“Whether in person or virtually, indigenous peoples need to have a seat in the decision-making table. But the pandemic highlighted historical and long-standing marginalization of indigenous peoples in terms of necessary infrastructures and technology for communications.”

According to Helen Biangalen-Magata, Tebtebba Communications Officer and one of the resource speakers of the training, “the event is a pre-requisite for many indigenous peoples so that they are not further left behind in many virtual processes happening now—processes that require their engagement, processes that require their voice, processes that require their presence”.

Tebtebba and the ELATIA Indigenous Peoples’ Training Institute launched a three-day internal Training-Workshop on Enhancing the Use of Social Media and Digital Security on 14 to 16 April 2021 in Baguio City, Philippines, which was participated in by the different staff of Tebtebba.

The training was intended to improve the capacity of the different key program staff to coach or mentor indigenous partner organizations and communities towards their meaningful engagement in various national and international processes being done virtually.

The training-workshop revolved around the use and management of the different social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Zoom. Several hours were also used to discuss digital security including password and contact details protection. The activity involved experience sharing and identifying the dos and don’ts of attending different online meetings. Various software applications were also introduced to further enhance content creation skills.

Because the pandemic heavily impacted the ease of conducting face-to-face gatherings, more and more activities shifted online including dialogues between indigenous peoples and the government, advocacy-oriented webinars, regular partner consultations, and so forth. In these varied virtual meetings, the necessity of learning and improving social media use were, in the process, identified.

 “With the difficult pandemic situation, the training-workshop was a very timely initiative. The skills learned during the event will definitely enhance our collective capacity as indigenous peoples engaged in advocacy work, bringing forth the different indigenous peoples concerns and priority issues to various local and global processes,” enthused Grace T. Balawag of Tebtebba’s Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Program. “These virtual platforms must, indeed, be maximized so that our key advocacy messages may be effectively communicated and disseminated. Hopefully, we can extend such significant trainings especially to our local partners to further enhance our collective indigenous peoples’ advocacy work.”

The social media training is an offshoot of the previous Dayalogo series that was facilitated by Tebtebba between indigenous peoples and relevant national government agencies in the Philippines that began in 2020. The training was made possible with the support from Bread for the World.

The ELATIA Indigenous Peoples’ Training Institute, in partnership with the Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners (ILEPA), commenced a virtual training program for second-generation indigenous leaders on January 2021. The training on policy advocacy aims to equip young indigenous men and women with the necessary knowledge and skills for effective engagement in the different political processes on the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (UN CBD), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNCBD), and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This program also aims to sustain indigenous peoples’ advocacy at various levels in the areas of biological diversity, climate change, and sustainable development.

The first in the series of advocacy training conducted through virtual platforms focused on the UNCBD, the event was participated in by twenty-six (26) participants nominated from ELATIA and Nia Tero partners and from other indigenous peoples’ organizations around the world.

Four renowned indigenous experts on the UN CBD composed the training team namely, Joji Cariño of the Forest Peoples Programme, Viviana Figueroa of International Consultancy on Indigenous Peoples, Traditional Knowledge and Biodiversity, Jennifer Tauli Corpuz of Nia Tero, and Aslak Holmberg of the Saami Council. There were also individual experts who were invited as resource persons during the synchronous discussions. They were accompanied by their co-facilitators, helping them ran the session, both synchronously and asynchronously. The said co-facilitators also had experiences in engaging the different mechanisms of the UN CBD.

The participants were required to prepare their own advocacy plans considering the important elements of the UN CBD relevant to indigenous peoples and local communities, as part of the training. Participants whose advocacy plan get selected will be supported to implement their advocacy plans and will also have a chance to experience actual policy advocacy in future UN CBD processes.

Supported by Nia Tero and Bread for the World, two upcoming advocacy trainings will be on the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN FCCC) and UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

Nine partners of ELATIA, an indigenous peoples’ global partnership on climate change, forests and sustainable development, have been implementing capacity-building activities among local indigenous communities in their countries since October 2020.

The main theme of the capacity building activities revolved around approaches to indigenous peoples’ sustainable and self-determined development or IPSSDD.  IPSSDD reiterates the centrality of indigenous peoples’ rights in development while ensuring the protection, sustainable use, and management of the environment. A holistic approach, IPSSDD also ensures the support for sustainable, traditional livelihoods and the respect for cultural diversity. The vital roles of indigenous women and youth and the intergenerational transfer of traditional knowledge are important components of IPSSDD.

Towards sustaining initial efforts to develop and capacitate next generation leaders, the partners have been developing training materials, localizing or contextualizing and translating existing training modules into local languages and producing audio and visual materials. Furthermore, they have been conducting learning sessions and discussions, community workshops, and focused group discussions with substantial participation of indigenous women and the youth.

Institut Dayakologi based in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, conducted field assessments, focused group discussions, and workshops to contextualize the IPSSDD training modules prior to the implementation of training activities in different communities.

