By capacity building we refer to improving the capacities of Indigenous mountain communities and their support organisations (development projects) to recover their Indigenous knowledge and to control and use their natural resources through application of this knowledge.
Capacity building can occur at a number of levels and IKAP aims to or is currently providing training and education in capacity building in the following ways:
Training of IK-facilitators and supporters at local community level.
Training of project staff of upland development projects, including GTZ, EU and international NGOs in participatory methods of preservation, protection and promotion of Indigenous Knowledge for local development.
Organising a regional facilitator training program for supporters of indigenous knowledge (indigenous facilitators and members of NGOs and projects).
Local follow up training on Indigenous Knowledge for facilitators and indigenous leaders (at country level).
Promoting the voice of Indigenous peoples towards policy makers, development agents and researchers by disseminating information through different media, organising own events, attending local, national and regional events and developing a strategy to use electronic media (website, internet) for dissemination and promotion.
Supporting communities in networking and sharing knowledge and experiences to strengthen their activities.
Training activities
Regional IKAP Trainer Pool
The goal of the IKAP-network is to establish the Regional Trainer Pool: to train a group of facilitators and trainers who will support the capacity building of ethnic communities to control and use their own resources in a sustainable way, to recover their own traditional knowledge and to reaffirm their own identity and language as part of a strategy of improving their local livelihoods. The participating trainers will become the creative link between the IKAP-network and the local ethnic communities, small ethnic networks and supporting institutions and projects.
1st sequence of TOT
IKAP organised the first sequence of Training-of-Trainers in 2004 and 2005 for 18 potential trainers from 5 country networks. The 1st training (HTML file, PDF file)events took place in Chiang Mai in May 2004, 2nd training in Lijiang in September 2004 and 3rd training in Luang Prabang in January 2005.
We started with the understanding and exercise of concepts and methods of recovery of Indigenous Knowledge, then applied the practical tools on understanding IK during 2 days organising a market visit and field trips to 4 different ethnic villages, and developed the individual plans to implement the new skills in the institutional and local networking activities.
Most trainees were involved as facilitators of small workshops during the regional events in Chiang Mai (Globalisation Conference) and in Sapa (MMSEA 4). Most of them also have been able to apply their new or improved skills within their own institutions for farmer research, village planning processes, ethnic network organisation. According to an internal evaluation 1/3 of the participants are able to organise training events, 1/3 can join a team of facilitators and trainers, and 1/3 is only able to assist experienced teams.
The IKAP secretariat has created visualisation basketswith local material as well as locally made pin boards for trainers and facilitators at competitive prices, which are in use in the different country networks for different kinds of group events.
2nd Sequence of TOT
We continue Capacity Building of personal skills with the second Training of Trainers, which begins its sequence of 3 workshops for the pool of 19 trainers in June 2006 in Guizhou, China, October 2006, and May 2007 in Chaing Mai, Thailand.
The participants learned to practice and apply the IKAP-approach to identify and strengthen indigenous knowledge, to facilitate group events in general and focus groups in villages, to visualise and present group results and to design training events.
In cooperation with AIPP (Asian Indigenous Peoples Pact Foundation) and IWGIA– Asia (International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs) both based in Chiang Mai we organised the first Training for Facilitators on Indigenous Issues in SE-Asia from July 26 – 30 2004 in Chiang Mai (Thanam Guesthouse). This training focused on the improvement of facilitation skills to develop issues like indigenous rights and strategies to support indigenous communities to strengthen their livelihoods and cultural identity. 14 persons from 8 countries (Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Bangladesh, India, Burma, Thailand) with long term experience in working with indigenous peoples in SE-Asia took part in the training.
Before organized the MMSEA 4, with the corporation of CSDM and IKAP Network we organized the 4 days course of facilitator training in Hanoi on March 2005 for a group who volunteer to facilitate in the MMSEA 4 conference. The training course was focused on the concept of IK, IK tools, and visualization skills. The trainees were divided into 6 different topics; Land uses and shifting cultivation, Seeds & plants, Children & Biodiversity, Herbal Medicine & Healing, Indigenous education, local identity & language, and Artisans, crafts, art (Hemp).
