Join the Deep Connections Fellowship for Indigenous Youth Leaders

Apply to attend the One Young World Summit in Montréal, Canada and exchange experience with young leaders from around the world.

FSC-IF

Thank you to those who have applied! We have closed the application period and will be in contact soon.

Are you an Indigenous leader looking for opportunities to exchange experiences with other young leaders from around the world? Apply to join the Deep Connections Fellowship for Indigenous Youth Leaders and attend the One Young World Summit in Montréal, Canada from September 17-21, 2024.

Highlighting the role of young Indigenous leaders as drivers of the struggle of their territories and bearers of Indigenous scientific knowledge, the FSC Indigenous Foundation (FSC-IF) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are launching this Fellowship to support youth leadership and strengthen Indigenous communities by facilitating Indigenous youth to attend the One Young World Summit.

The Summit will bring together young leaders from over 190 countries and more than 250 organizations working to accelerate social impact. The selected Indigenous leaders will participate in different spaces for dialogue, workshops, and networking with other youth leaders worldwide. They will also receive advice from influential political, business, and humanitarian leaders. Once the Summit is over, participants will become One Young World Ambassadors and become members of the FSC-IF Youth Community. They will return to their workplaces and communities with the means and motivation to make a difference.

This opportunity is open to Indigenous youth leaders between the ages of 18 and 35 who are part of Indigenous Peoples’ organizations from one of the following regions: Africa, Asia, the Arctic, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Pacific, and Europe.

Those interested in applying must be part of Indigenous Peoples’ organizations, promoting and developing actions on behalf of their community or People in one or more of the following strategic themes:

Conservation of Mother Earth (the environment) and climate change solutions
Empowerment and promotion of the active participation of Indigenous youth
Use and promotion of Artificial Intelligence and other technologies
Health and promotion of scientific ancestral knowledge
Peacebuilding

Likewise, Indigenous youth who wish to apply are encouraged to carry out actions that incorporate one or several of the following cross-cutting themes:

Strengthening and revitalization of culture (Indigenous languages, art, and cosmovision).
Social inclusion and work with different population groups (women, girls, etc.).
Innovation
Sustainability
Communication or audiovisual media

How can I apply?

Proposals may be submitted in different formats, including video (3-5 min), a written document (2 pages maximum), or by filling out a Google Form. Videos and documents can be submitted through the Google Form or sent to Yaily N. Castillo at y.castillo@fscif.org Applications can be submitted in Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French.

Applications will respond to the following:

Tell us about yourself!	Personal information: First name, last name, e-mail, telephone, country of residence, nationality (can be more than one), which Indigenous People/community you belong to, mother tongue, gender, and age. Your story: Who are you? What is your life story?
Please tell us what you do!	What role do you have within your organization or your community/Indigenous People? What actions do you carry out in one or more of the previously mentioned strategic themes? How do you incorporate some of the previously mentioned cross-cutting themes? Tell us about one of your greatest and most important achievements and learnings.
Tell us about your motivation!!!!	Why are you interested in participating in this call? How could your participation in this Summit contribute to the growth and empowerment of your community/people? What motivates you to be a leader within your Indigenous community?

Required Attachments: One letter of reference from an Indigenous Peoples’ organization endorsing your involvement in actions of your community or people and stating that you belong to an Indigenous People.

Receipt of applications will close on May 12, 2024, at 12 p.m. Central American time. Shortlisted candidates will be contacted by the FSC-IF team.

For more information about this application, please contact Yaily N. Castillo at y.castillo@fscif.org

APPLY HERE

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.

Babbel partners with the FSC Indigenous Foundation to facilitate English language learning with Indigenous Peoples

Language is a tool that empowers and promotes participation in crucial global discussions.

FSC-IF

Panama / Berlin, November 14, 2023 – The FSC Indigenous Foundation, a global Indigenous organization working with and for Indigenous Peoples worldwide, and Babbel, the world’s leading language learning platform, announce a partnership to offer English lessons to Indigenous Peoples around the world.

Babbel will support Indigenous Peoples with the self-paced learning app as well as its live classes with teachers to learn English, so they can actively participate in international events and meetings, and get access to more opportunities for the benefit of their communities and the planet. English will make it easier for them to find information on activities that improve their lives and territories.

