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intercultural dialogue. CPI has played a key role in monitoring the issue of the land of
indigenous peoples in the country, including through the adoption of an emergency land
ownership act for indigenous communities (Act No. 26.160). In Bolivia, the participation of
indigenous peoples has been key in drawing up new legislation which has recently been adopted
in the country.
29. Africa has seen an increasing number of laws and projects involving the participation of
indigenous communities, including the forestry codes of Cameroon (1994), Gabon (2001) and
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (2002). In the Forest and Environment Development
Programme of Cameroon, developed with support from the World Bank, indigenous
communities participate in the local management of forestry resources, through the legalization
of property rights and the use of their lands and natural resources. In Kenya, the Government has
included indigenous peoples in a planning, process - the Indigenous Peoples Planning
Framework - as part of the Kenya Agricultural Productivity and Sustainable Land Management
Project, although this has not yet been implemented. It should be noted that the principle of
participation extends beyond the planning, implementation and evaluation of projects, also
enabling indigenous peoples to share in the benefits derived from development. Thus, in Nigeria,
an agreement is being negotiated for the Ogoni communities to share in profits from oil
production in the Niger Delta.
30. Within the United Nations system the Human Rights Strengthening Programme
(HURIST), implemented jointly by UNDP and the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, has a strong indigenous focus. Through this programme,
funded by the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation, arrangements have been made to
involve indigenous peoples in planning the work of the United Nations country teams in
Ecuador, Bolivia and Kenya. UNDP has also established the Regional Initiative on Indigenous
Peoples’ Rights and Development in the Asia Pacific (RIPP), which has been endorsed by the
Governments of Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. In Indonesia,
this programme has made it possible to conduct an analytical review of legislation, bringing
together the Government, the National Human Rights Commission and indigenous peoples to
discuss how better to align laws and policies with the aspirations of indigenous peoples.
31. The development of indigenous peoples can only come about by strengthening the capacity
of indigenous organizations, communities and peoples, to enable their members to exercise their
rights. This explains why an increasing number of programmes are combining the objectives of
participation, training and institutional strengthening. Thus, in 2006, the German Agency for
Technical Cooperation (GTZ) launched a programme to strengthen indigenous organizations in
Latin America, and the cooperation agencies of other countries, such as Spain and Denmark,
have also set strengthening the capacity of indigenous peoples as a priority objective.
32. A model experience at the local level is that of the Centre for Rural Development and
Social Development (CESDER), in the northern mountain range of Puebla, Mexico, which
combines educational objectives with the sound and sustainable use of resources and efforts to
improve access to the market for community products. This project has led to the creation of
five new institutional entities: an agriculture and livestock office; a support programme for rural
women; a rural business promotion service; rural vocational training schools and a school for the
vocational and technical training of agricultural workers. These schools have adopted a bilingual
and multicultural teaching method, and the diplomas that they confer are officially recognized by
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