Peru Service Learning Trip

For more information or to fill out the application online check out Isla's website (www.isla-serve.org), 970-372-9515, info@isla-serve.org

An Alternative Vision for the Peruvian Amazon

Photo: A traditional Shipibo song to open the Symposium of Village Leaders.

Village Earth was asked by the Regional Institute for Development of Native Communities (IRDECON for its Spanish acronym), a program of the regional government, to facilitate a strategic planning session for indigenous leaders in the Ucayali Region. They asked Village Earth to facilitate this meeting because they like Village Earth's methodology that has been used in previous workshops and gatherings of indigenous leaders in the region.


Photo: The President of ORAU speaking at the Symposium of Village Leaders.


Photo: The planning began with a participatory discussion about Shipibo values, which included: love, friendliness, to live united, solidarity, reciprocity, honesty, humility, respect, sincerity, cultural identity, songs and dances, shamanism.


The Symposium of Leaders of Native Communities was an event hosted by IRDECON to really listen to the representatives of indigenous communities. As they said, many times development decisions are made in the government offices with no regard for the needs or priorities of the communities. Based on the outcomes of the Village Earth strategic planning session, IRDECON will use these development priorities to develop their 2010 organizational plan and budget. Village Earth was honored to be invited to this event.


Above Photos: Kristina and Jamie of Village Earth facilitated a "visioning" workshop for community leaders to determine the future of their communities and the region. Richard Soria, President of IRDECON, helped with the Shipibo translations.


Photo: The vision for the region included ideas about reforestation projects, cultural revival, creating small business within communities, creating communal forest reserves, fish farms, and more.


Photo: Discussion between indigenous leaders about the priorities of the region.


Photo: Limber Gomez, event organizer and past Village Earth-trainee, facilitates a discussion on prioritizing the different themes of the indigenous leaders' visions, so that IRDECON can best facilitate a bottom-up approach to sustainable development

Isla creates new 8-week service learning trip to Peru starting June 20, 2009

Isla (International Service Learning Alliance) is excited to offer you their newest sustainable development and service-learning opportunity in the Ucayali Region of the Central Peruvian Amazon, hosted by Village Earth. People interested in ecotourism, environmental conservation, wildlife species research, and teaching English should apply at
http://isla-serve.org/apply.html

The deadline to apply has been extended to May 1, 2009.

This is a great opportunity to work with Village Earth in the field! Training for all of Isla's programs is provided by Village Earth.

Isla's Peru program is a great opportunity for small groups who want to learn, travel and serve together through sustainable development. Program fees are significantly reduced for groups of 2 to 10 people. Volunteer programs available from 2-8 weeks.

For more information contact Chelsea DeFoort at cdefoort@isla-serve.org or 970.372.9516.

Additional programs are available for the summer and fall of 2009 in Bulgaria, Ghana, and India.

Service-learning builds your professional profile while expanding your perspectives in global development. Isla offers you a unique experience by matching your skill sets and passion with their program partners across the globe. If you have felt the need to learn how to make a difference in your own life and share in the lives of your fellow citizens across oceans, now is your opportunity!

Peru throws out Amazon land laws

Reposted from BBC News

The Amazon region is home to some of Peru's poorest communities

Peru's Congress has voted to repeal two land laws aimed at opening up Amazonian tribal areas to development, which led to protests by indigenous groups.

Correspondents say the repeal of the laws is a blow to President Alan Garcia, who had approved the legislation by decree.

Mr Garcia had described the initiative as pivotal to the improvement of life in Peru's poorest regions.

A leading indigenous rights campaigner welcomed the repeal of the laws.

Alberto Pizango called it a new dawn for the country's indigenous peoples.

During the protests, which lasted more than 10 days, indigenous groups took several police officers hostage, and took control of both a major natural gas field in southern Peru and an oil pipeline.

'True democracy'

Congress repealed the laws by 66 votes to 29.

Mr Garcia had said repealing the laws would hold up progress

Speaking before the vote, Roger Naja, president of the National Commission for Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvian Peoples, had urged Congress to vote to rescind the laws.

History, he said, would remember Friday as "the day that the disappearance of the indigenous communities in the jungles and mountains was avoided".

Mr Pizango, leader of the Inter-Ethnic Association of the Peruvian Forest (Aidesep), hailed the repeal as "a moment of true democracy and true inclusion".

"This is a new dawn for the people of this country, and for all Peruvians who wish to develop in freedom, not in oppression," he said.

On Wednesday, President Garcia had warned the repeal would be "a very serious, historic mistake".

