Jhanisse Vaca Daza is President of the Jucumari Foundation, a nonprofit focused on humanitarian and environmental efforts across Latin America, as well as leader and co-founder of Ríos de Pie, a nonviolence citizens movement focused on human and environmental rights in Bolivia. She is also Senior Programs Officer at the Human Rights Foundation and member of the Leadership Council of the World Liberty Congress. Her work focuses on nonviolence as a technique of mass mobilization for social & environmental change, with a focus on nonviolence theory as taught by Martin Luther King Jr, Mohandas K. Gandhi & Gene Sharp.  

Jhanisse began teaching nonviolence in Bolivia at the age of 23, which later led to the creation of Ríos de Pie (Standing Rivers in English). Standing Rivers played a key role driving humanitarian efforts during the Amazon fires crisis from 2019 to date, and continues working with firefighter groups, indigenous leaders and park rangers in Bolivia to protect forests. At the same time, members of Standing Rivers continue to educate thousands of Bolivians in nonviolence resistance which has been deployed to protest the government at the state and local level. 

Jhanisse obtained her honors bachelor’s degree at Kent State University, where she studied International Relations thanks to scholarships. She then completed the Nonviolent Movement Leadership for Social Progress and Leadership in Crisis executive programs at Harvard Kennedy School. She has received recognitions such as the 2023 Sákharov Fellowship from the European Parliament, and Peace Ambassador by One Young World and the European Commission in 2021.