Myrna Kay Cunningham Kain

Myrna Kay Cunningham Kain, of the indigenous Miskito community of Waspam, is a teacher and physician. She has been working for over two decades to advance the rights of indigenous women and knowledge on indigenous peoples and the impacts of climate change. She served as FAO Special Ambassador for the International Year of Family Farming, adviser to the President of the UN World Conference of Indigenous People, and on boards of the Global Fund for Women, Permanent UN Forum on Indigenous Issues, the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID), and The Hunger Project. She is currently Chairperson of the Center for Autonomy and Development of Indigenous People (CADPI) and Vice President of the board of the Latin American and Caribbean Indigenous People Development Fund. Ms. Cunningham was the founding Chancellor of the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Nicaraguan Caribbean Coast (URACCAN), one of the first Latin American institutions for indigenous, intercultural, and gender-sensitive higher education. She has been honored with an Award of Woman Distinction from MADRE and the first American Award for Human Rights and Culture of Peace.