Fundación DELPIA (Foundation for the Local Development of Amazonian Indigenous People)
The institutional objectives of the DELPIA Foundation are as follows:
• Promote the development of the cultural, economic, and institutional capacities of the indigenous communities to guarantee that the indigenous communities are able to exercise their individual and collective rights.
• Ensure that the indigenous people of the Amazon are managing their territory in an autonomous fashion, reinforcing their cultural identity and improving their sources of income through the appropriation and sustainable management of their natural resources.
Our principles are as follows:
• The indigenous people have the right to autonomous management of their territories, which are defined as spaces of living and identity essential for their survival and development.
• The identity and the inherited culture of the indigenous people form the basis of their development, which is directed towards the full exercise of their social, political and economic rights both as individuals and as groups.
• The intercultural relations should be established in a manner that promotes mutual respect, reciprocation and exchange.
• Through their legitimate political organizations, the indigenous people should maintain control over all of their actions, projects, programs and politics that affect them in all our modes of interaction with them.
The first work site of the DELPIA Foundation is situated in the tropics of Cochabamba. This area is forced to deal with a complex situation characterized by the power struggle imposed by the process of colonization in the area associated with the coca economy. Diverse factors associated with the dynamic political situation in the area are masking the difficulties that the indigenous communities are confronted with in asserting their political, cultural and territorial rights.
In reality, we work out of the conviction that there exists a great risk that a large part of the indigenous population of the Tropics of Cochabamba remain marginalized concerning the important changes that are occurring in the country. We work to reinforce the capacities of the indigenous organizations so that they can find a place in this context and to provide methods of sustainable living to the communities to improve their economical, political and cultural autonomy.
The work which is currently happening within the DELPIA Foundation, as well as that which we are planning for the future, is led by the following strategic courses of action:
1. Cultural identity and communication:
DELPIA supports and participates in local and regional processes in the recovery, strengthening and adaptation of the Yuracaré identity, especially in the educational sphere. DELPIA also carries out research and communication to promote the knowledge and broaden the debate about the situation of the indigenous people of the Tropics of Cochabamba.
• Participation in the Workshop for the formulation of indigenous educational projects, Minister of Education and Educational Council of the Yuracaré People (CEPY), August 2007.
• Participation in the Workshop to broaden Yuracaré educational materials. Educational Council of the Yuracaré People (CEPY), October 2007.
• Providing council and support in the research being done by the students of the University Students Abroad of the School for International Training (SIT), University of Vermont (EEUU).
• Recording and publication of the document Trinitarian Dances. August 2007.
• Recording and publication of the document Indigenous Leaders in the TIPNIS. May 2007.
2. Means of sustainbility:
DELPIA works to find productive alternatives that allow for the mitigation of the inequalities and dependencies that dominate the relationship between the indigenous communities and the economic processes of the market in the Tropics of Cochabamba.
• Pilot Project of Dual Tourism in the Yuracaré community of Sanandita. In progress since September 2006
• Domestication of agoutis and pacas in CONISUR communities. In progress since September 2007.
• Pilot Project of the production of honey in CONISUR communities. In progress since August 2007.
3. Institutional strengthening and political participation:
DELPIA gives technical, legal and political support to help strengthen the indigenous organizations of the Tropics of Cochabamba, principally the Indigenous Council CONISUR and the Head-quarters of Indigenous People of the Tropics of Cochabamba (CEPITCO).
4. Conservation and management of natural resources:
DELPIA works to provide useful tools for the indigenous people to conserve and sustainably manage the natural resources in their territories.
• Continuation and evaluation in applying the Strategic Territorial Plan of CONISUR (2005).
• Promote the development of the cultural, economic, and institutional capacities of the indigenous communities to guarantee that the indigenous communities are able to exercise their individual and collective rights.
• Ensure that the indigenous people of the Amazon are managing their territory in an autonomous fashion, reinforcing their cultural identity and improving their sources of income through the appropriation and sustainable management of their natural resources.
Our principles are as follows:
• The indigenous people have the right to autonomous management of their territories, which are defined as spaces of living and identity essential for their survival and development.
• The identity and the inherited culture of the indigenous people form the basis of their development, which is directed towards the full exercise of their social, political and economic rights both as individuals and as groups.
• The intercultural relations should be established in a manner that promotes mutual respect, reciprocation and exchange.
• Through their legitimate political organizations, the indigenous people should maintain control over all of their actions, projects, programs and politics that affect them in all our modes of interaction with them.
The first work site of the DELPIA Foundation is situated in the tropics of Cochabamba. This area is forced to deal with a complex situation characterized by the power struggle imposed by the process of colonization in the area associated with the coca economy. Diverse factors associated with the dynamic political situation in the area are masking the difficulties that the indigenous communities are confronted with in asserting their political, cultural and territorial rights.
In reality, we work out of the conviction that there exists a great risk that a large part of the indigenous population of the Tropics of Cochabamba remain marginalized concerning the important changes that are occurring in the country. We work to reinforce the capacities of the indigenous organizations so that they can find a place in this context and to provide methods of sustainable living to the communities to improve their economical, political and cultural autonomy.
The work which is currently happening within the DELPIA Foundation, as well as that which we are planning for the future, is led by the following strategic courses of action:
1. Cultural identity and communication:
DELPIA supports and participates in local and regional processes in the recovery, strengthening and adaptation of the Yuracaré identity, especially in the educational sphere. DELPIA also carries out research and communication to promote the knowledge and broaden the debate about the situation of the indigenous people of the Tropics of Cochabamba.
• Participation in the Workshop for the formulation of indigenous educational projects, Minister of Education and Educational Council of the Yuracaré People (CEPY), August 2007.
• Participation in the Workshop to broaden Yuracaré educational materials. Educational Council of the Yuracaré People (CEPY), October 2007.
• Providing council and support in the research being done by the students of the University Students Abroad of the School for International Training (SIT), University of Vermont (EEUU).
• Recording and publication of the document Trinitarian Dances. August 2007.
• Recording and publication of the document Indigenous Leaders in the TIPNIS. May 2007.
2. Means of sustainbility:
DELPIA works to find productive alternatives that allow for the mitigation of the inequalities and dependencies that dominate the relationship between the indigenous communities and the economic processes of the market in the Tropics of Cochabamba.
• Pilot Project of Dual Tourism in the Yuracaré community of Sanandita. In progress since September 2006
• Domestication of agoutis and pacas in CONISUR communities. In progress since September 2007.
• Pilot Project of the production of honey in CONISUR communities. In progress since August 2007.
3. Institutional strengthening and political participation:
DELPIA gives technical, legal and political support to help strengthen the indigenous organizations of the Tropics of Cochabamba, principally the Indigenous Council CONISUR and the Head-quarters of Indigenous People of the Tropics of Cochabamba (CEPITCO).
4. Conservation and management of natural resources:
DELPIA works to provide useful tools for the indigenous people to conserve and sustainably manage the natural resources in their territories.
• Continuation and evaluation in applying the Strategic Territorial Plan of CONISUR (2005).