The First School of Indigenous Governance in the Peruvian Amazon Welcomes a New Class

The rainforest, rivers, wetlands, and forests of the Amazon Basin provide a home to 33 million people, including 1.6 million Indigenous Peoples. Local communities rely on the region’s natural capital for water, food, and livelihoods. 

Climate change, with its increasing fires, droughts, and floods, poses an enormous threat to the Amazon and forest-dependent communities. Land-theft, illegal gold mining, and drug crime further threaten Indigenous communities. Sustainable development is only possible if biodiversity and its guardians, the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon, are valued and supported.

Indigenous Peoples play a critical role in the conservation and sustainable management of the Amazon and Andean forests. Because their territorial and economic interests often align with efforts to conserve biodiversity-rich forests and conserve valuable water resources, Indigenous Peoples are integral partners of USAID programs. Today, the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon comprise some 400 tribes and groups, each with their own distinct language, practices, and organization, which are integrated with their ancestral territories. In Peru alone, 2,703 native communities belong to 44 different ethnic groups. 

To strengthen the ability of the leaders of Peru’s national Indigenous federation, the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP), to govern, defend their rights, plan land use, and design and manage programs, USAID supported the launch of the School of Indigenous Governance and Amazon Development (EGIDA). As the first school of Indigenous governance in the Amazon, EGIDA is training Indigenous leaders, women, and youth from the Peruvian Amazon in leadership, good governance, political communication, and strategic negotiation skills. 

USAID, in partnership with the World Wildlife Fund and AIDESEP, developed EGIDA as part of the Indigenous Amazon Rights and Resources (AIRR) project. The purpose of AIRR is to improve the participation of Indigenous Peoples in the sustainable economic development of the Amazon, including strengthening biodiversity conservation and reducing emissions from forest loss. This contributes to the Amazon Regional Environment Program’s (AREP) goal to reduce negative impacts of infrastructure projects, extractive activities, and climate change on the Amazon’s forest and water resources. 

EGIDA welcomed its first class of students in September 2020. The teaching team comprised a diverse group of interethnic, interdisciplinary, intercultural, and international men and women from a variety of professional backgrounds committed to the Amazonian Indigenous movement. 

Over nine months of challenging virtual instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, 30 students from 13 Indigenous Peoples, including Awajún, Shipibo, Kichwa, and Murui, completed studies in governance, advocacy, and political communication.

“Studying about territory and governance was new for us, because we young people didn't used to get so involved,” says Gabriela Paima, a 17-year-old from the Ticuna Indigenous Peoples and a participant of the first EGIDA course. “Being part of EGIDA was very favorable. One of my classmates who has more experience now teaches people in his village. I also have other classmates, who like me started [EGIDA] very young, and even though we don’t have a position within our communities yet, we are learning and teaching new things [like technology] to adults, to benefit our community.”

The second class began in February 2022, and includes 35 leaders from nine communities, including Shipibo Konibo, Ashaninka, Awajún, Kichwa, Ticuna, Kukama kukamiria, and Secoya.

AIRR’s work with Indigenous communities to strengthen and support its student leaders is developing an educational community that values reflection, debate, communication, and advocacy for good governance of the vital Amazon region.