Babbel’s purpose is to create mutual understanding through language. In addition to providing a platform for millions of learners who want to learn new languages and get to know cultures, the company is committed to making a positive impact on the world, reducing the environmental footprint and fostering diversity, inclusion and equality.

“For the Indigenous population, English is a language that we must master to have better communication and promote our agenda, this strengthens the economy in tourism, environmental management and all issues related to international cooperation,” said Florita Martínez, a Bribri Indigenous leader from Costa Rica and member of the Coordinating Committee of Women Territorial Leaders of Mesoamerica (CMLT).

“This would be a very fundamental initiative for the Ipeti Embera Artisan Women’s Association to improve communication with visitors and strategic allies,” said Omayra Casama, President of the Ipeti Embera Artisan Women’s Association (AMARIE), an Indigenous women’s organization in Panama.

With nearly two billion speakers worldwide, English is the official language of 55 countries and is spoken widely in over 100. These numbers are growing. It is predicted that by 2050, half the world will speak English. Indigenous Peoples should be included in this worldwide trend as their perspectives and knowledge are crucial in important global discussions from climate change to business, tourism, and culture.

“I think that the English language is dominating the world, we have to prepare ourselves as Indigenous Peoples and also prepare the youth to continue defending our territories,” said Briceida Inglesias, wise woman of the Guna people, Panama, and member of the Coordinating Committee of Women Territorial Leaders of Mesoamerica (CMLT).

Babbel is supporting the FSC Indigenous Foundation, as a partner in the Indigenous Peoples Alliance for Rights and Development (IPARD) Program, in strengthening Indigenous Peoples’ English skills by granting licenses to leaders and youth around the world who wish to learn with Babbel’s ecosystem and live classes (Babbel Live). IPARD is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and other private sector partners.

“At Babbel, we believe that language shouldn’t be a barrier, but a bridge to connect people around the world. Our goal is to make language learning easy, effective and flexible, so businesses and organizations can communicate better with international clients and partners, and thrive in the global market. We’re here to support people in breaking down language barriers and achieving success in our interconnected world. That’s why I’m very excited to start this collaboration with the FSC Indigenous Foundation”, commented Cristian Silva, responsible for this partnership at Babbel.

We will soon share information about the application process for English lessons.

About Babbel

Babbel develops and operates an ecosystem of interconnected online language learning experiences and is driven by the purpose of creating mutual understanding through language. This means building products that help people connect and communicate across cultures. The Babbel App, Babbel Live, Babbel Podcasts and Babbel for Business products focus on using a new language in the real world, in real situations, with real people. And it works: Studies by linguists from institutions such as Michigan State University, Yale University and the City University of New York demonstrated the efficacy of Babbel’s language learning methods.

The key is a blend of humanity and technology. Babbel offers more than 60,000 lessons across 14 languages, hand-crafted by 200 didactics experts, with user behaviors continuously analyzed to shape and tweak the learner experience. This results in constantly adapting, interactive content with live classes, games, podcasts, and videos that make understanding a new language easy, from Spanish to Indonesian.

Because Babbel is for everyone, its team is as diverse as its content. From its headquarters in Berlin and its U.S. office in New York, 1,000 people from more than 75 nationalities represent the backgrounds, characteristics, and perspectives that make all humans unique. Babbel sold over 10 million subscriptions by creating a true connection with users

More information: www.babbel.com

About the FSC Indigenous Foundation

The FSC Indigenous Foundation is a global Indigenous organization with a mission, values, and actions driven by, for, and with Indigenous Peoples. We work 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 our planet. To reach this goal, we support Indigenous Peoples’ self-development, self-governance, and self-reliance through Indigenous-based solutions, multi-sectoral partnerships, and funding.

The FSC Indigenous Foundation is committed to capacity development for Indigenous Peoples and stakeholders. We know that development, leadership, management, technical, and negotiation skills are key to building capacities to protect Indigenous Peoples’ rights, territories, and livelihoods. Developing skills and capacities is essential when working with Indigenous Peoples, as this will allow them to negotiate, participate, and influence decision-making process on their own conditions.

