Manja has joined the Climate Strategies and Policies Team as Climate Change, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Specialist. She will support scaling up and enhancing the work on Indigenous Peoples and local communities in climate action at the regional and HQ levels, to deliver an inclusive approach to support NDC implementation.
Manja is an indigenous lawyer belonging to the Kankanaey-Igorot people in the northern part of the Philippines. She used her legal profession to advocate for Indigenous Peoples rights, human rights and the environment at the national, regional and international arena, building on her work with indigenous communities and grassroots organizations. She supported the work of the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and then worked as Global Operations Manager of the Indigenous Peoples Rights International (IPRI). She was active in other international organizations and in global campaigns around the treaty to regulate transnational corporation in international law before joining UNDP.