Tuesday, 15 February 2005
13.00-15.30 hours
Palazzo dei Congressi • Piazzale J. F. Kennedy 5 (EUR), Rome

Meeting room C (first floor)

In conjunction with the Twenty-Eighth Session of IFAD’s Governing Council, a side event entitled Integrating Indigenous Peoples' Perspectives on Development to Reach the Millennium Development Goals is organized by the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in collaboration with indigenous experts and NGOs.

The most important challenge of the twenty-first century is the elimination of absolute poverty. This challenge has been recognized as an integral part of the Millennium Development Goals. Indigenous and tribal populations constitute about one third of the world’s poorest and most marginalized peoples. Yet their perspectives on development are seldom taken into consideration in the policies and practices of many stakeholders, due to the conventional belief that the needs of indigenous and tribal populations are the same as those of mainstream society. Even the formulation of the Millennium Development Goals has mostly disregarded the specificity of these groups.

To enable agencies involved in official development assistance to support programmes and engage in policies concerning indigenous and tribal populations, such assistance urgently needs to develop a firm grasp of the perspectives of indigenous and tribal peoples and of the circumstances and situations in which they are adversely affected by inappropriate policies and investments. There are many studies that discuss, in general, the overall negative outcomes of mainstreaming indigenous peoples - rather than their perspectives - outcomes that affect their livelihoods, sustainable use of natural resources, knowledge, culture, identity and heritage. What is direly lacking, however, is the collection of local evidence and documentation of best practices for the way forward, carried out by indigenous experts, at the local, country and regional level. This side event aims to address that gap and to provide the audience with the evidence and concrete realities, seen through the lenses of indigenous representatives, that should inform the engagement of IFAD and other agencies in policy dialogue and advocacy for pro-poor changes in relation to the development issues of indigenous and tribal peoples.

Panelists will include:

• Ms Victoria Tauli Corpuz, President of the Tebtebba Foundation and member of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, The Philippines
• Mr Edgar Ajcip, Director of the National Peace Fund (FONAPAZ), Guatemala
• Mr Toki Blah, Former Director of the IFAD-supported North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project for Upland Areas, India
• Ms Myrna Cunningham, President of the Centre for the Autonomy and Development of Indigenous Peoples and Former Rector of the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast, Nicaragua
• Ms Naomi Kipuri, Member of the Working Group on Indigenous Peoples and Communities of the African Union, Kenya
• Ms Ida Nicolaisen, Senior Researcher, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, and member of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, Denmark

After a brief review of IFAD’s work in support of indigenous peoples, a panel of experts will highlight indigenous perspectives on "development with an identity”. This will be followed by general discussions.