Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. – Sustainable Development Goal 5

Fifty Twa or Pygmies in the village of Bolingo in the territory of Inongo, Maïndombe province in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) participated in a two-day workshop last April 2022. The activity aimed to address the glaring and continuing lack of equal access to education by indigenous Pygmy children and youth in the DRC. Present during the workshop were the community chiefs and teaching personnel of the only primary school in the village.

During the discussion on the state of education of indigenous Pygmy children and youth in the village, Betoko Yando, director of the only primary school in Bolingo village, related that the said school is the only public primary school in the area, established 12 years ago. School children built it with adobe brick and covered it with thatch. Meanwhile, the nearest secondary school is 12 kilometers away where merely one Pygmy youth attended for a single year.

Yando also shared that no Pygmy child has been able to complete secondary school and only a few have been able to complete primary education. Additionally, there have been no Pygmy teachers to date. The dropout rate is 18/42, which is very high.

Bongeli Ibela, the clan chief of Bolingo village, explained that the lack of adoption of or resistance to education among Pygmies is due to the simple reason that their ancestors themselves did not appreciate Western education aside from not having enough savings to finance their own education and that of their offsprings.

However, Marisa Jockebed Sinafasi, the Gender Officer of DIPY, noted that the basic need for survival is the main reason for the children’s frequent absenteeism in school as expressed by their parents. Predominantly, it is not about the resistance of the Pygmy to Western-style education but the struggle for survival that takes precedence and detracts children from their school activities. When their children skip classes, parents keep them busy with domestic tasks. In particular, only the young girls are assigned by their mothers during school hours to pick wild banana leaves to sell at the market.

Mputu Eyingela, a primary school teacher, added that Twa children are openly penalized by the economic activities of the community. According to him, parents take their whole family including their school children to harvest non-timber forest products (NTFPs) like mushrooms, koala nuts and caterpillars during the harvest season, and to fish during the fishing season. Due to such economic activities, the children’s continued school attendance and completion of the school year are negatively affected.

He also said that teachers are all Bantu, one of the major ethnic groups in the DRC, who are also nomadic. Hence, in the middle of the school year, both the teachers and the pupils stop all school activities to go fishing and gathering, resuming classes once the fishing and gathering season is over.

Meanwhile, Booto Besinga, a prominent Pygmy in Bolingo, said that the Bantu made a lot of efforts to advance their education, as compared to the Twa, because they understand that their future depended on it.

Yando further stressed that indigenous children suffer greatly from the lack of parental supervision, with the children going to school without uniforms, notebooks, and pens—a reality reflected by statements shared by several school children.

Booto Boyoma, a pupil enrolled in the fourth year of primary school, said he liked going to school but that it was difficult without a uniform, notebooks and a pen—implements that are considered staple in most educational institutions. Another pupil enrolled in the fifth year, Nzako Bikupa, stressed that parents entrust their infants to their older children when they go to deliver and sell their NTFPs.

It was also noted from the workshop that some Bantu teachers are more likely to punish Pygmy children than Bantu children—a treatment that is also claimed to be one of the reasons why Pygmy children often opt to be absent or to drop out from school, according to the parents.  

Aside from the glaring lack of adequate infrastructure, school supplies, uniforms, and other essential items, prevalent discrimination based on ethnicity has marginalized the Twas. Sharing meals with the Pygmies or eating meals prepared by a Pygmy is considered taboo by the Bantu people.

With all the obstacles and challenges identified, Gilbert Nkolokuta, an educated Pygmy and a volunteer in the Inongo territory, encouraged the parents and pupils to continue the struggle for economic and social empowerment which necessarily involves education. He told them that one major obstacle to equal access to education in the DRC is removed through the government’s free primary education. The free primary education in Bolingo village started just this school year, 2021-2022. Nkolokuta also called for parents to be actively involved in the education of their children.

In line with these, Sinafasi highlighted early marriage among young girls as another major concern, noting that many girls marry before reaching the age of maturity. They are also more prone to absenteeism and dropping out of school, with a 100 percent dropout rate in the sixth year of primary school.  

In the identification of the prevailing situation regarding equal access to quality education among the Twa children and youth in the village of Bolingo, the participants drew recommendations that could respond to these issues:

One, to improve and make more sustainable and viable the single primary school’s infrastructure in Bolingo to be able to encourage an increased attendance of Pygmy children.

Two, the acquisition of a school canteen which could be subsidized by DIPY or other partners to further help motivate the Pygmy children to attend school.

Third, to have a secondary school established in Bolingo as it would be advantageous for the Pygmy children who will not need to travel 12 to 22 kilometers each day to reach a secondary school.

