“We developed this proposal based on your responses. It’s a small fund but we can do something relevant with it in the next two years.”

Eleanor Dictaan-Bang-oa of the Asian Indigenous Women’s Network (AIWN) Secretariat underscored the importance of making the most of the support obtained from the Foro Internacional de Mujeres Indigenas (FIMI) AYNI Fund during the AIWN virtual project inception for its two-year project, “Building on Indigenous Women for Just Economic Recovery,” on 10 and 21 May 2022. The two-day inception event was organized to level off on project implementation and orient AIWN partners about narrative and finance reporting templates and procedures.

Representatives of the Indigenous Women’s Forum of Northeast India (IWFNEI), Indigenous Women’s Network of Thailand (IWNT) and Perempuan-AMAN in Indonesia, the main implementers of the project, presented their workplans stipulating their activities and timelines.

With the small fund, IWFNEI plans to organize a general assembly for Boro, Garo, Hmar, Khasi, Naga, and Tripura indigenous women to strengthen their advocacy and commitment in the recognition and realization of indigenous women’s rights at the community and national levels. Market survey and training on entrepreneurship, food processing and packaging would be the main activities of IWNT which will respond to Karen and Hmong indigenous women’s economic empowerment, building on their cultural and social capitals.  Meanwhile, Perempuan-AMAN will carry out capacity building activities for Batak, Dayak, Melayu Deli, Toraya, Kulawi, Sasak, Loge, Rendu, Mattoke, Howana, Massenrempulu, Osing, Kasepuhan indigenous women to help them understand and access government policies and programs. Three different Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) documents were drafted, to be signed between AIWN-Tebtebba and the said partner organizations.

A focused discussion on finance reporting was conducted on the second day of the project inception activity. Partners were briefed on the general guidelines on finance reporting in compliance with FIMI administrative and finance policies. Specific templates for finance reporting were presented during the discussion. Each partner organization, then, introduced their designated finance staff responsible for the preparation and submission of finance reports for the project.

Aiming to demonstrate the indigenous women’s perspective of building back better from the scourge of the COVID19 pandemic, this initiative is supported through the AYNI Fund under the second stint of the Learning From the South (LFS) Program of FIMI. Ayni is a Quechua/ Kichua word that synthesizes reciprocity, solidarity, and fair and equitable work between humans and other beings of the cosmos.