Edwin Álvarez

Edwin Álvarez is a prominent community leader, educator, communicator, and human rights defender, with more than 20 years of experience in promoting social justice, rights of Afro-descendant and indigenous communities, and community development. Born in La Ceiba, Honduras, from an early age he showed a firm commitment to community organization, actively participating in various youth associations such as the Youth League and the Honduran Red Cross. Edwin played a crucial role as Vice President of the Community Ethnic Development Organization (ODECO) in Honduras, an institution that fights for the rights of Afro-descendant peoples. For more than two decades, he led educational and awareness programs that promoted the empowerment of his community and generated significant changes in local and regional policies. His commitment to social justice led him to join the Central American Black Organization (CABO/ONECA), where he has collaborated in community projects and directed the First Training School for Afro-descendant Leaders in Human Rights in the Americas. Through this school, Edwin trained a new generation of Afro-descendant leaders, who today work for the rights of their communities throughout Latin America. Edwin has also worked as a professor at the Regional Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolent Strategic Action and at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO). Additionally, he has served as an international consultant, mentor, and advisor on human rights and international cooperation issues. Upon arriving in New York, he joined Hondureños Contra el SIDA/Casa Yurumein, where he is currently Vice President