About Valdecir Nascimento

Valdecir Nascimento is the Founder of Odara—Instituto da Mulher Negra. She currently serves as the Fundraising and Political Liaison Coordinator of the Institute. She also coordinates the Rede de Mulheres Negras do Nordeste do Brasil (Black Women’s Network for the Northeast of Brazil) and was one of the organizers of the 1st Marcha de Mulheres Negras (Black Women’s March), which took place in 2015. She graduated with a degree in history from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) and has a Master’s in Education from the State University of Bahia (UNEB). She has been a prominent women’s rights advocate for over 40 years. 

Born on October 31, 1959, Valdecir Nascimento is a product of Alagados, the first stilt-house settlement in Latin America, located in Salvador. While still very young, around the age of 20, she found in the Black movement a space for insubordination and collective organization to transform reality. Her trajectory is marked by dedication to Black and Black women's movements, and by the courage with which she challenges the violent structures imposed by racism and sexism.

In 1981, she was one of the founders of the Women's Group of the Movimento Negro Unificado (MNU) (Unified Black Movement) In 1992, in the Dominican Republic, she participated in the meeting that resulted in the creation of July 25th as the International Day of Afro-Latin American, Afro-Caribbean and Diaspora Women.

In 2010, she founded Odara–Instituto da Mulher Negra, an organization responsible for the creation of Julho das Pretas (July of Black Women), one of the largest political agendas in Brazil. Currently, she is part of the coordination of the Articulação de Organizações de Mulheres Negras Brasileiras (AMNB) (Articulation of Organizations of Black Brazilian Women) and is the coordinator of the Brazilian sub-region of Rede de Mulheres Afrolatinoamericanas, Afrocaribenhas e da Diáspora (Network of Afro-Latin American, Afro-Caribbean and Diaspora Women).