Italy, IP.– The Paraguayan Indigenous Institute (INDI) allocated a total of 177,651,651,000 guaraníes to 290 families from 13 indigenous communities living in eight districts of the Mbya Guarani People of Itapúa, who had managed to obtain the resources to finance projects to strengthen food and nutrition in their communities. The beneficiaries are the Association of Indigenous Communities of Itapúa (ACIDI) and the Mba’epu Porâ Association.
The president of INDI, Lic. Jorge Servín, mentioned at the transfer of resources ceremony held at the Itapúa Governorate that this is a program that seeks to “root the population, so that they live better, in their communities, with quality of life, with assured food produced with their own efforts.”
He acknowledged that there are many needs in indigenous communities, but that in this way, with this type of undertaking and by working together, indigenous institutions and organizations are building the foundation so that indigenous communities can enjoy the services of the State.
He insisted that the basis is to understand what indigenous people want in their communities. “We must not continue trying to make them not understand or to make us act only from our non-indigenous perspective.
We have to engage in dialogue, we have to coordinate efforts, both between public institutions and indigenous organizations. We are implementing these projects within the framework of respect for their cultures. And cultural differences are not and should not be a problem, they are an advantage, they are a strength. By acting in this way, everything will be better achieved,” he said.
Through these types of projects, which are also being implemented in other areas of the country, indigenous people receive support in the form of seeds, tools and other elements that they need for the community, as well as some experience in raising cattle and other types of domestic animals.
In this particular case, in Itapúa, the local government initiated a participatory planning process with indigenous communities through meetings where the specific needs of the indigenous people were collected.
Alberto Vásquez, Secretary General of ACIDI, also pointed out the importance of these projects supported by INDI, the Government and other entities since, according to him, they “show that the implementation of the public policy to support indigenous people is being fulfilled.” He emphasized that the inter-institutional work that is being done is yielding good results and pointed out the need to add other actions that complement these efforts, such as training indigenous health promoters to improve knowledge and support these projects that target food.
Vázquez said that there are communities that require food for consumption; others need seeds, yerba mate seeds and plants, or elements to dedicate themselves to beekeeping, as well as communities that are going to dedicate themselves solely to beekeeping for consumption and commercialization and for this reason he stressed the importance of analyzing the particular needs of each one.
The Mbya leader also reflected on the medium and long-term significance of the implementation of these projects, saying that “this is how work is being initiated that can even address the abuses of indigenous communities by third parties who rent indigenous lands.”
“It is a good idea. We will do everything possible to ensure that all this is put to good use. We will also have assistance from technicians. We will monitor with the leaders of each community,” said Vázquez.
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2024-08-12 15:29:34
