|
000070 Visit since
| Profile of the Indigenous People
of Mexico
SUMMARY 6th and last part |
by Prof. German Estrada
November 22, 2003 |
Paths to Successful Indigenous
Development
20. Despite the
above experience, there are successful models of indigenous
development, both internally and externally induced.
The profiles also document the strong interest of all
the indigenous peoples investigated to adapt their societies
and cultures to new needs and opportunities, while retaining
their distinct, cultural identities. There are common
elements in the success stories that can be applied
by government and other development agencies. This however,
requires a fundamental change in perspective, on the
part of development agencies and agents as well as modified
timeframes and indicators for measuring performance
and impact
21. In particular,
the profiles highlight the following fundamental lessons
which can put these communities on a path to positive
change:
- meet indigenous communities on their own terms,
respecting their cultural values, including their
traditional social organizations as reflected in recent
changes in legislation;
- make organizational capacity building a free-standing
component as an objective in itself, and provide the
needed time and space in a given project for that
capacity to develop rather than rushing activities
through existing channels;
- decentralize and channel resources directly to
communities, developing more participatory systems
of controls to see that money is used as planned and
broadening the menu of possible interventions;
- disseminate information about indigenous peoples
to policy makers and government and non-government
personnel to counter misperceptions and open new spaces
for dialogue and negotiation;
- explore opportunities to complement Western health
care systems with traditional medicine and indigenous
systems of treatment;
- invest in training and hiring of indigenous professionals,
including assisting indigenous university students
and tailoring specialized curricula to indigenous
community development needs to the needs of non-indigenous
professionals planning to work with indigenous development;
- incorporate knowledge of indigenous resource management
and traditional farming systems into applied research
and management strategies, focusing particularly attention
on marginal/fragile environments and conservation
of biodiversity areas; and
- identify issues involved in indigenous communities’
control of nature and culture tourism, including new
legal relationships to their physical patrimony and
opportunities for more balanced partnerships.
22. Several recent
Government programs with strong poverty focus are being
implemented, for example: Rural Development in Marginal
Areas, Basic Education Development, and Community Forestry,
all with World Bank support. They contain strategies
for decentralizing decision making, working with community
and inter-community structures, and recognizing that
indigenous peoples may not make the same choices of
technologies or enterprise decision-making as other
rural people. This requires that an awareness of this
difference be reflected in monitoring and evaluation
of the extent to which principles established in program
design will not remain on paper, but translate into
measurable action. This also requires that government
programs learn from the lessons of the past, take more
into account indigenous values, and be willing to relinquish
control over the development process.
Next Steps
- · develop a plan of action that reflects
the needs of a diverse indigenous population, by expanding
the profiles to other rural and urban populations,
and by reflecting the lessons in on-going and new
operations;
- · seek creative ways of promoting indigenous
development through innovative financing of targeted
indigenous projects and activities;
- · disseminate the information generated
by the profiles widely, both the reports and the GIS
data base, by investing in creative products including
seminars, diskettes, CD-Room data presentation, internet
links for larger communities, etc.;
- · expand the capacity-building initiatives
being piloted in the Institutional Development Fund
Grants to other communities and concentrate as well
on supporting the advancement of indigenous professionals
who can work in indigenous projects and programs;
- · promote a dialogue with the Mexican Government
and counterpart agencies on the findings of the profiles
and their implications for future action.
Sources: Mexican Government
Institutions:
Secretaría de Desarrollo
Social (SEDESOL)
Instituto Nacional Indigenista (INI)
Consejo Nacional de Población (CONAPO)
Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales
y Pesca (SEMARNAT)
Secretaría de Agricultura, Ganadería
y Desarrollo Rural (SAGARPA)
Consejo Nacional de Fomento Educativo (CONAFE, SEP)
Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
(INAH, CONACULTA)
Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en
Antropología Social (CIESAS, CONACYT)
Dirección General de culturas Populares (DGCP)
Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público
(SHCP)
Next week: Glossary of Terms (So
that you can be better acquainted with the different
terms used in Mexico Magico).
gestrada@pvnet.com.mx
Prof. Germán
Estrada is the author of the best selling book,
"México
Mágico: Everything You Wanted To Know
About... But Nobody Told You..." available in Puerto
Vallarta at The Net House, Mail Boxes, Etc., Books,
Books as well as directly from the author by internet.
Archives
by date |
Current
Weather Report