"If that were to happen out of fear of protesters, fear of unrest, Peru would some day remember it as the moment when change came to a halt and hundreds of thousands of people were condemned to poverty, exclusion and marginalisation," he told reporters.

The laws would have allowed the sale of tribal lands by a simple majority vote in a community assembly, which the protesters say would make it easier for big energy companies to grab their land.

Around 70% of Peru's Amazon is leased for oil and gas exploration and many of its tribal people say they do not want the companies on their land, the BBC's Dan Collyns reports from the Peruvian capital Lima.

“Living Well,” a development alternative

Reposted from: Latin America Press Thursday, June 5, 2008

“Living Well,” a development alternative

Elsa Chanduví. Jun 5, 2008 Proposal is considered legacy of indigenous peoples to humanity More than 1,000 representatives from indigenous communities across the Americas gathered in Lima, Peru, have agreed on a new social system, known as “Living Well,” focused on reciprocity between people and the Earth. The participants — delegates of the Quechua, Kichwa, Aymara, Lafquenche, Guambiano, Toba, Colla, Poccra, Ashaninka and other indigenous groups — agreed in the “Declaration of the Children of the Earth” to reject the “planetary suicide of the commoditization of life,” when the document was reached at the end of a two-day National Summit of Indigenous Communities and Peoples of Peru and the International Forum: Indigenous Agenda, the European Union and the Decolonialization of Power and Knowledge held on May 12-13. A break from market dogmas “We believe there is a big difference between [living well and] those who believe that living well is to live better than someone else. [The latter] reflects a competition instead of respect and equality. So, ‘living well’ is the exercise of rights, respect, equality, and means a life for everyone,” said Blanca Chancoso, a renowned leader of Ecuador’s Kichwa women, who formerly served as one of the directors of the country’s largest indigenous organization, CONAIE. She is currently part of the Dolores Ulcuango Indigenous School in Ecuador. “Capitalism is guilty of the depredation of Mother Nature and therefore, of global warming, which is going to have serious consequences for the life of the planet,” said Tomás Huanacu, of Bolivia’s National Council of Ayllus and Markas of Qollasuyo. “So, the indigenous peoples are looking to ‘live well’ but within a planned system, not one of super exploitation, but one of rational exploitation.” The concept of “living well” is based on respect of the environment and equality. (Photo: William Chico) Huanacu referred to Bolivian President Evo Morales’ 10 commandments to save the planet — presented during the inauguration of the United Nations’ VII Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York in April — which say that in order to save the planet, the capitalist model that encourages consumerism, individualism and the desire for wealth must be scrapped. “We want everyone to be able to live well and to understand that this is not the same as living better at someone else’s cost,” states the last of Morales’ commandments. This concept is currently being used by Ecuador's Constituent Assembly. Members of the body have already approved four articles regarding the development system, the first of which makes reference to the “implementation of living well.” “Living well requires people, communities, groups and nationalities to exercise their rights and liberties, and to exercise their responsibilities in the framework of respect for diversity and harmonious coexistence with nature,” says the article. Luis Ángel Saavedra, president of Ecuador’s Regional Foundation for Human Rights Assistance, who was a speaker at the Peoples’ Summit in May, an alternative summit which ran alongside a biennial summit of European Union, Latin American and Caribbean leaders, signaled that the concept of living well is three-tiered: individual, community and nature. The individual level includes a healthy lifestyle, based on satisfying needs, which implies recognition of economic, social and cultural rights, while avoiding consumerist or lavish tendencies. Living well on the community level relates to how human development indexes play out collectively, the sense that all rights should be for everyone. The nature level — based on the concept of Pachamama, the indigenous notion of Mother Earth — is envisioned not only as the environment, but a source of life and humankind’s only hope for survival. Saavedra stressed that bestowing certain rights to Mother Nature is impossible within the framework of a free market. He added that in Ecuador, the mention of this issue in the constitution is currently being debated, similar to what was already incorporated in Bolivia’s constitution, which faces approval in a national referendum. Living well marks a break from market dogmas that promote consumerism, competition among individuals and accumulation of wealth as synonymous with power over others, stated Saavedra. Challenges and obstacles Ecuadorian Magdalena León, of the Social Forum Committee of the Americas, referred to living well as a new paradigm that meets obstacles like wealth accumulation and competitiveness that impede progress. “Even in the proposals that appear innovative or alternative, there is the idea to not change [wealth] accumulation, but the form of distribution: we are going to continue accumulating in the same way and later we’ll see how to redistribute a little,” said León. The idea of competition is also deeply rooted, León explains, “as if economic progress comes naturally because we compete against one another as individuals, as communities, as countries, as regions.” But she maintains that this couldn’t be any further from the notion of living well, which is based on reciprocity, cooperation and complementarity. However, for those who promote new social relationships based on on living well, the fundamental challenge to make it possible is generating harmonious relationships between human beings. “It is incompatible, for example, that in social relationships there is a gender division in labor, under-estimation and exploitation, a lack of recognition of women’s work,” says León. “It’s absurd that we talk about defending life but at the same time failing to recognize women’s rights to reproductive self-determination.” Though living well is an indigenous concept, its advocates do not see it as something that can only belong to indigenous peoples, but instead, as the indigenous peoples’ legacy to humanity. “It can only be built in a context of diversity and plurality,” argues León

Training More Peruvian Activators

Above: Alejandra and Nixon present a map of Peru.

Nixon Yuimachi, a Shipibo artist, and Alejandra, who has been working with Shipibo women craft cooperatives, were both able to attend Village Earth/ the International Institute for Sustainable Development's "Participatory Practices for Sustainable Development" (PPSD) training course. The course was held in May 2008 at Colorado State University, and participants from all over the world attended. Nixon and Alejandra both found the workshop very useful to their future work with communities in Peru. Nixon plans to return home and create a community-based conservation area in order to protect the Amazon ecology, as well as an art school/ museum that will teach young Shipibo traditional Shipibo arts, as well as showcase arts from throughout the region.


Above: Nixon Yuimachi presents with Kristina Pearson from Village Earth about their work in the region to the workshop participants.

Helping Shipibo people to attend our training courses is part of Village Earth's strategy to build up a trained internal catalytic force. Indigenous leaders and change agents receive training in community mobilization and participatory techniques to work with communities toward their own vision for the future. Limber Gomez, a Shipibo leader who attended this training course last year, has been instrumental in forming a grassroots youth environmental organization as well as mobilizing the Ucayali region to work toward indigenous rights and environmental defense through his radio program, community work, and educational workshops using new techniques he learned in the PPSD course.

If you are interested in learning more about this workshop, or sponsoring a Shipibo participant to attend a future training, please visit: http://www.colostate.edu/Orgs/IISD/Seminars.html

Water Project Update

Photo: Meeting with the community authorities to discuss the clean water project.

Village Earth met with Dinamarca's community authorities to begin preparations for the clean water project and territorial demarcation with Engineers Without Borders January 2008. The community is looking forward to having clean water filters and a new well in order to decrease the amount of water borne illness in the community. It is hoped that the system developed in Dinamarca can be replicated in other Shipibo communities that are in need of clean drinking water. EWB, the community leaders, and their many allies (such as IBC) have been hard at work trying to secure Dinamarca's territorial borders before the encroachment of oil companies and as more and more colonists are moving into the area especially with the construction of a new road that cuts across their territory.

To keep updated on EWB's work, visit their website and blogs:
http://www.ewbfortcollins.org/Project/Project.htm
http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/ewbfortcollins/1/tpod.html

First Indigenous Tribunal of the Ucayali

As a follow-up and outcome to the Village Earth Regional Organizational workshop in January 2007, a group of Shipibo leaders have decided to hold the first ever 'Indigenous Tribunal' as they call it. This Tribunal will be a gathering of leaders from all 120 Shipibo communities throughout the region. They are also inviting local NGOs and leaders from other regional indigenous groups such as the Ashaninka. This is an event of historic importance because the Shipibo have not had a regional meeting of this magnitude for over 30 years, and even then never did it have the possibility for such far-reaching impacts as the Indigenous Tribunal being organized at present.

Below: Participants in the January workshop who were elected to the Transitory Committee responsible for organizing the Indigenous Tribunal.

The organizers of this event have asked Village Earth to be a co-facilitator - to continue with a regional visioning process with the participation of all delegates present at the Tribunal. This will be the largest strategic planning that the Village Earth team has done to-date and could possibly have the most far-reaching impacts as well. 480 leaders are estimated to attend this event representing around 40,000 indigenous peoples throughout the Ucayali region. All parties involved hope that this will be the key event in mobilizing and organizing the region to begin the process of a truly community-based, sustainable form of alternative "development" - to empower the region toward active self-determination.

The Shipibo people realized that only by working together at the regional level will they ever really be able to implement their own vision for the future based on the values and wisdom of the majority indigenous population of the region. Some of the specific objectives as written in their project plan are as follows:

• To bring together leaders, authorities, students, technicians, and indigenous professionals of the region to search together the true development of the indigenous population with a united organization with strategic allies both national and international
  


• To inform and motivate the jefes (chiefs) of the communities about the importance of cultural revival and the care of our lands
  


• To achieve the participation and commitment of the jefes and leaders of the indigenous communities to form a work group for environmental conservation and sustainable development


• To strengthen the communication channel between indigenous and foreign organizations for the development of our communities.

Art and cultural performances will also play a big part in the three-day Tribunal with cultural and artistic presentations planned each evening and also for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Above: This group of orphaned children will be performing traditional Shipibo song and dance at the June event.

The organizing committee of the Tribunal is building off of the transnational legal framework that is currently so popular in the discourse about indigenous rights. For example:

• International Labour Organization Convention 169
• Declaration of the First International Decade of Indigenous Peoples
• Declaration of the Second International Decade of Indigenous Peoples
• Proposal of Regimen of the Protection of Collective Knowledge of Indigenous Peoples of INDECOPÍ
• Law N° 22175 of Native Communities
• Declaration of Río de Janeiro in 1992
• Summit of the Americas, Miami; 1994
  
• Declaration for the Summit of Sustainable Development in Santa Cruz de la Sierra 1996
• Summit of Santiago 1997
• Agenda 21 (Cap. 25 and 26)National Strategy for the participation in Sustainable Development (OFA)
  

The organizing committee writes, "In the last 50 years, the Amazonian cultures have been suffering from an aggressive Western acculturation. The [Peruvian] government underwent a neoliberal political shift without considering the consequences upon the indigenous peoples. Many indigenous peoples were forced to leave their cultures as they migrated to the big cities in search of a better opportunity." The objective of the Tribunal is so "that the communities be the protagonists of their own development, and the local, national, and foreign authorities take care of and support us in our own program of development."

Five themed expositions will be presented during the Tribunal:

1. The Role of the Jefes
   
2. Indigenous Reality
   
3. The Political Situation
   
4. National Political and Economic Reality
   
5. United Communities
   

At the end of the event, there will be an election of leaders to form the new grassroots regional organization of indigenous peoples.

This is such an important event for the future of indigenous self-determination throughout the Peruvian Amazon. Please help us to support the Shipibo by making a financial contribution today. The estimated budget for the Tribunal is approximately $9000 USD in order to provide food and transportation for even the most remote community leaders to be able to attend. As well, the organizing committee is undertaking an extensive media campaign and hopes to print posters, invitations to regional leaders, and hold press conferences.

Please help us support the future generations of Shipibo leaders and the ecological integrity of the Amazon Basin.

If you interested in supporting the Shipibo's efforts at organizing the region, you can contribute directly through Pay Pal on the website. Or you can send a check or money order to:

Village Earth

P.O. Box 797

Fort Collins, CO 80522 USA

or call the Village Earth office at: +1-970-491-5754 to make a contribution using your credit card.

If you would like more information about the Indigenous Tribunal in June, please contact: Kristina Pearson

Shipibo Regional Organizational Workshop

Above: Enjoying a relaxing evening after the workshop.

Village Earth was asked by some prominent Shipibo leaders a few months back to facilitate another regional workshop this time with more of an emphasis on intercommunity cooperation. So the Village Earth team returned for a 7-day workshop in early January. Twenty-four Shipibo leaders participated representing six communities in four different districts throughout the Ucayali. The workshop began with a review of past Village Earth-Shipibo collaborations and a viewing of the Village Earth/Shipibo documentary film, "The Children of the Anaconda". Then we began a district-wide mapping session so community members would be begin to think beyond their own borders. This brought up an array of environmental issues as participants discussed sharing forest and river resources with neighboring communities, but also the destruction being wrought by logging and oil companies in the region.

Below: Shipibo children participated by drawing their own map of their community and then presented it to the group. For community initiatives to be truly sustainable, children, too, must always be involved in the process.

Village Earth would like to facilitate collaboration between our project partners, and both the Lakota and Shipibo have expressed much interest in working together in the future as they face many of the same issues being the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas. We decided to do a viewing of the Village Earth-produced documentary film "Rezonomics" which highlights the economic situation on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Although they inhabit vastly different environments, the Shipibo found many similarities in their struggles and learned from the Lakota new ways to think about many of their issues.

This was followed by a discussion on the roles and activities of NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in Shipibo country. This led to a very interesting discussion about NGOs and top-down funding models which many times inhibits NGOs from being responsive to community needs and truly participatory community-based development. The Shipibo have dealt with NGO after NGO letting them down with failed promises. However, this is not purely the fault of the NGO. The Shipibo, too, recognize that they need to be proactive and organized when soliciting the assistance of NGOs. Only when both parties are in consensus and work through the Shipibo model of community organization is there the potential to have successful collaborations.

This led us to the discussion of 'So, what has been successful?' What has worked before and how did they organize to make it happen? This is an important part of the Village Earth process because we want to encourage communities to build off of past successes instead of reinventing the wheel each time. Many community projects had been successful before - from communal construction projects to fish farms. Then we questioned, "How did the communities organize themselves in order to make these projects happen?"

Above: One influential Shipibo leader, Limber Gomez, draws out the model of intra and inter-community governance that the Shipibo people use to organize themselves. This highlighted the disconnect between the way NGOs were entering the communities and beginning their work and the way in which Shipibo communities build consensus and participation for projects.

Shipibo communities already have their own consensus-building processes in which the community authorities hold assemblies where everybody is welcomed and encouraged to attend. From this point, committees are democratically-elected to take on different project aspects which then report back to the authorities and the community during the assemblies. They have their own treasurers and methods for financial accountability. Although this seems like such common sense, it is surprising how many outsiders come in thinking they have the answers or that the Shipibo don't know how to manage their own finances or run their own projects. Yet, the Shipibo are actually running their community affairs with incredible organizational capacity which is only disrupted when outsiders try to impose top-down funding and project management.

We then began the strategic planning session with a five-year vision emphasizing regional unity. This was really a question from the heart - what do they really feel for their community and their people, as opposed to just thinking about what material goods they would like to have. This really forced them to look deep inside themselves to come up with their comprehensive vision collectively. Their vision consisted of four main emphasis areas: Community Development, Formation of Shipibo Professionals (business leaders, doctors, engineers, lawyers), Cultural Revival, and the creation of Micro-enterprises.

This led to the question, "What obstacles are holding you back from achieving your vision?" The participants really focused on obstacles they could change themselves instead of focusing on larger global systemic issues that might seem more daunting to overcome. We then moved onto Strategic Directions where participants looked at what they can do in the next year to overcome their obstacles and begin to move toward their vision. The Strategic Directions really got the participants involved and thinking about what they can actually do to achieve their own vision for the future.

Below: All participants were involved in putting their ideas onto the board throughout the visioning process. These young men were rearranging the group's ideas into coherent groupings for the Strategic Directions phase of the workshop.

Finally, the workshop reached its pinnacle in the Action Planning phase. Participants mapped out their plans for the next three months - practical actions that they can actually take to move toward their vision and be active agents in their own "development" process. Eight aspects were deemed the most important areas for action. They are:

• First and foremost -- protect and defend Shipibo territory
  


• Broader regional unity
  


• Cultural revival
  


• University scholarships for their children
  


• Small business development
  


• An Indigenous Bank to facilitate economic development
  


• Promoting indigenous foods for better nutrition
  


• Shipibo-run radio stations broadcasting throughout the region
  

A committee was formed for each of these eight areas, tasks were assigned, timelines and budgets were drawn up, and finally they were presented back to the group.

Above: Leaders of the group planning actions to protect indigenous territory present their plan back to the group for approval.

These eight areas will be further discussed in forthcoming Blog postings. A Transitory Committee was democratically-elected amongst the participants (with at least one representative of each community present in the workshop) to hold an Indigenous Tribunal in June. This June event will be the follow-up to this workshop and it is Village Earth's great honor that the Shipibo have asked Village Earth to return and co-facilitate this historic event. The Tribunal will be a gathering of Indigenous leaders from all 120 Shipibo communities, as well as other regional indigenous groups, to discuss their own alternative plan for "A Better Ucayali".

All in all, this Regional Organizational Workshop was an incredibly empowering event and a great learning experience for all involved. The Shipibo have expressed to the Village Earth team how happy and grateful they are for our support for their self-determination. Yet, when we asked "Who came up with this plan?", the participants realized that it was completely decided and directed by them with Village Earth only providing the framework from which to begin to question and think about some of these important issues.

Village Earth is honored to work with these amazing individuals that participated in this workshop and the Shipibo people as a whole. And we feel privileged to be invited to co-facilitate their landmark Indigenous Tribunal in June 2007.

Above: Village Earth facilitators Kristina Pearson and David Bartecchi dance with the group as the Shipibo band plays in the background. The community organized a farewell party on the last evening of the workshop to celebrate the achievements of the group.

Below: A special thank you to Mayer Kirkpatrick, Mateo Arevalo, and Freddy Arevalo for their hardwork and dedication to this project.




Above: Thank you to Ralf (Village Earth's media specialist), and Chloe (Village Earth's Poet Laureate) for their hardwork and help throughout the workshop.

Below: A very special thank you to Flora - an amazing volunteer who gave so much of her time to help with translations and facilitating the workshop.

And most of all - THANK YOU to all of our donors - without you none of this would have been possible!