Vision

Our vision is that Indigenous and Tribal communities and peoples determine their own, and participate fully in their country's development through utilisation of Indigenous Knowledge and perspectives. We strive for mutual support and cross-border relationships between Indigenous and tribal peoples and communities throughout the region.

1. To promote Indigenous Knowledge (IK) for sustainable livelihoods
2. To strengthen community organizations and networks for IK transition to the younger generations
3. To establish contacts, facilitate exchange visits and join efforts for sustainable development in MMSEA
4. To establish a network focused on capacity building (CB), to support IK and peoples for biodiversity, conservation and endogenous development.
5. To implement and support CB-activities for Indigenous Peoples and facilitators.
6. To provide advice and training to development workers and researchers (NGOs, Academics, International and State)
7. To promote Indigenous People’s own research on IK and culture with regard to natural resources
8. To develop advocacy tools to promote IK in MMSEA 
   

Country Networks
The country networks (CNs) under the umbrella of the IKAP Regional Network are the key working components of the IKAP network. Their structure and organisation is based on the local needs and requirements for the most effective mode of work. The detailed TOR, membership criteria and mode of registration are defined by each country network. The core roles of the country networks (CNs) are in-country capacity building activities (local training, organisational development, fairs, exchange visits, research/implementation based on selected topic groups, etc.), in-country information / exchange /dissemination and advocacy platform, networking, local meetings on specific topics, etc.) and support for and strengthening of IP groups (finance, advise, training, technical).

1. In-country activities executed by the local networks, such as training and topic events, topic groups and bilateral exchange visits;
2. Regional activities coordinated by the Secretariat such as dissemination of information, concepts and methods about Indigenous Knowledge and Community Facilitation, training a regional trainer pool and lobbying for IK and indigenous resource rights at a regional level; and
3. International activities including the dissemination of local and national experiences. Further detailed information about the network activities is available on request.

Shared principles

All members of the network agree on the following principles of cooperation:

1. The network is based on personal and institutional commitments; the strength of the network is formed by, and reflected by, individual and organisational members, working on existing structures and using existing mechanisms and communication channels, developing complementary initiatives. We will follow a decentralised approach, by having the local country based groups of IKAP develop and organise the network activities.
   
   
2. Each country will develop local groups and networks of organisations and persons, who develop their own agendas and activities of promoting Indigenous Knowledge according to the local conditions.
   
   
3. The regional networking will focus on advocacy and elaborating on the support of Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous Peoples in the region, on capacity building of indigenous peoples and a pool of trainers and facilitators in MMSEA and on exchange and communication about ongoing research and development activities.
   
   
4. The coordinators of the network support the information exchange, coordinate regional activities (training, concept development etc.) and help to inform about results and outcomes, but do not engage in own research or development projects or act as a project office. 5. We will only establish a small secretariat in Chiang Mai hosted by IMPECT (with minimum staff) to provide support to regional and in-country activities. Chiang Mai will be the hub, facilitating communication and cooperation between different country groups.
   
   
5. To make the network sustainable in the long run we will aim for strengthening the local capacities and skills (also through the regional trainer pool), handing over training activities to local resource persons including Indigenous peoples and by developing a scheme of sharing costs using local resources of the local partners.

Sustainability

The network will mobilise local resources like local expertise, existing project funds, and support local training events entirely funded by the existing institutions and projects. By offering advice to development projects we aim for obtaining extra funding to achieve a percentage of local funding for network activities. By orienting indigenous community development plans we will disseminate concepts and methods of protecting, preserving and promoting IK within ethnic communities, which do not require external funding but more the commitment of the local communities.

Challenges and dangers

There are three major processes that impact on the continuation and validity of Indigenous Knowledge in communities in MMSEA, (1) discrimination against local and indigenous knowledge systems by the dominant or mainstream culture, including also the internalisation of perceived inferiority; (2) the right to the continuation of traditional livelihoods, cultures and beliefs being ignored or dismissed by nation states pursuing a development path that insists on assimilating ethnic and cultural differences and separating people from nature; and (3) the growing globalisation of markets and appropriation of local resources and knowledge by outsiders and ideologies offering a uniform and so called superior Western ideal of urban life.

Our challenge is to strengthen indigenous knowledge as an integral part of indigenous cultures and societies, and as a means of providing better livelihoods. This requires that indigenous and ethnic communities are themselves aware of these dangers to their cultures, and actively work to protect themselves from these influences. This involves documenting their own knowledge, involving all generations in the protection of IK by influencing the education of their children and organising themselves to protect their livelihoods against external impositions. Given the dynamic nature of knowledge systems, indigenous and ethnic communities require the space and support necessary to experiment within their own Knowledge System through experimentation, exchange with other communities and through dialogue with open-minded scientists.

External to the communities themselves, networks of indigenous peoples need to have the means and materials necessary to show the validity of their cultures and knowledge in a modern and global world and eliminate the arrogance of decision-makers and outsiders, who have devalued and even persecuted indigenous knowledge.

There exist methods of facilitation, which create a process of revitalisation within communities, and can assist them to face the challenges ahead. These methods use tools coming from the participatory learning and action approach (PLA), which combine the representation of own knowledge and visualisation of concepts (language) with dialogue and organisation processes within ethnic communities. It is the application and transfer of these methods of facilitation that this network aims to achieve, thus placing the required tools in the hands of those who most need them.