Support Mechanism for Indigenous People

Guatemala is one of the most unequal countries in the world in terms of health, education and income distribution. The cultural diversity of the country is high with 25 languages spoken in its territory.

Guatemala's social and economic situation today continues to be characterized by poverty, racism, exclusion, violence and impunity. This situation is partly founded in a weak state structure which possesses few resources from a low revenue.

The project

The project aims to strengthen the exercise of the Individual and Collective Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala. This is expected to contribute to the self-determination of indigenous peoples and to enhance the awareness and implementation of legal and institutional frameworks.

Through grants provided to Indigenous Peoples’ organisations, we enable their improved access to justice to promote and defend their individual and collective rights. Indigenous women in particular are enabled to strengthen their participation in decision-making spaces and access justice in the ordinary legal system and in indigenous peoples' own systems, which is often a challenge due to exclusion and discrimination.

The project additionally develops the capacity of women and young people to know their rights and provides them with the skills to be active members of their communities, fostering a more inclusive society where women and young people have opportunities for economic development. We build on the encouraging results of the previous phase (2015-2019) where 31 projects were supported. Many of the projects focused on the participation of indigenous women in decision making practices, promoting their rights and introducing prevention practices for violence against women. More broadly, 620 indigenous communities and more than 2300 indigenous leaders benefitted from the activities.

In addition to managing the fund, Oxfam’s role is to provide the necessary technical and political support to the local organizations, supporting their communication strategies and providing capacity development.

Preliminary results

The project builds on the encouraging results of the previous phase (2015-2019) where 31 projects were supported. Many of the projects focused on the participation of indigenous women in decision making practices, promoting their rights and introducing prevention practices for violence against women. More broadly, 620 indigenous communities and more than 2300 indigenous leaders benefitted from the activities.

In the current phase financial and technical support has benefitted 24 authorities and organizations of Indigenous Peoples, spanning various geographical areas, linguistic communities, and thematic areas. Notably, 2,329 families from 33 communities in the targeted regions enhanced their organizational capacity and influence, advocating before the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala and international organizations, particularly regarding collective reparation measures and economic compensation for survivors of the internal armed conflict.

Additionally, significant efforts were made to address women's rights and gender equality, with 813 indigenous women empowered in decision-making spaces and accessing justice systems, while 156 others strengthened their capacities. The project also enhanced legal promoters' abilities to address cases of violence against women, resulting in successful resolutions both in official and ancestral justice systems.

A few specific examples are provided below:

• Nine cases related to the right to collective ownership of land by communities and indigenous peoples brought to the justice system and follow up done to ensure fair legal treatment, so far with important progress

• The indigenous authority structures administered justice in 26 cases of violence against women and a total of 95 cases were monitored before the official justice system

• The Indigenous municipalities developed training and awareness raising campaigns with young people about the importance of fighting violence against women.

• 14 communities and schools have strengthened their positioning before government institutions to advocate for the right to intercultural bilingual education.

• Faced with the impacts generated by climate change, indigenous organizations and authorities have contributed to the preservation of natural assets. This included the planting of 347,000 forest and fruit trees in the forests or grown in piles.

Time period and funding:

This project is supported by Sida with 83.400,000 SEK from 2019 to 2024.