Lydia Alpízar Durán is the former Executive Director (ED) of AWID. She is a Costa Rican feminist activist who lives in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She has been AWID’s ED since 2007, and was the manager of the Where is the Money for Women’s Rights and Building Feminist Movements and Organizations Strategic Initiatives of AWID from 2003-2006. Lydia is co-founder and advisor of ELIGE – Youth Network for Reproductive and Sexual Rights (Mexico), and co-founder of the Latin American and Caribbean Youth Network for Reproductive and Sexual Rights. She is on the Board of Directors for the Global Fund for Women and the Central American Women’s Fund and is a member of the International Council on Human Rights Policy. She is also a graduate of the Human Rights Advocacy Training Program at the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University in New York. Lydia has extensive experience in advocacy and training on women’s human rights, particularly in sexual and reproductive rights and violence against women.