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practices and lessons learnt from the participants. It is of
significance the relevance and stress they give to indigenous
women’s ancestral knowledge. FAO’s contribution also allows
the specific needs of indigenous women in the different coun-
tries to be addressed, by exposing them to relevant national
authorities, institutions, academia, civil society and other
United Nations organizations at country level.
Through these participatory capacity-building initiatives,
participants are provided with tools to reinforce their leader-
ship skills and are empowered to become community leaders.
They come to realize that they have rights as human beings,
as women, and as indigenous peoples, and are acquainted
with related instruments and processes to claim the respect
of these rights. As stated by Darhmingliani Hloncheu, “indig-
enous women need this kind of school because most of us do
not know about our rights; we know there are rights but we
do not know how to implement them and we do not know
how to advocate for them. Coming here, participating in this
school, I feel that I have learnt so many things that I can take
back to the community, to the women I work with.”
A key component of the training is the basic computer and
Internet module. For the majority of the participants, it is the
first opportunity to engage outside their community, familiar-
ize with a computer and learn how to use the Internet, create
e-mail along with social networks accounts and plan their
future engagement within their countries. “This is the first
time that I am able to join a gathering of indigenous women
from different parts of the country and even from outside
our country,” said Elsie Mokudef from the Teduray Peoples
in Maguindanao Province, the Philippines. “We can see a
democratic dialogue and we are learning through sharing our
experiences and listening to the experiences of others.”
In fact, while discussing food security and food sovereignty,
protection of local seeds, ecosystemmanagement, land, free prior
and informed consent, nutrition, and many more topics, women
learn about advocacy and effective communication and they
are supported in the preparation of their own advocacy plans,
through which they can promote changes in their communi-
ties. These plans analyse specific issues faced by women in their
communities and identify possible ways of overcoming them
through the know-how acquired during the school, resulting in
mini-projects that could be practically implemented.
For this reason, participants are selected among indigenous
women playing a key role in their communities who demon-
strate leadership aptitude, strong motivation, organization
skills and entrepreneurship or are already leading social move-
ments and are committed to activities in support of the school.
Each school is unique as it is adapted to the country needs.
A National Academic Advisory Council formed by representa-
tives of IIWF, FAO experts, as well as indigenous women leaders,
reviews the priorities, expectations and educational backgrounds
of the participants in order to tailor the curriculum as much as
possible to their needs, resulting in a constantly evolving meth-
odology. The promotion of gender equality is a crucial aspect of
the school and it encompasses all the different modules.
The school is organized to balance learning and interaction,
valuing the opportunity for women to exchange experiences
and plan for their future. Because the knowledge they possess
as indigenous women is of high value, improvements in their
communities strongly depend on it, and women’s empower-
ment has to be based on this unique knowledge. Not only
does this learning itinerary give women access to information
and equip them with leadership and decision-making tools,
but it also provides them with an opportunity to share their
perspective with other indigenous women across the region.
This represents an invaluable chance to foster inter and intra-
generational dialogue, to learn from other women who live in
similar conditions and to discuss experiences and strategies.
Each school develops into three consecutive phases. The first
phase is one week including a series of workshops, discussions
and case studies on food security, nutrition, communica-
tions, leadership, network building, advocacy strategies etc,
based on the context of the country. Representatives from the
national government, academia and other relevant sectors are
invited to different sessions of the school in order to promote
dialogue. During this phase, a set of key issues affecting indig-
enous peoples and women in their communities are discussed.
In this context, the contributions of women to food produc-
tion and households’ food systems are analysed, as well as
the discriminations that indigenous women have to endure.
An e-learning stage is then managed through the web and
telephone calls: during this five-month phase the participants
have to read relevant documentation, discuss through a forum
and submit reflections and analysis. Participants are guided
to elaborate their own advocacy plans to promote changes
regarding a specific issue that they identify as a priority. This
may include increased access to education and health services,
specific work on food systems and food security, as well as
improved recognition and active participation in community
decision-making. The process is followed by facilitators from
IIWF accompanied by FAO technical experts, and special
guests are invited to address specific subjects.
Image: FAO
Participants are provided with tools to reinforce their leadership skills and
are empowered to become community leaders
G
ender
E
quality
and
W
omen
’
s
E
mpowerment