By Bryan Ludeña
From the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance, we extend our congratulations and recognition to the new Governing Council of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE), which is beginning a new period of leadership and organization for the Indigenous Peoples and nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
We congratulate Efrén Nango, from the Shiwiar people of Pastaza, who assumes the Presidency of CONFENIAE, as well as all the women and men leaders who make up this new Governing Council for the 2026–2030 term.
The new leadership team is composed of:
- President: Efrén Nango — Shiwiar, Pastaza
- Vice President: Gladys Shiguango — Kichwa, Napo
- Dirigente de Territorio: Juan Carlos Ruiz — Sapara, Pastaza
- Education Coordinator: Jhony Yumbo — Kichwa, Orellana
- Economy Coordinator: Esthela Noteno — Kichwa, Sucumbíos
- Women and Family Coordinator: Carmen Amaguaya — Andwoa, Pastaza
- Health and Nutrition Coordinator: Noemí Tapuy — Kichwa, Orellana
- Youth and Sports Coordinator: Wakemo Huamoni — Waorani, Pastaza
- Communications Coordinator: Carla Medrano — Siona, Sucumbíos
Two EVA graduates take on leadership responsibilities within CONFENIAE
For our Alliance, this new chapter for CONFENIAE holds special significance.
Jhony Yumbo, the new Education Coordinator, and Carla Medrano, the new Communications Coordinator, are graduates of EVA – Escuela Viva de la Amazonía (Living School of the Amazon), a training process that we support to strengthen the skills, knowledge, and leadership of Indigenous youth committed to their territories and organizations.
Seeing two EVA graduates now assume responsibilities within CONFENIAE’s Governing Council is, for us, a tangible example of the importance of investing in training processes that emerge from the Amazon and respond to the realities of its peoples and territories.
Through the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance and EVA – Escuela Viva de la Amazonía, we seek to ensure that the knowledge and skills gained through these learning processes do not remain only within training spaces, but return to communities, territories, and organizations, becoming tools to strengthen governance, communication, education, and the defense of life.
The new responsibilities assumed by Jhony Yumbo and Carla Medrano reflect precisely this pathway: learning in order to return to the territory, strengthen organizations, and place knowledge at the service of Amazonian Peoples.
Training to strengthen Indigenous governance in the Amazon
For our Alliance, supporting new generations of Indigenous leaders is a fundamental part of strengthening territorial governance.
We believe in educational processes that bring together ancestral and traditional knowledge, memory, identity, contemporary tools, and territorial experiences—processes capable of strengthening the skills of those who will later assume responsibilities within their communities, organizations, and representative spaces.
A new chapter for CONFENIAE
The renewal of CONFENIAE’s leadership marks the beginning of a new organizational chapter for the Indigenous nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
We recognize the responsibility assumed by this Governing Council to continue strengthening unity, the defense of territories, collective rights, self-determination, the participation of women and youth, and proposals built directly from the communities.
From our Alliance, we will continue promoting dialogue and collaboration with Amazonian Indigenous organizations, supporting processes related to Indigenous governance, territorial protection, economies for life, food sovereignty, the development of new generations of leaders, and the building of a living Amazon.
We congratulate each of the leaders beginning this new responsibility and wish them a term guided by commitment to their peoples, territories, and future generations.
From our Alliance, we celebrate this new chapter and reaffirm our commitment to continue supporting processes that strengthen leadership, autonomy, and life throughout the Amazon.