The Regional Programme in Support of Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon Basin - Phase III

This is the final phase of a programme that identifies specific poverty reduction strategies required to meet the needs of the indigenous populations and ethnic minorities of the Latin America and Caribbean region. The overall objective is to support indigenous communities and their culture and help develop small-scale income-generating initiatives within those communities. The programme particularly focuses on the 400 different indigenous groups living in the Amazon Basin, most of whom live in acute poverty. Specific objectives of this phase of the programme include:

• consolidating achievements in asserting territorial rights and land management
• reinforcing bilingual education programmes
• helping replicate successful income-generating activities
• disseminating information learned from programme activities among other indigenous peoples of the region as well as national institutions and international agencies
• generating networks for the exchange of information among indigenous peoples
• creating market outlets for indigenous products.

Training programmes and workshops have helped disseminate lessons learned from this programme as a whole, and in particular its focus on developing income-generating activities based on natural resources such as wildlife, lumber and other forest resources. There have been many examples of successful indigenous activities.

The community of Peña Roja in Colombia received support from the programme for the commercial production of spices and herbs for medicinal and culinary uses. The quality of these products and their processing have now improved considerably and they sell well at the Bogota Fair and other outlets.

The programme has strengthened the marketing capability of Artecampo, an organization of more than 1,000 indigenous women artisans in eastern Bolivia . Artecampo has enabled this diverse group of women to join forces in order to market their products. Thanks to the high quality of their products these women have been able to establish themselves as a regional cultural force with shops in Santa Cruz and La Paz and appearances at regional fairs.

Bolivia’s programme for Crocodile Management has been considerably reinforced through the formulation of draft regulations on the commercial use of crocodiles and preparation of a draft law on trade in crocodile hides. In 2001 Bolivia exported crocodile hides for a value of almost US$5.0 million and indigenous peoples earned an income of approximately US$300,000 by capturing crocodiles in their territories and selling them to authorized tanning firms.

 

Source: IFAD

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In this section Programme overview Documents Contact information Mr Iván Cossio Country programme manager IFAD Via Paolo di Dono, 44 00142 Rome, Italy Tel: +39 0654592343 Fax: +39 0654593343 j.gariglio@ifad.org Facts and figures Total cost: US$1.7 million IFAD grant: US$0.8 million Duration: 2003-2006 Geographical area: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela Executing Agency: Andean Development Corporation Status: ongoing Partners Andean Development Corporation, Coordinating Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon Basin, Amazon Cooperation Treaty, Latin American and Caribbean Development Fund for Indigenous Peoples, Canadian University Services Overseas, Department for International Development of the United Kingdom