The Field Assessment at Kampong Batu Menang. Mr. Ajin Vinsentius briefs the participants during the field assessment at Kampong Batu Menang, Ketapang District in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. (Photo Credit: ID’s Documentation Team)

An indigenous youth, who participated in the IPSSDD training at Kampong Segumon in KTJ of Sanggau District in West Kalimantan, Indonesia last December 12, 2020, shares her thought about indigenous knowledge to the other participants. (Photo Credit: ID’s Documentation Team)

As part of practicing the lessons from the training, the Mainyoito Pastoralists Integrated Development Organization (MPIDO) based in Nairobi, Kenya, facilitated a dialogue between the trained indigenous youth and women with the Kajiado County Ministry of Youth and Gender last November 2020.

Indigenous women and youth talk about climate change mitigation and adaptation at Olooruka Resource Center Training last December 2020. (Photo: MPIDO)

Lands issues being confronted by the Maasai communities around their traditionally-occupied land, now called Ngorongoro Conservation Area, are central to the training conducted by Pastoralists Indigenous Non-Governmental Organization's Forum (PINGO's Forum) based in Arusha, Tanzania. The participants were oriented about legal procedures for land upgrade and land acquisition.

Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners (ILEPA), based in Narok, Kenya, targeted indigenous youth in their capacity building on IPSSDD concepts and approaches. ILEPA also video-documented lessons and experiences of communities as well as gaps in realizing a self-determined development of indigenous peoples.

Noolmejooli Nkoitiko of Maji-moto/Naroosura ward in Narok, Kenya shares her experiences in actively participating in data collection and community needs identification and prioritization in Maji-moto facilitated by ILEPA in one of its implemented projects. (Screengrab from ILEPA’s Youtube account)

Indigenous youth participants watch the video documentation during the training last December 2020 at Zebu Lodge in Narok, Kenya. (Photo: ILEPA)

The COVID-19 pandemic posed many challenges to the implementation of capacity building activities. It has limited the mobility and direct interactions of participants, trainers, and facilitators. To ensure health safety of everyone, the organizations enforced basic health safety protocols.

One of the participants takes a test as a required health protocol before attending the training at Jurung-ID Pontianak in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. (Photo credit: ID’s Documentation Team)

Being supported by the Tamalpais Trust, the project is part of achieving the overall goal of ELATIA to realize indigenous peoples’ sustainable, self-determined development through the training of next-generation indigenous leaders including women and youth.

The other partners involved in the project include Lelewal in Yaoundé, Cameroon, Union pour l’Emancipation de la Femme Autochtone” (UEFA) in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, Center for Autonomy and Development of Indigenous Peoples (CADPI) in RACCN, Nicaragua, Center for Indigenous Peoples' Research and Development (CIPRED) in Kathmandu, Nepal, and Silingang Dapit-Southeastern Mindanao, Inc. (SILDAP) in Tagum City, Philippines.

The 28^th meeting of the Green Climate Fund concluded with new fifteen funding proposals requesting US$ 1,197.1 million of GCF funding being approved by the board. The virtual meeting which happened virtually from 16 to 19 March 2021 also focused on some policy matters that were crucial for indigenous peoples like the Updated Accreditation Framework, the Simplified Approval process updates, and the Integrated Results Management Framework.

With two new co-chairs (Jean-Cristophe Donnellier from the French Treasury and Jose De Luna Martinez from the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, Mexico), who have both never been to any prior GCF Board meeting, the BM 28, which was webcasted live, has shown how challenging it is for board members to agree on crucial policies of the fund. This resulted to a deadlock on the Integrated Results Management Framework, which seeks to further strengthen the ability of GCF to measure and report the impact of its investments. The same is true for the accreditation of 5 entities, where the board did not reach a decision and will just present a new proposal before the next board meeting.

The civil society, indigenous people and local communities network, raised that the even if the Integrated Results Management Framework T states that it has a clear focus on integrating gender and social inclusion, it is unclear how this is measured in the proposed core indicators since it would entail an understanding of who the excluded groups are as part of a baseline, and as mentioned before, the issue of what kind of baseline is acceptable if not addressed. Additionally, it does not seem to consider the GCF’s Indigenous Peoples Policy as the “Policy linkages'' section of the document leaves out the IP Policy from the otherwise comprehensive list.

The observers to the GCF emphasize that, while the IRMF aims to disaggregate data using parameters such as sex, it must also have data about Indigenous Peoples at least in cases where a project is implemented in Indigenous Peoples’ territory and/or impacting Indigenous Peoples. The GCF secretariat clarifies that the the IRMF tries not to duplicate other GCF policies otherwise, it will lose focus.

Meanwhile, prior to the official dates of the board meeting, the Civil Society, Indigenous Peoples and local communities network met with the executive director and the GCF secretariat. According to the IP Focal point, Ms. Jennifer Rubis, constitution of the Indigenous Peoples’ Advisory Group (IPAG) is going to happen this year as part of the workplan for 2021.

The BM 28 was participated in by the members of the IP Advocacy team including Eileen Cunningham Mairena of the Centre for the Indigenous Peoples' Autonomy and Development (CADPI), who also serves as the active observer for developing countries, Helen Magata of Tebtebba, Stefan Thorsell of the International Work Group on Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA), and Tunga Rai of the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN).