Launch of Ogiek women’s empowerment project

The FSC Indigenous Foundation and Ogiek Peoples Development Program support a journey to Indigenous women’s socio-economic transformation.

FSC-IF

Nakuru, Kenya – On April 8, 2024, the FSC Indigenous Foundation and Ogiek Peoples Development Program launch a joint project, “Promoting Socio-Economic Empowerment among Ogiek Women of Mau, Kenya.” This project is part of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance for Rights and Development (IPARD), a five-year program implemented by the FSC-IF and funded by USAID, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and private sector partners.

This event, that took place at the Ole Ken Hotel, Nakuru, marked the beginning of a transformative journey towards empowering Ogiek women, addressing their unique challenges, and fostering sustainable socio-economic development in the Mau regions of Kenya.

Participants included representatives from local government, Women Enterprise Fund, Microfinance Institutions, FSC-IF, County Executive Committee (CEC), media, and Ogiek community members.

After opening words by the Executive Director of the Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program (OPDP) Daniel Kobei, participants listened to keynote addresses from FSC-IF Africa Regional Director Salina Sanou and representatives from the Gender Departments of Narok and Nakuru Counties.

Daniel Kobei emphasized the need to work with county and national governments in Kenya and that the women’s agenda is not only an agenda of NGOs but for everybody.

“The project is also a way of championing for the rights of Ogiek People because one cannot champion for rights without food and being economically empowered.”
Daniel Kobei

“FSC-IF is committed to Indigenous women because they are pillars of our communities. Women are custodians of knowledge and culture.”
Salina Sanou

A panel discussion followed on challenges faced by Ogiek women and opportunities for collaboration with the participation of representatives of the Nakuru County Gender Department, Narok County Gender Department, Women Enterprise Fund, and a microfinance institution.

The project launch was officially opened by Josephine Achieng, County Executive Committee Member of Youth, Gender, Culture, Sports and Social Services, Nakuru County. “OPDP is taking the right trajectory of empowering women,” she said.

“We need to have women represented in all spheres of life politically, economically, and socially,” said Eunice Chepkemoi, Gender and Youth Officer at OPDP.

Participants broke into groups to explore specific areas of engagement and opportunities during project implementation. The Gender Department of Narok County noted that OPDP is now a member of the Gender Sector Working Group of Narok County.

Women from the Ogiek community emphasized that the project is bringing them hope.

“When a woman is empowered, the whole community is empowered.”
Ogiek woman representative

Ogiek women of Kenya

The Ogiek People face persistent challenges. Decades of forceful evictions from their ancestral lands have led to discrimination, marginalization, and oppression, resulting in low participation in development issues. Ogiek women, in particular, grapple with poverty, illiteracy, and limited access to economic opportunities. The lack of representation in the political arena further exacerbates their plight, hindering their ability to address these issues effectively.

Despite these challenges, many Ogiek women have formed women’s groups and engage in economic activities, for example, savings cooperatives, tree nurseries, livestock raising, and beekeeping. These groups could benefit from additional support and opportunities to catalyze sustainable development for their communities.

Transformation to economic empowerment

By providing Ogiek women with the necessary training and support, the FSC-IF and OPDP aim to support them to become self-reliant and economically independent.

Our joint project, “Promoting Socio-Economic Empowerment among Ogiek Women of Mau, Kenya” is a training initiative and open call for proposals from women’s groups to receive financial support.

The training initiative will equip Ogiek women with the essential skills and knowledge to engage in sustainable income-generating activities. It will also foster leadership skills among the participants, particularly the chair ladies, secretaries, and treasurers, to understand their roles and responsibilities, enabling them to guide and mentor their members within the groups.

Through the initiative, we will catalyze sustainable socio-economic development among the trainees, leading to improved livelihoods and enhanced community resilience. This will contribute to their well-being and promote inclusivity, gender equality, and community prosperity.

In parallel, Ogiek women groups across six counties of Kenya will submit proposals to apply for limited funds to support them in establishing small-scale income-generating activities. The project will support twelve sustainable projects that benefit community resilience.

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The FSC Indigenous Foundation (FSC-IF) is a global Indigenous organization with a mission, values, and actions driven by, for, and with Indigenous Peoples. It was established in 2019 by the FSC and the FSC Permanent Indigenous Peoples Committee (PIPC). We serve as a global strategic, technical, operational, and financial entity led by Indigenous Peoples, supporting their self-development, self-governance, and self-reliance through Indigenous-based solutions, multi-sectoral partnerships, and funding. Our mission is to elevate Indigenous Peoples in their contribution to the protection of Mother Earth and recognize them as providers of solutions and partners to fight against global challenges. We envision a future where Indigenous-led solutions and actions, generated within one-quarter of the planet, safeguard the future of everyone and Mother Earth.

The Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program (OPDP) is a Kenya-based organization founded in 1999 and registered by the Kenyan Government as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in 2001. It was formed by Ogiek elders, opinion leaders, farmers, and professionals after long land historical injustices that deprived Ogiek community of their rights as Kenyan citizens. OPDP’s work is centered on promoting the recognition and identity of Indigenous Peoples’ culture, the participation and inclusion of the communities in all sectors of development, championing for land rights, ensuring environmental protection, and overall sustainable development. OPDP has its headquarters in Nakuru town, Nakuru County, and operates nationally.

WEBINAR: Mother languages, pillars that sustain the knowledge and cultural practices of Indigenous Peoples and their solutions to climate change

Learn how preserving, revitalizing and promoting Indigenous languages contributes to environmental stewardship

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Join the FSC Indigenous Foundation for a webinar on April 4, 2024, to acknowledge the significance of preserving and enhancing Indigenous mother tongues as a vital component that fosters effective responses to climate change challenges.

Indigenous languages serve as custodians of traditional knowledge, nature-based interactions, and scientific knowledge among Indigenous Peoples. These elements actively contribute to environmental stewardship and bolster efforts to combat climate change. However, the impacts of climate change pose a threat to the vitality of Indigenous languages, endangering their survival and continuity, hence, prioritizing their preservation, revitalization, and promotion becomes imperative.

On April 4, 2024, 10-11 am Panama time / 9-10 am Central American time / 12 – 1 pm Brazil time, we are gathering with Indigenous leaders with experience in sociolinguistic and linguistic matters and a climate change perspective.

The zoom webinar will have simultaneous interpretation in Spanish, English, French and Portuguese, Mam and K’iche’.

Join us and register here.

Panelists

Maatal Pérez

FSC-IF Indigenous Peoples Affairs Officer – Guatemala / President of the Poqomam Indigenous Mayoralty of Palín

Mayan – Poqomam sociolinguist with experience in public policy with a focus on linguistic and cultural rights of Indigenous women and Indigenous Peoples.

President of the Poqomam Linguistic Community of the Academy of Mayan Languages of Guatemala, and titular representative of Indigenous Peoples at departmental, regional, and national levels in the System of Development Councils.

Specialized studies in Indigenous Women’s Leadership at the Intercultural Indigenous University of Bolivia, Postgraduate studies in Indigenous Peoples’ Rights for the Elimination of Racism and Discrimination at the School of Political Science of the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, specialization in Gender and Feminism at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Humanities CEICH, Autonomous University of Mexico UNAM.

Iguaigdigili López 

Teacher, biologist, and researcher

Biologist by profession, specialist in intercultural bilingual education, Indigenous Peoples’ law, postgraduate in higher education, consultant on gender and biodiversity, traditional knowledge, cultural revitalization, climate change. President of the Organization of Indigenous Women United for Biodiversity of Panama (OMIUBP).

Quetzaly Quintas Arista

Coordinator of the Gibäñ Dadi’idznu team “long live our language”

Young woman, 24 years old. She is originally from the community of Santa María Guienagati, a Zapotec village in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Since she was a teenager she has worked with children to raise awareness of environmental care and has been interested in learning the language of her community, currently only spoken by older adults, which led her to study a degree in Linguistics at the National School of Anthropology and History. She was a facilitator of the subject Lengua indígena at the Universidad Autónoma Comunal de Oaxaca. She is currently the coordinator of the Gibäñ Dadi’idznu team “que viva nuestro idioma” (long live our language) made up of Zapotec-speaking seniors. She is also developing projects for the dissemination and revitalization of the Zapotec language. She received a grant from Cultural Survival and collaborates as a monitor for Nidos de Lengua, an initiative of the Secretaría de Cultura y Artes del Estado de Oaxaca.

Te Ngaehe Wanikau

Title: Kaumatua / Elder, Tribe: Ngati Hikairo ki Tongariro, People: Maoríes de Aotearoa (New Zealand)

I have served on many boards, committees, and working groups at the local, national, and international levels. It has been an honor and a privilege to serve on all of them. However, the position I cherish the most is the one my elders and parents prepared me for. It is my role with my people. It has no legal description in the Western context. It is a traditional position for my whanau – family, hapu – extended family, iwi – my tribe and the people and environment we serve and protect.

My traditional teachings are: Kawa – Divine protocals, Tikanga – human protocols, Matauranga – Streams of traditional exoteric knowledge, Whakapapa – Genealogy of both people and all existing things

Opening remarks

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim

Chair of FSC-IF Council and Coordinator of the Association of Peul Women and Autochthonous Peoples of Chad (AFPAT)

Hindou Oumarou is a member of the Mbororo People of Chad, part of the FSC Indigenous Foundation Council and an environmental and Indigenous Peoples activist.

