+ Completed Organization Plan

Indigena completed a 9-year plan with long-term projects sequenced for success. Understanding the history of Indigenous peoples is key to understanding humanity’s path forward. 2015 was a time of focus as we formed lasting partnerships, identified and developed consensus for our partnership goals. We continued to support requested collaborations with Indigenous peoples to protect ancient skills and visionary wisdom. We created specific projects with communities to address pressing cultural, economic, social and environmental issues. 2015 was spent in a rigorous organizational development planning process, to understand needs, develop a way of collaborative working to support innovative projects, and seed the strategic path forward with a focused structure.

+ Formed Leadership Team and an Effective Workflow

To increase capacity, we expanded our leadership team with powerfully diverse yet complementary skill sets. Our team’s expertise includes Indigenous rights, community outreach, social programming, education, fund management, project development, international environmental law, community health, and story based advocacy. By increasing our capacity and specialized knowledge base, we can better serve our work and partners.

+ Facilitated Historic Gathering

Indigena accepted the invitation to travel to meet with Indigenous leaders whose umbilical connection at the source has been protected and whose cultural lineages survived because they found refuge within their territories evading the full force of colonization and genocide over 500 years. From November 27 through December 5, 2015 we supported the travel movement and participated in the historic unification of the Kogi Mamas and Sagas and the Lacandon Maya people, holding vital ceremonies and convenings within the Lacandon Jungle. A new alliance is birthing to safeguard their peoples, lands, animals and cultures from encroaching corporate threats and resource exploitation.

As will be discussed, in furtherance of this newly formed alliance, we have been asked to facilitate the reciprocal travel of a Lacandon delegation to the Kogi territory in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, Colombia in 2016. Community meetings can potentially be held within the dwellings of the ancient Tairona civilization that is the present day home to the Kogi, Arhuaco, Wiwa and Kankuamo peoples. Most significantly, the Kogi have asked for Indigena’s partnership to support the build of an ancestral temple that will serve as an intergenerational school for the teaching of origins, traditional music and dance.

+ Build Strategic Partnerships

Unique and innovative partnerships inspire and ground our work. In the simplest terms, our work is about connections. Partnerships increase capacity and provide the creative tools and knowledge sources for the solutions we jointly offer. Recognizing and building this foundation and ‘way of working’ throughout 2015 has strongly positioned Indigena to move into 2016. Our current partnerships continue to expand across the Americas, defying false borders of separation.