This is Nasly Lucumí Díaz, a graduate in Ethnoeducation from Unicauca, who has recently been appointed as the new Secretary of Women for the department of Cauca. This important appointment marks a significant advance in the fight for gender equality and the promotion of women's rights in the department.

Nasly Lucumí Díaz is a graduate in Ethnoeducation and a lawyer, with a specialization in constitutional law and a master's degree in intercultural studies. She has distinguished herself as an educator and human rights advocate. Her career has been marked by a solid commitment to strengthening Afro-Colombian ethnic identity, evidenced by her roles as Family Commissioner in the municipalities of Buenos Aires and Suárez, Municipal Ombudsman in Suárez, National Human Rights Consultant at the United Nations, and Advisor at the Administrative Department of the Presidency (DAPRE).

Leading the Secretary of Women’s Office in a department as diverse as ours represents a challenge for me as a woman from Cauca. I believe that the path to including women from all perspectives is conditioned by various cultural, territorial, and even economic contexts, which challenge needs for reflection, new narratives, accelerated justice actions, strategic planning, reconciliation, resource allocation, transformation, and coordination of many public and private institutional actors. This is necessary to materialize concrete actions that guarantee rights for women who demand recognition, services, participation, special and different attention, inclusion, and equity in the department,” stated our graduate Nasly. From this supportive and committed university, we highlight this professional woman who possesses many qualities to perform this role, and we offer our knowledge generation capacity to closely collaborate with the Secretary of Women’s Office.

Our goal is to establish interinstitutional alliances that will enable us to effectively address the issues faced by women in the department, including gender-based violence, the wage gap, and the lack of representation in decision-making spaces; aspirations that align with Nasly’s goals. “I hope that we tackle these many challenges and obstacles on the path to gender equality and women’s rights through a great collaboration among many local, departmental, national, and international actors, for the dignity of women in Cauca. We are ready to work now on the coordination and promotion of concrete initiatives and the agendas of women who are contributing and working to make Cauca a resilient and peaceful department.

The University of Cauca celebrates this achievement of one of its alumni and reaffirms its commitment to the training of leaders who promote social change. The institution is proud to have graduates like Nasly Lucumí Díaz, who become agents of change and sources of inspiration for future generations.

This appointment not only represents a step forward for women in Cauca but also reinforces the mission of the University of Cauca to contribute to the social and cultural development of the region and the country. The Unicauca community congratulates Nasly Lucumí Díaz and wishes her much success in her role