Key officials of ELATIA partners in Asia and Africa held a strategic meeting on the capacity building programs for second-generation indigenous leaders implemented in the different indigenous communities during the previous years on December 11-13, 2024 in Baguio City in the Philippines.
The meeting revisited the capacity building programs initiated and implemented by ELATIA partners in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, highlighting the outcomes as well as the challenges met. The capacity building activities conducted included raising awareness on the essential elements of the integrated and holistic approach to Indigenous Peoples’ Sustainable Self-Determined Development (IPSSDD), which is the development framework of ELATIA, and on the rights of Indigenous Peoples including indigenous women’s rights.
There were also training activities focused on accessing and using international human rights law and the human rights mechanisms and on data-gathering for sustainable development and advocacy using community-based monitoring and information systems (CBMIS) and the Indigenous Navigator (IN) tools. Moreover, there were capacity building initiatives that supported livelihoods and the preservation of traditional knowledge and practices of Indigenous Peoples as well as initiatives that provided relief and assistance to conflict-displaced Indigenous Peoples.
Gaps, opportunities, and recommendations to sustain future capacity building programs were also identified. Alongside identified gaps and challenges, potential opportunities and recommendations were also highlighted–junctures and implements can be pursued to sustain initiatives of ELATIA for capacity building and for sustainable self-determined development in general.
“We need to reflect and think ahead on what to do next…We continue to struggle because we have a hope that the world will be better,” stressed Joseph Ole Simel, executive director of Mainyoito Pastoralists Integrated Development Organization in Kenya.
Updates from important meetings on climate change, biodiversity, sustainable development, desertification, climate finance, and women, among others, were also provided by ELATIA partners who have been engaging and participating in those meetings.
ELATIA partners in Latin America, however, were not able to join the said strategic meeting.
