By ICCA Consortium
In June 2024, Holly Jonas concluded her role as the Global Coordinator of the ICCA Consortium’s Secretariat. Holly remains an honorary member of the Consortium.
Born and raised in Canada on traditional Anishinaabeg territory, Holly has an interdisciplinary background in public international law, natural and social sciences, nonprofit leadership, and management. An advocate for social and environmental justice, Holly has worked and collaborated with Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, and supporting organizations in many countries around the world, including while living in Tajikistan, South Africa, and Malaysian Borneo.
After meeting the founders in 2008, Holly has been involved with the ICCA Consortium since its formal establishment in 2010. Since then, in various roles, she has contributed to legal and policy advocacy at the local, national, and international levels, and helped strengthen the Consortium and the capacity of the Secretariat to support our members’ self-determined priorities.
She initially joined the Consortium as a representative of the member organization Natural Justice, and as a volunteer supporting members’ engagement in international law and policy fora. She soon transitioned to the role of International Policy Assistant in the newly established Secretariat.
“Holly knows the Consortium very well and cares deeply for its mission and Members. She has been active in nourishing partnerships for the Consortium and developing meaningful directions for our role in global policy arenas. Her generous contributions over the years are widely recognized, as are her sensitive approach, legendary editorial skills, strong work ethic and commitment to fight for the rights and territories of life of indigenous peoples and local communities.”
— Announcement published in 2019
From 2012 to 2019, Holly served as the Consortium’s International Policy Coordinator. In parallel until the end of 2019, Holly worked for several Consortium Members, including Natural Justice (2009-2015), LEAP / Forever Sabah (2014-2019), and the Global Forest Coalition (2015-2019); she also volunteered with PACOS Trust for a decade.
In late 2019, the President and Executive Committee of the ICCA Consortium appointed Holly as the Global Coordinator of the Secretariat, starting in January 2020. She was selected unanimously through an open hiring process conducted by a Search Committee and fully endorsed by the Executive Committee of the Council.
During her tenure as Global Coordinator, the Consortium’s Secretariat underwent a significant transformation. Holly worked closely with Sarah Ryder and others in the Secretariat and Council to recruit and support a global team of professionals with diverse backgrounds. As a result, the Secretariat is now comprised of and led by people with lived experience in territories of life around the world, reflecting the diversity of our membership. In line with our new strategic plan, the responsibilities of the Secretariat are now distributed across diversified roles.
“Holly has been a mentor to many, a friend to me, but most importantly, a fierce ally of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. Taghi, Grazia, along with the other founders, provided the seeds for our movement. It was those who succeeded, led by Holly, who nurtured the ICCA Consortium and made it the strong, viable global network it is today. During her tenure as the Global Coordinator of the Secretariat, Holly provided the backbone of support for the Council of the Consortium, offering invaluable advice on how to fulfill our mandates and build our organization to its current strength.”
— Teodoro Brawner Baguilat Jr.
Former President (2018-2024) of ICCA Consortium
With Holly as the Global Coordinator, the Secretariat contributed to the progress of our association in several key areas, including:
- Significant advances in the regionalization process have been made in several regions, particularly through national, sub-regional, and regional assemblies, thanks to the leadership of several regional coordination teams and regional Council representatives.
- Tangible influence and impact on the negotiations and adopted outcome of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework—thanks to the leadership of Ameyali Ramos and others in the international policy team.
- An ambitious organization-wide process of reflection, revisioning, and planning in 2023, leading to the manifesto for territories of life and the 2024-2028 strategic plan. The Council and the Council of Elders also played significant leadership and advisory roles in both processes.
- Diversification of leadership and strengthening of internal systems, capacities, and operational support in both the Secretariat and the Council.
- A significant increase in financial support, thanks to aligned funding partners, with a particular focus on unrestricted and flexible support. This, in turn, enabled flexible financial support for the regionalization process, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a range of Member-led programmatic priorities determined by national networks, regional coordination teams, and councils.
I had the opportunity to meet Holly in 2022 during the Latin American Regional Assembly in Tárcoles, Costa Rica. [At that time], I was beginning to understand her approach to regionalization as a way to strengthen Indigenous Peoples and communities within the Consortium’s framework. She led the regionalization process with excellent efficiency and dedication, and I can say that [my current position] is a direct result of this process, which is now also taking root across the territories of our membership in different regions. Through this and other efforts, we aim to ensure the direct participation of Indigenous Peoples and other communities in the Consortium’s various spaces and processes, and today this is a reality. [Holly’s] tenacity and intelligence have helped us build a vast network of vital territories, strategic allies, and key collaborators who continue to amplify the voices and proposals of our territories.
— Luis Guillermo Izquierdo
President, ICCA Consortium
In 2024, Holly played a key role in another significant phase of the Secretariat’s transition to more diversified leadership; an active handover process to our current Global Coordinator of the Secretariat, Ali Razmkhah. Holly continued to support the transition process in the second half of 2024, with a focus on fundraising and institutional memory.
We are deeply grateful to Holly Jonas for her dedicated service to the Consortium. While her presence in the Secretariat will be missed, we look forward to her continued engagement in the Consortium as an Honorary member.