Notably, women participants also committed to allow their female children to study in the morning and to wait for them to come home from school before sending them to pick wild banana leaves used to wrap the papillotes and chikwangues that are very popular in the region.

An important achievement from the workshop is the endorsement of the participants of the action plan which aims to solve the inequitable access to quality education being faced by the Pygmy children and youth in the village of Bolingo. Prepared by Sinafasi, the action plan includes the introduction of the Twa language as a medium of instruction and the adaptation of the school calendar to the gathering, hunting and fishing seasons of the Twa people in Bolingo.

The workshop is part of the implementation of the advocacy plan by Sinafasi of DIPY, one of the ELATIA partners based in the DRC. The advocacy plan was her output during the virtual training on policy advocacy on the Sustainable Development Goals conducted in 2021 by the Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners (ILEPA) based in Kenya, Tebtebba and the ELATIA Indigenous Peoples Training Institute based in the Philippines. Moreover, the workshop was made possible through the small grant from Nia Tero.

Indigenous Peoples Observers Statement at the Meeting of the Clean Technology Fund -Trust Fund Committee (CTF-TFC) on Accelerating Carbon Transition Investment Plan (ACT-IP)

23 June 2022

Thanks so much for this opportunity to represent Indigenous Peoples observers, as well as, the CSO observers in CIF. Thanks for the report, and I would like to speak more on how we can have a more meaningful connection among various stakeholders in CIF Investment Plans at country level, from design to implementation to evaluation and knowledge sharing.

Specific to the preparatory work for Investment Plans, and the country CIF missions in relation to the IP preparation, may we suggest a more socially inclusive process with the participation of other stakeholders beyond the government.  Other stakeholders will be able to contribute with a sincere intention of achieving a social inclusive process, for a just transition and in ensuring that the social environmental safeguards are complied with within the Investment Plans.

It was mentioned earlier that socially inclusive engagement processes in the project development to implementation of such Investment Plans should ensure participation of other stakeholders who may also contribute in the process for more meaningful and effective community participation and empowerment.  Ideally, such inclusive process should be from the design towards the project implementation cycle to evaluation processes, and knowledge sharing especially at community level, if there are opportunities for such.

 My organization together with other IPOs and CSO observers and networks have been engaging on the review process of the social and environmental safeguards of the WB previously, and also with the ADB safeguards framework.  We want to follow through on how these safeguards are being applied and implemented within CIF Investment Plans and other programs.

Specific to the mentioned CIF-ACT preparatory mission to the Philippines on August 23, we hope for more collaborative process with other stakeholders, with invitation to be part of the process. We shall coordinate further with the ADB and the relevant government agencies in charge of this mission.

Thanks again.

CIF-Global Climate Action Program (GCAP) Sub-Committee Meeting

24 June 2022

Indigenous Peoples Observers Statement at the CIF-GCAP Meeting

Agenda Item 4- Update On Nature, People And Climate (NPC) Program

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of Indigenous Peoples observers on this agenda item.