She is the Coordinator of the Association of Peul Women and Autochthonous Peoples of Chad (AFPAT) and served as the co-director of the pavilion of the World Indigenous Peoples’ Initiative and Pavilion at COP21, COP22 and COP23.

She is the gender representative and Congo Basin Region and Focal Point on Climate Change in the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee (IPACC).

She was recognized by BBC as a top 100 women leader and by TIME’s Women Leaders in Climate Change and is a National Geographic Explorer.

This webinar is organized within the framework of a webinar series: Resilient Roots: The wisdom of Indigenous women and youth in the fight against climate change. Watch our website and social media for upcoming webinars.

Watch a recording of the webinar below.

ENGLISH

MAM

K’ICHE

Indigenous women on the frontline against climate change

At COP28, Indigenous women leaders from Africa, Mesoamerica and Asia share perceptions of climate change and their actions to resist its effects.

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On December 11, Indigenous women from Cameroon, Panama, Kenya, and the Philippines discussed how their ancestral knowledge contributes to Indigenous Peoples’ resilience to the effects of climate change in a side event at COP 28, From the frontlines: Through Indigenous women’s eyes. The event was organized by the FSC Indigenous Foundation (FSC-IF), the Coordination of Mesoamerican Women Territorial Leaders (CMLT), the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests (AMBP), and the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC).

Indigenous Peoples have been disproportionately affected by the impact of climate change. From the increase in the intensity of hurricanes, forest fires, droughts, and the degradation of soils and ecosystems, this crisis causes serious losses and damages that particularly affect Indigenous women and girls, as it hinders access to subsistence resources and increases the conditions of insecurity, vulnerability and risk to different types of violence.

At the same time, Indigenous women have historically been the guardians of ancestral knowledge and transmitters of traditional practices of medicine, planting, and the deep bond with Mother Earth. Therefore, the food security of their families, the good living of their peoples, and the conservation and regeneration of the planet’s forests and biodiversity depend on the empowerment and identity of Indigenous women and girls.

Around the world Indigenous women are taking action to resist the impacts of climate change on their territories and communities and build resilience, using their ancestral knowledge and deep connection with Mother Earth.

Voices and actions from around the world

In a panel, Sara Omi, President of the Coordinating Committee of Women Territorial Leaders of Mesoamerica; Balkisou Buba, Vice President of the Cameroon Branch of the Network of Indigenous and Local Populations for the Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa (REPALEAC); Edna Kaptoyo, Grantmaking and Partnerships Officer, Pawanka Fund; and Helen Magata, Coordinator of the Climate and Biodiversity Program of Tebtebba Foundation, shared their perspectives on loss and damages from climate change, the link between climate change and increasing violence, and their actions for resilience.

“Something needs to be done to reduce climate change to reduce the threat of violence against Indigenous women and girls,” stated Balkisou Buba. Panelists explained that Indigenous women face violence due to the impacts of climate change in their territories as they are forced to migrate to cities or walk longer distances to fetch water or wood.

They also discussed losses and damages from climate change. “Language loss is not something you can compensate for, our languages are dying,” explained Helen Magata, noting that language is connected to traditional agricultural practices of Indigenous women.

In response to these challenges, panelists shared actions they are taking in their communities for climate resilience.

“Indigenous women are doing great work to preserve the ancestral knowledge of our grandmothers. I come from a community that was relocated due to the construction of a hydroelectric dam, my grandmothers have shown that despite the violation of the right to territory we can restore our home and maintain our identity,” said Sara Omi.

“Indigenous women have been socially organizing to collectively face issues, such as access to food with drought-tolerant crops and traditional medicine. Women understand the ecology of their territory, which is crucial for regeneration and restoration projects,” added Edna Kaptoyo.

“Pastoralists use the land for periods so that the soil can regenerate. We also take just what we need from nature. We also use traditional knowledge to predict what is going to happen: draughts, rains,” said Balkisou Buba.

Helen Magata discussed forest and water management practices in her community that respond the the challenges of climate change and contribute to the reduction of conflict. She also shared the work of a community center to support Indigenous women’s mental well-being. “We do so much for the community and forget about ourselves, but we are also individuals,” she said.

The panel was moderated by Rabiatou Ahmadou, Political Participation and Advocacy Coordinator at the International Indigenous Women’s Forum. “Our Indigenous cultures are cultures of sharing,” she emphasized, highlighting that Indigenous women think about sharing, protecting, and leaving resources for the next generation.

Messages to stakeholders

Key stakeholders including governments, donors, philanthropists, and social and humanitarian operators participated in the event to hear directly from Indigenous women leaders on their perspectives and messages.

Edna Kaptoyo called for the recognition of the role of Indigenous women in climate resilience. Balkisou Buba highlighted the need to invest in traditional knowledge and involve Indigenous women in decision-making.

