group. The focus of the meeting attended by 18 comrades was the continuation of the process of strengthening national networks, groups, and new members in this IMD space for making strategic political decisions.

Participants also devoted time to analyzing the regional context and identifying certain ongoing patterns in all countries, such as the rise in repressive policies, criminalization, presence of fundamentalist religious groups, and the impact of this situation on women, movements and defenders.

Furthermore, the basis was laid for discussing a system of planning, follow-up, evaluation and learning contained in the 2018-2021 Strategic Plan; an assessment and evaluation was made of IM-Defensoras’ new structure; and an evaluation of the 7 main work strategies was conducted.

It is important to note that during the three days of the meeting, several spaces for self care or collective care were opened. These were oriented towards problems such as stress or extreme fatigue that afflict many sisters, and towards facilitating stronger cohesion in the group.