Building Agency with indigenous communities of the Chinantla Alta in Oaxaca, Mexico, through Climate Change awareness- A REDD+ initiative
Organization: Geoconservación A.C.
Partners: United Nations, REDD+ programme Mexico, FAO-Food and Agriculture Organization, CONAFOR (Comisión Nacional Forestal)
Year: 2015-16
Place: Chinantla Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico
BACKGROUND
In 2015 the United Nations (UN), together with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) worked on an international mechanism to mitigate CO2 emissions from forest degradation and deforestation. More specifically forest areas where indigenous communities of the world live. It was a very complex subject and they wanted to prototype a model with indigenous communities that were already working or living within sustainable development standards. Therefore they partnered with local organizations, Geoconservacion A.C. is one of them in Oaxaca, Mexico.
PROJECT
Through workshops and training, the mission was to provide all information regarding Climate Change and deforestation, in accordance with the REDD+ materials. This was done so that the indigenous communities can have an informed decision on whether to participate in a pilot project and eventually the full program. I was hired to design the workshops, facilitate and share the knowledge with interested communities of the Chinantla Alta, during a 6 month period.
CHALLENGES & INSIGHTS
To me working with indigenous communities can be controversial. They live in a very different reality than people in urban areas, and the concept of “teaching indigenous communities” is very problematic. I visited one of the communities for the first time to acquaint myself with the leaders of the community. There, I realized that if I wanted to have a successful outcome and “train” these communities, the material provided was obsolete. This sounds harsh, but how can I speak about carbon emissions, pollution, carbon footprint, and climate change, to individuals who have the least responsibility? I am the bad guy here!
I quickly realised that climate change is something we have all experienced and I was there to learn about how they perceived this change, and how that change they knew to be true was a global issue. Moreover, I was struggling with the idea of being there as a “modern colonizer”, instead I wanted to empower communities that have been told over and over again that they are old-fashioned, not smart or naive. I wanted to challenge the stigma and give individuals –heavily impacted by climate change, a voice in the conversation of addressing climate change.
PROCESS
Through a series of 6 workshops, I was to train the community leaders of 10 communities from the Chinantla Alta, so that they could give the workshops to the participating communities and together make informed decisions. These 6 workshops would be to co-create, learn from each other, create awareness, and allow the community leaders to develop a personal understanding of climate change and the REDD+ mechanism to mitigate a very big contributor of emissions: deforestation. I wanted them to be able to explain what climate change was and how to act upon it instead of repeating my words and the material I provided. In the end, I was a facilitator for them to put into words what they already knew.
SOLUTION
Together with 20 participants of 10 communities, we co-created a manual of good practices. The manual was to be distributed to the community while the leaders shared the knowledge with more people. In the manual, the participants explained what climate change is to them, what are good and bad practices, and what they expect the national government, the United Nations, and the rest of the world, to do in order to mitigate climate change; because the responsibility is on everyone.
LEARNINGS
The process was very different from what I was used to, I wanted to share my knowledge and empower the individuals to participate in the conversation regarding Climate Change and deforestation. Ultimately this project was about the indigenous communities and I wanted them to own the project. The manual was designed by them, I worked as a facilitator. The hardest part was to let go of my idea of design aesthetics and support the process instead. This project was not about me, I was only there to support and facilitate.
