WCS Research
MEASURE 10. Percentage of local and/or indigenous participants in capacity building processes

ISSUE

Indigenous participation in capacity building.

DEFINITION

WCS, in the context of the Amazon, understands indigenous as persons, concrete communities or ethnic groups (clans or extended families) that are part of a specific indigenous people entity, and are defined by the necessary, very long term (ancestral) interrelation of: i) identity, auto affirmation of membership by specific culture language and knowledge matrix; ii) the existence of concrete traditional forms of authority and norms, including kinship rules, that define it levels of autonomy; and iii) territory or long-term existence on and management of a territory defined both physically and culturally as the natural system that supports their way of life.

RESULTS

Figure shows annual variations according to results from 2000 to 2015, these more dramatic variations are linked to the development of specific indigenous territorial plans at specific times, which involved significant training opportunities. On average across the entire period the percentage is approximately 55.62% with the 2000-2006 value at 51.79% and the 2007-2015 value at 58.59%. This is one of the key messages for WCS and its commitment to the indigenous people of the Amazon.
After preliminary analysis at the suggestion of the group we broadened this analysis to include all local people in the landscapes for a possible additional Measure “Percentage of Local Participants in Training Events”, with a remarkably consistent average value of 88.76%, which absolutely underlines the field-based and local capacity building focus of WCS’s overall approach. The percentage dips dramatically in 2015 because of communication and training efforts with schoolchildren on Identidad Madidi.


Figure 16. Annual Variation in Percentage of Indigenous and Local Participants in Training Events