The Institute Runyn Pupykary Yawanawá (IRPY) is a non-profit Indigenous-led civil association founded through the collaboration of the Apurinã and Yawanawá peoples. Established in honor of Runymá, a young visionary of both peoples, the Institute is led by Leticia Yawanawá and Antonio Apurinã and is dedicated to strengthening Indigenous wellbeing, self-determination, and the relationships that sustain life.

At the heart of IRPY’s mission is the leadership of Indigenous women and the recognition that Indigenous territories are living communities of relationships among humans and more-than-human beings. Guided by ancestral wisdom—the knowledge, practices, relationships, and ways of being carried across generations and through relations with our ancestors and the living world—the Institute works to protect biocultural heritage, Indigenous and more-than-human rights, ancestral knowledge, traditional medicines, spiritual practices, and relational ways of being. Particular emphasis is placed on strengthening women as knowledge holders, healers, caregivers, leaders, and defenders of their peoples and territories, while creating opportunities for younger generations to learn, participate, and carry these relationships forward.

Through Indigenous-led ecological initiatives, cultural strengthening, and sustainable livelihoods, IRPY seeks to nurture reciprocity between human beings, forests, waters, plants, animals, spiritual beings, and ancestral territories. Its work recognizes that safeguarding Indigenous futures means protecting ancestral intelligence and caring for the wider community of life upon which those futures depend.