The laureates
Description
A Salvadoran activist since the age of 18, Virginia Roque Aguilar has fought to protect water resources and oppose a construction project that threatens the indigenous territory of Tacushcalco in the western part of her country.. Analysant les problèmes du changement climatique d’un point de vue féministe, elle s’est fortement impliquée dans la lutte pour l’accès à l’eau en militant pour l’inscription de ce droit dans la Constitution salvadorienne. In 2020, she was part of the team responsible for promoting the Escazú Agreement, a regional agreement aimed at ensuring public access to information, citizen participation, and access to justice in environmental matters—an agreement that El Salvador ultimately did not sign. Since 2021, she has served on the board of directors of Rescate al Medio Ambiente (RAMA).
Virginia Roque Aguilar interview - 02/24/23
Can you introduce yourself ?
My name is Virginia Roque. I’m from El Salvador, I’m 25 years old, and I’ve been an environmental activist since I was 18. I fight for the right to access water and for water quality and sanitation in El Salvador, because these rights are not enshrined in my country’s Constitution. I am also an ecofeminist and work on social justice projects while maintaining a gender perspective.The Marianne Initiative can be very useful to us, as it can help us build a network and secure funding, but also—for me, as an individual—to develop my skills and get to know other human rights defenders. It’s a great opportunity for me because I want to meet people who are doing the same work as me but in different ways, based on different realities and coming from different countries.
What do you expect from the Marianne Initiative in terms of strengthening your project?
I hope this program will serve as a platform for security, opportunities, and learning for me and the other recipients. I hope we can develop our skills and forge our own path—not only for our project but also for ourselves, for our own personal growth. I want to return to El Salvador with all this knowledge and share it with my colleagues and friends who are doing the same work as me as environmental activists. I hope this initiative won’t be the last and that it will take place every year, regardless of who is in power in France. When we return to our country, our reality will still be there, and I hope this program will make me stronger, smarter, and give me more resources to develop my project.Being at Sciences Po is an incredible opportunity; I don’t know how to describe how I feel—being at Sciences Po is like a dream come true for me. This program is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and as a human rights advocate, I must seize it and share it with others.
Which activities have been most helpful to you since the program began?
The courses at Sciences Po are very helpful to me, especially the one on water desalination and the one on women in international affairs, because they’re really relevant to what I do and the professors are very engaged in their classes.However, I’d like to learn how to carry out a project in a more hands-on way, because I already have some theoretical knowledge on the subject, but I don’t know how to apply it in practice. The French classes are also very enriching, of course—we have two classes a week. I’d like to be able to learn faster, but I’m doing my best.
What future activities do you think will be most beneficial to you?
The SOS Group and I would like to organize a conference on Latin American and European feminism. We want to invite women who work in the field of ecofeminism and women from Latin America who can share their experiences. I also think that networking with NGOs could be very helpful for me.
Would you like to add anything else ?
Thank you again for this opportunity; I’m learning a lot, and the other recipients and I make a great team. I hope the Marianne Initiative can help some of them overcome their psychological issues, as the situation in their country is taking a heavy toll on them. The psychological and social support provided through the Marianne Initiative will be very helpful to us and will help us feel less alone.