1. For us, the Dedicated Grant Mechanism (DGM) for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLC) has been a pioneering initiative by CIF that has allowed various communities to work together to achieve local and global objectives. With only USD 80 million, which represents 10 % of FIP investments, we IPLCs have managed to strengthen the local governance system and implement very innovative projects with the participation of men and women in 12 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America and achieve their participation in the discussion of local and global climate solutions.  
2. The DGM pilot project has achieved the participation of 260,000 IPLCs (50% women) in 7 countries, 628 IPLC-designed and selected projects implemented in 8 countries, of which 33% are women-led or women-focused, and a global and national level governance structure of 246 elected IPLC leaders, and a total of 230,239 hectares of native land titled in Peru. At the regional level, 8 exchanges have been carried out that allow the exchange of best practices. In addition, 3 global exchanges were held to strengthen the capacity of IPLCs to fully and effectively participate in COP UNFCCC negotiations.  
3. It is on this note that we want to thank CIF for the continued partnership and support that it has provided for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, including women and children, through the DGM for IPLCs under the Forest Investment Program (FIP).
4. We fully appreciate the further consideration of the CIF in relation to  expanding the DGM for IPLCs beyond forests or the FIP countries.This is in consideration of  DGM under the new GCAP (Global Climate Action Programs) including under Nature, People and Climate Program, as well as, the Renewable Energy Integration Program.
5. Providing DGM under NPC/REI programs will definitely be helpful for IPLCs in the countries that submitted their expressions of interests to the GCAP. In such situation, we hope to replicate the IP-led effective engagement with the countries; and appropriate governance mechanisms developed for the DGM under FIP, learning from lessons on this DGM experience with necessary arrangements per country.
6. Under these new GCAP programs and new phase of CIFprograms for just transition, we hope for more support towards more meaningful community participation and empowerment, as already stressed in the previous sessions. We can also capitalize on the DGM model as one successful partnership with the CIF and the governments, among other options. We hope further that each beneficiary country will also provide specific support beyond the DGM, as they continue to implement their CIF programs at national and subnational levels.
7. Whilst we appreciate the proposal of expansion of the DGM beyond FIP, we propose that in the spirit of ensuring more access and participation of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities globally, direct access to funding from the CIF and other climate finance mechanisms remain a key. The resources from DGM should be expanded beyond countries applying but targeted at giving direct access of resources to IPLC with the greater need for survival and at the forefronts of the struggle against climate change.
8. DGM projects have not started at the same time in all countries, instead it has been implemented in a staggered way some countries with successful projects and results are closing their activities, while we also have countries that are starting now and want to continue receiving the accumulated experience through regional and global exchanges. 
9. On the Nature, People and Climate Programme (NPC) as a whole, we wish to state that the call for expression of interest put it in place by CIF for the Programme is a very welcome initiative and we appreciate the additional resources coming in from donors to enlarge the fund and countries’ participation. As the World Bank has detailed, natural climate solutions offer “convenient solutions to an inconvenient truth”—multiple benefits, such as water filtration, flood buffering, improved soil health, protection of habitat and enhanced climate resilience. Additionally, natural climate solutions offer up to 37 percent of the emission reductions needed by 2030 to keep global temperature increases less than 2 degrees celsius-30 percent more than previously estimated. Using only cost-effective solutions, nature's mitigation potential is estimated at 11.3 billion tons in 2030—the equivalent of stopping burning oil globally.
10. It is on this note therefore, that we are appealing and kindly requesting for additional priority to be given to the Nature, People, Climate program, and by extension to the Dedicated Grant Mechanism as a key modality for empowering many grassroots peoples to directly address the challenges of losses of forests, degradation of landscapes, climate-induced migration, food insecurity, and biodiversity loss, among other climate-related challenges.

             Thank you

“We developed this proposal based on your responses. It’s a small fund but we can do something relevant with it in the next two years.”

Eleanor Dictaan-Bang-oa of the Asian Indigenous Women’s Network (AIWN) Secretariat underscored the importance of making the most of the support obtained from the Foro Internacional de Mujeres Indigenas (FIMI) AYNI Fund during the AIWN virtual project inception for its two-year project, “Building on Indigenous Women for Just Economic Recovery,” on 10 and 21 May 2022. The two-day inception event was organized to level off on project implementation and orient AIWN partners about narrative and finance reporting templates and procedures.

Representatives of the Indigenous Women’s Forum of Northeast India (IWFNEI), Indigenous Women’s Network of Thailand (IWNT) and Perempuan-AMAN in Indonesia, the main implementers of the project, presented their workplans stipulating their activities and timelines.

With the small fund, IWFNEI plans to organize a general assembly for Boro, Garo, Hmar, Khasi, Naga, and Tripura indigenous women to strengthen their advocacy and commitment in the recognition and realization of indigenous women’s rights at the community and national levels. Market survey and training on entrepreneurship, food processing and packaging would be the main activities of IWNT which will respond to Karen and Hmong indigenous women’s economic empowerment, building on their cultural and social capitals.  Meanwhile, Perempuan-AMAN will carry out capacity building activities for Batak, Dayak, Melayu Deli, Toraya, Kulawi, Sasak, Loge, Rendu, Mattoke, Howana, Massenrempulu, Osing, Kasepuhan indigenous women to help them understand and access government policies and programs. Three different Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) documents were drafted, to be signed between AIWN-Tebtebba and the said partner organizations.

A focused discussion on finance reporting was conducted on the second day of the project inception activity. Partners were briefed on the general guidelines on finance reporting in compliance with FIMI administrative and finance policies. Specific templates for finance reporting were presented during the discussion. Each partner organization, then, introduced their designated finance staff responsible for the preparation and submission of finance reports for the project.

Aiming to demonstrate the indigenous women’s perspective of building back better from the scourge of the COVID19 pandemic, this initiative is supported through the AYNI Fund under the second stint of the Learning From the South (LFS) Program of FIMI. Ayni is a Quechua/ Kichua word that synthesizes reciprocity, solidarity, and fair and equitable work between humans and other beings of the cosmos.