EXPERIENCES UNDRIP MANUAL FINAL AIPP

RIGHTS AIPP AIPP Regional Capacity Building Program - Training Manual on the UNDRIP 136 By combining “western” with indigenous medicine, and by training more and more people in the use of both, the CHESTCORE had filled a big gap in the delivery of social services to indigenous peoples because, in most villages of the rugged Cordillera, there is no doctor. EXAMPLE Passing on the Knowledge of Generations In Sabah, Malaysia, a number of communities have been establishing community herbal gardens to promote traditional health care and also a way to pass on knowledge and practices to the next generation. Some communities are linking this to a project, Grandmothers’ Walk, with the local preschool centre, where children are brought to the herbal gardens to identify various medicinal plants and their uses. The community also keeps a registry of the plants and their uses but these information are kept strictly in the community to protect against bio-piracy. Through this project, community members have easy access to herbal medicines and some also hold workshops to do simple processing of these medicines as a way of promoting their use in families and to exchange views about the use and protection of traditional medicines. Most of those involved in the promotion of traditional medicines are women who still hold special knowledge and are active practitioners as part of their role to maintain good health of the family. EXAMPLES Incorporating indigenous peoples’ concerns in education The projects under the IMPECT umbrella in Thailand: Foothold in the Hills covering Chiang Mai and surrounding villages Supported by the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, www.bernardvanleer.org Objective: . . .to create and facilitate a positive learning and developmental environment for young children, whereby cultural identity and a sense of security in their own cul- ture are instilled, thus enabling them to act within Thai mainstream society. Participatory Alternative Education for Indigenous Children and Youth Supported by the Pestalozzi Children’s Foundation, www.pestalozzi.ch Nature: . . .promotes mother tongue class room teaching and the integration of local knowledge and skills into curricula. Muticulturalism and Education Policy Research Center Chiang Mai University Faculty of Education Objective: . . .to study on the linkage between education and culture, paving way for the mul- ticultural society. Module-6 RIGHTS AIPP AIPP Regional Capacity Building Program - Training Manual on the UNDRIP 137 Start with an envisioning exercise: • Ask for three participants – one to represent the people, one to repre- sent mainstream development agents, one to represent the stateruling classes. • Have the one who represents the people get down on all fours – hands and feet on the floorground. Have the agent stand beside himher. Place a chair behind the agent, and have the one who represents the state stand on it. • Ask the one who represents the state to assume a posture that demonstrates hisher power over the agent – e.g. leaning and pressing down on the agent’s shoulders. Ask the agent to as- sume a posture that demonstrates hisher power over the one who rep- resents the people – e.g. stepping on hisher back. • Ask the participants what the one who represents the people should do to be rid of the pressure – and perhaps pain – heshe is suffering. Hopefully, they will say, move and rise up. And this will shake up – or even topple – the structure. After the envisioning exercise, break up the participants into groups. Ask them to: • Discuss what they, as indigenous people, would like to achieve in terms of development, by “moving” and “rising up”. • Discuss how they can achieve these – i.e., what strategies they pro- pose. • Assess their needs, capacity and resources for pursuing these strategies. • Discuss implementation and monitoring. Have the participants write the results of their discussion for poster presentation, then have each group present in plenary. Suggested Method NECTEC project Chiang Mai University Faculty of Education Objective: . . .to study the whole school learning reform, stressing on the students’ thinking, in the schools in Pai and Pang Mapha Districts of Mae Hongson, Thailand, most students of which are from IP families. The PACOS Trust Learning Centres in Sabah, Malaysia: Years of experience in organizing communities and establishing pre-school educa- tion among them has led an indigenous organization, the PACOS Trust, to set up learn- ing centres that bring together community members to plan and control educational activities that are important for them. This initiative was in part a response to the Ma- laysian government’s move to establish its own pre-school centres in which the national curriculum would have been implemented without taking into consideration the work done by indigenous organizations.

V. CHALLENGES

Module-6 RIGHTS AIPP AIPP Regional Capacity Building Program - Training Manual on the UNDRIP 138 REFERENCE FOR THE TRAINER INDICATORS OF INDIGENOUS DEVELOPMENT The Asia Indigenous Development Conferences elaborated on 10 elements of indigenous systems and also developed a set of indicators of the goals and aspirations of indigenous peoples, as outlined in the following paragraphs related to Cultural Integrity and Empowerment social, cultural, spiritual and education development, Technical integrity and Environmental Sustain- ability Technology, Natural Resource Management development, Wellbeing Economic, Health development and Governance Political and Juridical development. • Collective values and identity are maintained. • Indigenous perspectives and values are actively promoted. • Traditional land use and ownership systems are alive. • Traditional social and political institutions exist, and customary laws are enforced to regu- late indigenous ways of life. • Indigenous skills and knowledge systems on social, cultural, spiritual practices and educa- tion are intact and actively promoted. • Traditional defence and security systems exist. • Indigenous languages are widely used in the community and taught in schools. • There are transparent and good systems of resource distribution. • Traditional belief systems are freely practiced. • Shamans, ritualists are free to practice rituals and ceremonies. • Venues for community gatherings exist. • Indigenous knowledge systems are intact and actively promoted, in particular indigenous • natural resources management and indigenous technology. • Modern technology does not take over indigenous technology. • Indigenous skills and knowledge on natural resources management and indigenous tech- nology are promoted and developed. • Environmental integrity of indigenous peoples’ territory is ensured. • Traditional institutions actively enforce the sustainable use of natural resources. • Customary laws are in place to regulate technology and resource use. • Indigenous peoples own and control their lands and natural resources, and collective rights over lands and resources are recognized by government and non-indigenous people. • There is active lobbying against globalization that negatively impacts the lives of indig- enous peoples. • Indigenous production systems are encouraged, practiced and maintained. • Subsistence economy is recognized and thriving. • Indigenous knowledge systems are intact and actively promoted within indigenous eco- nomic and health systems. • Indigenous healing is practiced and recognized, and indigenous healers are free to use and promote their knowledge. • Traditional medicines– both resources and knowledge – are protected by the setting up of laws, community protocols. • There is participation in development processes and in decision-making. • There is active lobbying to change laws and policies affecting indigenous peoples nega- tively. • Traditional defence and security systems exist, including the freedom to develop own de- fence and protection mechanisms. • Indigenous knowledge systems on governance and juridical knowledge are intact and practiced. Module-6