Proposal

Mission Statement: The Young Indigenous Circle Project will seek to give Indigenous young people in the Americas the tools for self-empowerment.

Introduction: Indigenous people, 8% of the population of the Americas, 41 million people, face many barriers in today's world. Indigenous communities have a long history of and continue to be economically marginalized, lacking the necessary resources for a reasonable and equal standard of living. Indigenous young people face a double burden. Not only do they confront the problems of their ancestors, they also must overcome the challenge that many other young people also face - unemployment and a future life of poverty. Therefore, young Indigenous peoples face many barriers to accessing the tools of economic development, which, will help to enable their people to attain social and economic stability and self-reliance.

In many areas of the Americas the traditional way of life and culture of Indigenous peoples are threatened. In the face of globalization, many Indigenous groups are striving to achieve economic development without threatening their cultural heritage. It is the young who are the future of the Indigenous Peoples, and only they can ensure the survival and prosperity of Indigenous Peoples throughout the Americas.

In the Charter of the Organization of American States and at high-level meetings such as the Presidential Summits of the Americas, the Member States consistently give high priority to actions to overcome poverty, especially the debilitating conditions that affect marginalized groups such as young persons and Indigenous peoples. To address these problems the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) promotes innovative programs to increase the numbers of young people with entrepreneurial skills.

In this program, indigenous young people will articulate their own experiences and needs and devise development goals that are implicit in their existing value system. Many Indigenous people rely on biodiversity as a means of survival and a source of future capital. Our program will bear this in mind, emphasizing environmental sustainability as a core value of all development. The approach will be holistic one, addressing all of the needs of Indigenous young people and not solely focusing on the purely economic. This will mean an emphasis on the personal development of young people as a means of enabling long-term development and prosperity. This emphasis on personal development and our grassroots approach will ensure that we are not engaging in short-term projects but rather are building a culturally sustainable means of empowering Indigenous young people.

Phase I: Research and Program Development

Description: During Phase I research and development will be conducted in order to identify successful practices and organizations that work with young indigenous people in development. This project will create an action-oriented network of these organizations, named the Young Indigenous Circle. The Circle will share knowledge and pool resources in order to initiate development programs for (and with) young Indigenous people in the Americas. These programs may include such things as: skills training, entrepreneurial and general education, micro-credit and micro-enterprise development, basic needs, organic agriculture, patent protection and ethno-botany, alternative energy, eco-tourism programs, etc. The rationale of the Circle is that the creation of such a network would be able to attract greater development resources for Indigenous young people.

A conference will be convened in order to facilitate this phase of the project. The conference participants will be drawn from all sub-regions of the Americas and will be diverse (including government representatives, NGO's, the private sector, and scholars). Heavy emphasis will be put on ensuring that young Indigenous participants are predominate. The conference will be held in an immersive setting in the Amazon rainforest where the survival of Indigenous groups is threatened by development. Pilot projects will be designed based on needs and approaches identified by Indigenous people themselves. These approaches must be culturally sensitive and environmentally sustainable.

Summary of Objectives:

• Create the infrastructure of the Circle including:

  • Web-based resource center: this will consist of a network website which is dedicated to the dissemination of information on programs to involve Indigenous young people in development as well as research on related topics. This website will also be utilised to coordinate Circle programs by highlighting the activities of the network and of network members. Circle meetings and conferences will also be broadcast on this site.

  • Circle Coordinator, Circle Members, and Advisors: Representatives of every Circle member organization will oversee the operation of the network and direct network activities. The Young Americas Business Trust will establish an operational frame of reference with the Circle members for the day-to-day activities of the Circle. Advisors to the Circle will consist of experts and leaders in the Indigenous community and beyond who will evaluate circle programs and offer technical advice and fundraising assistance.

  • Virtual newsletter: an electronic mail newsletter outlining network activities and new developments. The virtual newsletter will be distributed to Circle members as well as other organizations (in order to seek funding and further opportunities for co-operation).

• Hold a conference in order to create network, share knowledge, and initiate project.

• Disseminate the information gained at the conference through:

  • Broadcasting the conference on the internet at www.ybiz.net

  • The development and publication of a report or book on creating opportunity for Indigenous young people featuring selected conference papers as well as conference proceedings.

• Finally, the types of projects, which should be undertaken, will also be decided during this period.

Phase II: Expanded Pilot Projects

Description: This stage will see the network develop small pilot projects. These pilot projects will include one in each sub region: 1) Andes, 2) Meso-America, 3) North America, 4) the Amazon, and 5) the Caribbean Basin. Each project will be adapted to fit the local cultural and environmental context. The pilot projects will begin with a research phase that will include such things as study tours of existing projects and local organizations that deal with development and Indigenous young people. The program will then proceed to an implementation stage whereby small projects will be undertaken to assess the effectiveness of different approaches.

Summary of Objectives:

• Initiate preliminary project research.

• Videoconference at beginning of Phase II in order to further program development.

• Undertake study visits to set groundwork for pilot projects.

• Develop and initiate small pilot projects in each sub-region.

• Further development of web-based resource center.

• Second Videoconference at the end of Phase II to assess success of network programs and propose new projects. This videoconference will include all network members and will identify the successes and failures of the program so far. Recommendations will be made at this videoconference for programs to be initiated during the scaling-up in Phase III.

Phase III: Implementation

Description:
This phase of the project is designed to see the scaling-up of existing Circle projects, and therefore has greater funding requirements. It will also entail the development of new projects to meet the needs of Indigenous young people in the Americas and the Caribbean. The final phase of the project will include an assessment of the achievement of the program's goals as well as the development of future strategy. This will be accomplished through a final conference which will bring together all of the main participants in the network's programs as well as external participants.

Summary of Objectives:

• Final design of major network programs.

• Scaling-up of programs.

• Further development of web-based resource center.

• Final conference to measure success and discuss any issues that may have surfaced in project work. This conference will also set a future course for the network.