IBIS in South America

Foto: Rune Geertsen

IBIS works in Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru helping to strengthen and empower the indigenous movements and organizations that work towards improving democracy through their demands for recognizing and fulfilling the Collective Rights of indigenous peoples such as the rights to self-government, territory and education.

IBIS South America works within two thematic programmes;

Governance
IBIS is supporting the indigenous movements and organizations in their work towards improving democracy through their demands for recognizing and fulfilling the Collective Rights of indigenous peoples.

Education
IBIS is supporting women and men, girls and boys to exercise their universal right to a quality and relevant education. We are in collaboration with our partners advocating for access to an intercultural bilingual education.

The situation in South America

Indigenous governance en South America:
During the last few years, the indigenous people have become political actors. For a long time they have struggled to get recognised as people and bearers of collective rights and ancestral knowledge, culture and wisdom. And in that process they have strengthened their space for self-determination and their proposals for institutional reforms. They have raised the issue of the Plurinational State, as a proposal to recuperate, democratise and strengthen State and society. The indigenous people have undertaken processes for the reconstitution of identities, for the preservation of their role as collective political actors and for demands in favour of self-determination. They have revealed the limits of the present forms of democracy and, coinciding with IBIS’ governance strategy; they are demanding new forms of democracy and representation.

Bilingual Education in South America:
During the last twenty years, a favourable legal framework has evolved for education and indigenous peoples allowing progress to be made in Intercultural Bilingual Education in the three countries in the region. All three have signed Convention 169 of the ILO and their constitutions and general laws on education recognise the pluriethnic, multicultural and plurilingual character of their societies. However, there are a series of limitations that have to be overcome, such as significant differences in the way in which education for indigenous peoples is implemented in each country and in the varying presence of the indigenous organisations, and their capacity to be political stakeholders and players, defending their claims and to create proposals.