Grants in South America

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Organización Waorani de Pastaza (OWAP) and Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador (CONAIE)

$5,000 to support two inspiring Indigenous leaders from Ecuador, Nemonte Nenquimo, the co-founder of the Indigenous organization Ceibo Alliance and the first woman leader of the Waorani people, and Leonidas Iza Salazar, who was elected last June as the new president of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador (CONAIE), towards the transportation, accommodation, and day-to-day expenses of bringing them from the Amazon rainforest to participate in panels, workshops, keynote speaking events, and climate marches during Climate Week NYC.

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Repórter Brasil

$10,000 to support a multimedia investigation to tell the story of what happened to Brazilian Indigenous rights advocate Bruno Pereira and British journalist Dom Phillips who were brutally murdered in June 2022, as well as highlight the stories of the Indigenous communities within the Javari Valley that are fighting for their way of life and protection of their lands in the face of increasing violence and illicit activities impacting them.

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Pueblo Originario Kichwa de Sarayaku

$10,000 to support Pueblo Originario Kichwa de Sarayaku’s governing body and plan, including monitoring ongoing compliance of legal victories and holding several planning assemblies on their territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon. A key gathering that this grant contributed towards is the First Summit of Knowledge of the Indigenous Peoples (Kawsari I) held on Sarayaku territory as a space for Indigenous peoples to discuss and highlight their proposed solutions addressing the deforestation and climate emergencies through rights-based approaches.

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Fundación Hakhu Amazonía

$5,000 to support Indigenous-led campaign, communications and legal efforts seeking the cancellation of mining concessions in the Napo region of the Ecuadorian Amazon where thousands of individuals are engaged in illegal mining. Legal efforts resulted in the temporary suspensions of mining rights and a commitment from the government to address environmental damages caused to date by illegal mining, but Fundación Hakhu Amazonía is pushing for more long-term actions to protect the rights and security of impacted Indigenous communities.

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Federación de la Nacionalidad Achuar del Perú (FENAP)

$5,000 to support the Achuar Indigenous community-led efforts clearing and expanding a network of strategic footpaths used to patrol and monitor critical areas of their 2 million acres of roadless territory in the Peruvian Amazon in and around the Block 64 area where oil drilling that they are opposed to would happen, as well as working in coordination with the neighboring Wampis Indigenous Guard for joint control of the borders of their territories.

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Comunidad Kofán de Sinangoe

$5,000 to support 2 assemblies of Indigenous nations in the Ecuadorian Amazon. This first to host members of the Kofán, Kichwa, Waorani, Siekopai, Shuar, and Siona nations to share experiences and lessons in their fights against resource extraction on their territories and the second for the community of Sinangoe to plan community priorities and strategies related to a recent landmark legal victory of theirs recognizing, for the first time, the right of Indigenous communities in Ecuador to have the final decision over oil, mining and other extractive projects that affect their lands.

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Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (APIB)

$10,000 to support 2 major Indigenous mobilizations in April and June to Brasilia with several thousand participants coming from the Amazon and all parts of Brazil to counter efforts by the Bolsonaro government to legalize mining and other industrial activities on Indigenous lands (via Bill 191/2020), as well as spotlighting a Supreme Court case that could also undermine Indigenous land rights.

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Fundación Alianza Ceibo

$15,000 to support production of Indigenous-made media, including of a series of radio episodes to be aired across the major Amazonian Indigenous radio stations in Ecuador that will shed light on the context and community-led processes that have resulted in several landmark legal wins advancing the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and territorial defense in Ecuador. The project includes ongoing capacity formation for 25 Indigenous storytellers (18 of whom are women) through an Indigenous Communications School and Indigenous-led production and distribution of more than 20 powerful Indigenous-made media products.

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Fundación Alianza Ceibo in collaboration with Cabildo Siona de Buenavista

$12,500 to support a Siona community in the Colombian Amazon to defend their rights and fortify their community land patrols to defend their territory against illegal incursions by extractive interests and armed actors. Supported activities include: ongoing activities by the Indigenous Guard program, including land patrols and training for young rangers; skill and information sharing gatherings between Siona and other community land patrols across the region; accompaniment and support for Siona leadership in the community of Buenavista; legal strategies to defend Siona rights and lands, including advancing a pending case before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR); and land titling efforts to secure over 7,000 acres of ancestral territory.