Abya Yala Nexus, Resource Network for the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas

Welcome to

Abya Yala Nexus

Resource Network for the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas

The mission of Abya Yala Nexus is to strengthen the self-reliance of the original nations of Abya Yala - from an indigenous perspective and through our own models - by supporting Indigenous Peoples' priorities, initiatives and processes. Through networking and researching resources, AYN helps channel volunteers, information, training, grants and technical assistance to Indigenous communities and organizations of North, Central and South America in support of self-development projects that originate in and are controlled by Indigenous nations, communities and organizations.

Our History

The Abya Yala Nexus, named after a Kuna word for continental life, is a continuation of the Abya Yala Fund and the earlier South and Meso-American Indian Information Center. SAIIC was founded in in 1983 in Oakland, California by Indigenous people residing in the San Francisco Bay area and their allies (some of then the University of California, Berkeley) for the purpose of linking the Indigenous People of the Americas. This organization published the journal "Abya Yala News"and "Noticias de Abya Yala", which presented articles and news from Indigenous Peoples' perspective.

The next iteration, the Abya Yala Fund, was comprised of South and Central American and Mexican Indigenous people and was well known for its dedication to helping grassroots Indigenous organizations find support for self-development projects and its work on autonomy issues.
Our most recent transformation, as the Abya Yala Nexus, aims to meet Indigenous People's current needs for analysis and news from an indigenous perspective and responds to the global level of the problems and issues facing Indigenous Peoples.

Abya Yala is now being reshaped as a network of connections and exchanges between Indigenous people, communities, organizations, and allied scholars, human rights organizations and activist in support of the struggle for autonomy and self-determination and their human rights.