More information: www.fscindigenousfoundation.org/

Contact:

fsc.if@fsc.org

press@babbel.com

Panama’s President signs decree adopting the Indigenous Women’s Empowerment Plan

Indigenous women’s leadership and teamwork were important to achieve his historic act

FSC-IF

On the occasion of Indigenous Women’s Day, President of the Republic of Panama Laurentino Cortizo Cohen signed the Executive Decree adopting the Plan for the Empowerment of Indigenous Women of Panama (PEMIP 2025).

“We don’t want to be in the statistics of vulnerability. We want to be in the statistics of empowered women, breaking barriers, women who fight every day to develop their territories,” said Sara Omi, PEMIP 2025 Coordinator and Emberá leader.

It was a historic act in which for the first time in the Republic of Panama a public policy of gender inclusion was established, aimed at promoting the integral development of Indigenous women within and outside the Indigenous territories.

“With this sanction, for the first time a public policy is established for the integral development of Indigenous women, important pillars for the conservation of their culture, demonstrating great leadership and capacity to contribute to the development of the nation,” said President Cortizo.

About PEMIP

The Economic Empowerment Plan for Indigenous Women of Panama (PEMIP 2025) is a pioneering initiative that seeks to unite commitments between Indigenous women and public, private, and civil society actors, to carry out concrete actions that provide more and better opportunities for Indigenous women to fully develop their potential and capacity to contribute to the development and well-being of their families, territories, and country.

Its objective is to advance the autonomy, full inclusion, and effective exercise of the economic rights of Indigenous women, without any type of discrimination and based on their protagonism and self-determination, with a timeline from 2022-2025.

Signing ceremony

The key message of this event was teamwork. The Plan is a multisectoral initiative with the participation of 69 entities, such as public sector institutions governing economic-labor policies (Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Labor and Labor Development, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Authority), private sector (CECOM), development of Indigenous Peoples (Advisory Committee of Indigenous Women of Panama – CAMIP), NGOs (FSC Indigenous Foundation, City of Knowledge, AECID) and multilateral banks (Inter-American Development Bank, United Nations Development Program).

At the event, we heard from Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, President of the Republic, Roger Tejada Bryden, Minister of MINGOB, Briseida Iglesias, Guna Ancestral Sage, Sara Omi Casamá, National Coordinator of PEMIP 2025, Meybi Chamarra, Coordinator of CAMIP, Aulina Ismare Opua, Cacica of the National Congress of the Wounaan People and member of the National Council for the Integral Development of Indigenous Peoples of Panama (CONDIPI), Ana Grigera, Gender and Diversity Specialist of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and María Ángeles Sallé, member of the PEMIP Technical Assistance Team and ENRED Panama.

A success factor to reach this day was that all stakeholders listened to Indigenous women and were open to working with different communities and empowering Indigenous leaders.

The Ministry of Government acknowledged that the FSC Indigenous Foundation plays an important role in facilitating this process.

How we support PEMIP 2025

The FSC Indigenous Foundation (FSC-IF) is supporting the governance and implementation of this plan through the Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance for Rights and Development (IPARD) Program, working with Indigenous women and guided by their wisdom, knowledge, innovation, and leadership. IPARD is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and other private sector partners.

FSC-IF has a leading role in the PEMIP Strategic Sustainability Committee, working together with the IDB, CAMIP, the Ministry of Government, and ENRED, achieving many advances for the institutional strengthening of PEMIP and the implementation of CAMIP, such as workshops to expand their knowledge, manage the governance of PEMIP, empower their role in the Plan and be multiplier agents of change within their territories.

We also support i) the institutional strengthening of CAMIP, ii) the implementation of PEMIP in coordination with the government and CAMIP, to carry out the implementation of PEMIP at the local and community level, iii) the promotion of the implementation of PEMIP and other basic policies such as the implementation of Law 37 and Law 301, the organic charters of different comarcas and collective lands, iv) expansion of other issues to other areas to be inclusive in social, education and health issues and security of their rights, v) strengthening alliances and governance of the PEMIP, creating operational manuals and creating a network that strengthens and can ensure the sustainability of the Plan.

We consider this Plan to be not only a pioneering but an integral initiative that supports all actions promoted for and by Indigenous Peoples, supporting PEMIP 2025 and CAMIP as safeguards for the future and for Mother Earth.

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