Asia-Pacific Regional Centre

Gender and Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous women face triple discrimination in many parts of the world; they are discriminated against on the basis of ethnicity, socio-economic status, and gender.  As such, the Regional Indigenous Peoples' Programme has incorporated gender into all areas of its work.

Indigenous Women and Decision-Making

Indigenous women are often marginalized from decision-making processes both within and outside their communities.  RIPP aims to reverse this trend of marginalization by empowering indigenous women through training's and by providing them with the tools they need to take part in decision-making.  In these efforts, RIPP collaborates with UNDP’s Asia Pacific Gender Mainstreaming Programme (APGMP).

The Indigenous Women in Decision-Making initiative has been identified as a ‘good practice’ by the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Indigenous Women and is included in a compilation on “Indigenous Women and the United Nations System” launched at the 6th session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in May 2007.

Training

RIPP supports series of trainings to address the power dynamics that characterize the daily lives and relationships of indigenous women.  Implemented by the Asia Indigenous Peoples' Pact Foundation (AIPP) in partnership with local indigenous peoples organizations (IPOs), the trainings focus on enhancing decision-making roles and responsibilities of women at the household and community levels.  The trainings encourage participants to share experiences and stories, and create networks across communities and cultures. 

During the period of 2005—2008, eight trainings were conducted in Bangladesh, Burma, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Nepal and the Philippines.

In 2005 training were held in Bangladesh and Malaysia and in 2006 they were held in India, Thailand, and the Philippines. 

In 2007, RIPP facilitated two training workshops, in north-east India from 3-7 September, and in Nepal from 5-10 September 2007.

In 2008, two training workshop were conducted. The training in Indonesia was held on the 24th - 28th August and in Lao PDR was held on the 27th - 31st October 2008.

Future Plans:
There are a number of requests for follow on training's in other communities, and AIPP-RIPP are discussing future plans. Building on the knowledge gained during the first three years, work in this area will continue with expansion into other critical
areas such as violence and conflict prevention.

Download Reports:

• Training in Chittagong Hill Tracts
• Training in Nepal
• Training in Northeast India

Publications

The training helped shape a community training manual.  The manual provides easy to use modules on how to orient and conduct the training; it assists indigenous women in exploring and understanding the challenges they currently face.  It also helps them learn about relevant national legislation and international laws regarding their rights. 

The Indigenous Women and Decision-Making manual has been adapted and translated into Bengali, Burmese, Malaysian and Thai with further translations planned for wider use.

• Download the PDF Version of the Training Manual