Helen Magata said that Indigenous women do not need to be empowered, because they already are. “Knowledge is power and Indigenous women have the knowledge,” she said. The call for stakeholders is to provide spaces and platforms for them to share that knowledge.

Further than the creation of these spaces, both Sara Omi and Balkisou Buba emphasized the need for direct climate finance to Indigenous women to allow them to continue protecting forests, and landscapes and advancing actions towards climate resilience.

Watch a recording of the event below:

Contact information:

Mary Donovan, FSC-IF, m.donovan@fsc.org

Tamara Espinoza, CMLT/AMPB, comunicacion@mujeresmesoamericanas.org

Andrea Rodriguez, GATC, arodriguez@globalalliance.me

Listen to more messages from Indigenous women on climate change here.

International STEM Day: Indigenous wisdom and technology

We spoke with the Indigenous student who hopes to merge technology with ancestral wisdom.

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To celebrate International Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Day, we share the story of América Anayelli Olguín, a young Indigenous woman from Zacatlán, Mexico who will soon begin a postgraduate degree in Geographic Information and Science Systems, with the support of the FSC Indigenous Foundation through its IPARD program. America will study for a postgraduate degree at UNIGIS Latin America, in Geographic Information Systems, tools that allow capturing, storing, analyzing and visualizing geospatial data to make location-based decisions. This program has a high content related to the STEM educational approach that addresses the integration of knowledge through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. America’s goal is to apply geographic analysis for territorial development, agriculture, and environmental conservation in Indigenous territories.

In recent years, America has focused her work on documentation in defense of her territory and the dissemination of culture through social networks. Currently, she collaborates with the Union of Ejidos of the Sierra Norte de Puebla, where she supports local communities in the sustainable and legal use of their forests, and in their internal organizational processes. In addition, she is part of the network of communicators of the MOCAF Network and the youth movement of the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests. She is also an active member of the Regional Collective in Defense of Forests and Territory of the Sierra Norte de Puebla. Her contributions will have a significant impact, including the development of Land Management Plans and participatory rural assessments in support of forest communities in her region. Find out more about how Indigenous ancestral wisdom is combined with science for the benefit of communities in this interview.

What motivated your interest in this course to learn about GIS?

Given the area in which I have worked in recent years, in supporting local communities in their timber harvesting, I have discovered the great work that the communities of the region have done in the preservation and restoration of the environment, something that unfortunately is not recognized by the general population, which in many cases is usually from ignorance of the activities and benefits that community forestry brings. So I want to promote a dissemination campaign on this issue that will consist of presenting materials with geographic information that is easy to understand for everyone but contains truthful information and adequately expresses the message. I believe that when the population knows and understands its region, with all its characteristics, a first step is taken to defend the territory. Having the skills to process information with Geographic Information Systems can be a powerful tool to strengthen and support the process that communities carry out for this objective that we have in common in the Sierra Norte de Puebla.

What will you learn in the course?

The course will be both broad and complex; the topics that are of most interest to me are geographic analysis and how we can relate it to issues such as territorial development, agriculture, and the environment because they are day-to-day issues in my family and community.

How will you apply this knowledge in your community and beyond?

One of my goals is to disseminate what the forest communities of the Sierra Norte de Puebla are doing, so I hope to be able to apply my knowledge to support the communities in planning their development, for example with the development of Land Management Plans or Participatory Rural Appraisals; also to support them in obtaining financing or capacity building projects before Mexican government agencies, since it is increasingly complex for forest owners to access these supports.

How will you share the knowledge gained with the communities?

One way to support the communities is to give them the tools so that they can promote their projects and raise their voices. I can share the knowledge through the Mexican Network of Peasant Forestry Organizations (REDMOCAF) because, given the reach they have, we can promote projects for trainings with young people from all over the country who are members of the organizations that belong to the network.

Why do you think it is important for Indigenous Peoples to work in science and technology?

Bringing technology and traditions together can have many benefits, the first being the documentation of these traditions and an approach for Indigenous Peoples and local communities to monitor how their territory is developing and trending towards change.

How can GIS help Indigenous communities?

It helps to manage the resources we have which, with inherited knowledge, creates impact in the fight for the environment and climate change.

GIS are tools that allow us to chart a path to a future. With geographic information, we trace a legacy in maps, but also in culture and resilience. They also help us protect our lands and prepare for the natural challenges that life presents us because we are custodians of our home.

Do you have any other messages you would like to share?

GIS gives us the power to chart our own destiny, it gives us the ability to plan, build, and care so that future generations will inherit a world enriched by our traditions.

With the support of GIS, our voices are louder, and our decisions clearer. Together, we forge a future that protects the legacy we will leave to our descendants.

In short, GIS is a powerful tool that lights the way to firmly defend our territory and heritage in the Sierra Norte de Puebla. The knowledge you acquire in this course will be the foundation with which we will protect our land.

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