Ligia Alencastre Medrano, is a Peruvian activist, self-identified as Mestiza and bilingual (Spanish and Quechua), committed to the eradicate gender-based violence in Peru via a “reflecting, feeling and taking action” approach. Ligia holds a degree in Anthropology with post graduate studies in interculturality and psychology.
Ligia is a strong advocate and defender of the rights of Andean-Quechuan and Amazonian women, particularly from southern Peru. She is a member of a regional network that brings together women from these backgrounds, who share common values but also have differences in perspectives and background. They all work for the promotion of women rights via advocacy.
Most of Ligia’s life has been dedicated to community-based education programmes, seeing education as liberation within the Pablo Freire approach. Ligia’s work also focuses on participatory action research and accompaniment of women-centred self-help groups (particularly Andean-Quechuan), who have been affected by gender-based violence and who are working to recover from trauma, while strengthening their autonomy and self-determination.