In Bolivia, Guarani and allies overcome ‘a model of social humiliation’

[Derechos]

The Itika Guasu Investment Fund broke new ground in Bolivia and Latin America, as well as internationally.

Amid the celebration of such precedents, however, a pause for thought intervenes: the whole effort almost came to nothing when several NGOs, non-community organizations also known as intermediaries, abandoned the Guarani people of Itika Guasu at the most strategic point of their long confrontation with oil giant Repsol Bolivia S.A. The stakes were existential when First Peoples Worldwide contacted the Assembly of Guarani Peoples of Itika Guasu. The Guarani communities then were at “a very, very critical time,” said Antonia Macias, vice president of Equipo Nizkor, the human rights NGO that advised APG IG on the legal and financial details of the negotiated agreement that eventually created Itika Guasu Investment Fund.

First Peoples has been on a low-key campaign for direct funding of Indigenous communities – not of intermediaries to work on behalf of Indigenous Peoples, but of Indigenous community groups that often, as in the case of APG IG, have never received direct grant funding before. But also as in the case of APG IG, their capacities prove equal to the occasion once they have resources to work with.

A couple of clear lessons emerge from the negotiation process of the Itika Guasu Investment Fund, one of them for philanthropy, as spelled out by Rebecca Adamson, founder and president of First Peoples Worldwide.

“The Itika Guasu Investment Fund is a great achievement for everyone,” Adamson said. “Often we hear funders say that they can’t fund Indigenous Peoples directly because of their lack of capacity. Overlooked capacities and abilities like those demonstrated by the Itika Guasu Guarani should inspire philanthropy to rethink its own capacities and relationships with Indigenous communities, because a lot more successes like this are out there.”

The other lesson is for philanthropy and the NGO (non-governmental organization) community alike.

http://www.firstpeoplesworldwide.org/publish/BoliviaGuaraniAndAlliesOvercomeSocialHumiliation.pdf