Indigenous leaders meet again
Nobel Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu visited Bolivia in March 2011 as part of a delegation of leaders from indigenous movements in Guatemala and Ecuador. The delegation met with leaders of indigenous organisations in Bolivia.
A critical evaluation five years ago urged Hivos to rethink its way of engaging with the indigenous movement in Latin America. The relationship between indigenous peoples’ organisations and international funding agencies in the Andes was troubled. The changed political context and the accumulation of emancipatory developments within the movement itself called for a change in the donor-recipient relationship.
Horizontal dialogue
In order to move beyond project funding, new spaces of interaction have been set up that allow for a more horizontal dialogue with the movement, leading to a joint research agenda and to the start of a promising international study and exchange project.
In this 'Intercambio Sur-Sur' or 'Encuentro Tri-nacional', members of the movement from Guatemala, Ecuador and Bolivia visit each other's countries for a week-long study trip. Hivos offers logistical and methodological support, but the agenda is decided upon by the participating leaders.
Vivir Bien
The second visit took place in March 2011 in Bolivia. Leaders from
CONIC (Guatemala) and CONAIE (Ecuador) were keen to learn from the visits to two Bolivian communities of CONAMAQ and
CIDOB. Here the concepts of 'Vivir Bien' and 'Autonom' (indigenous self rule) are being implemented after decades of struggle for territory and identity. The complex history of engagement in party politics is another issue that all participants can benefit and learn from. For next year's session in Ecuador, the proliferation of mining and hydrocarbon conflicts in indigenous territories has been put on the agenda.
For more information contact Teyo van der Schoot, Programme Manager Human Rights & Democratisation at
tschoot@hivos.nl or visit the webiste of our
Knowledge Programme.
Photo credit: Flickr/ Surizar
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