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Overview of the Indigenous People's Education Programme PDF Print E-mail

 

ASPBAE’s Indigenous Education Program (IEP) has been a strong thematic program in ASPBAE since its General Assembly in 1996, which recognised:

  • That the Asia South Pacific Region consists of an enormous number of indigenous people with diverse cultures in many different contexts;
  • That despite the differences, IPs across the region face a range of similar issues: loss of land, culture, language, rights, status, power, education, and the ability to pass on their history and culture to new generations;
  • That indigenous community educators, leaders, organisers have a key role to play in assisting indigenous people to equip themselves with the knowledge and skills necessary to be able to deal with such issues in a rapidly changing world and to advocate strongly for indigenous rights, especially in relation to education. 

Since 1996 there have been a series of regional and sub regional workshops, working group meetings, inter-country exchanges and the development of case studies focusing on indigenous education and literacy.

In 2003-2004 a major focus was on the development of an indigenous community audit tool - an internal community analysis framework and tool to consider issues of sustainable livelihood and strategies for poverty alleviation. The development of the Community Audit Tool (CAT) received initial funding support from the German government and DVV International and also the UNESCO Principal Regional Office for the Asia Pacific (PROAP)’s Education for Rural Populations Program.

To assist in this process and enable broader learning, in January 2004 ASPBAE held a Regional Workshop on Indigenous Education in Relation to Poverty Alleviation in Ipoh, Malaysia. The Workshop served as an opportunity for pre-testing the audit tool and further developing it from the experience of a diverse set of educators working with indigenous communities in the region. The participants discussed the different poverty issues of indigenous communities, current strategies for poverty alleviation and eradication; and the education work in support of these.  The Workshop also included training in skills needed by community facilitators to enable effective educational processes more broadly, and especially in relation to poverty alleviation. Additionally the preliminary experience of piloting the Malaysian Community Audit Tool was discussed and further feedback invited.

After the Workshop, further work was undertaken on CAT in Nepal and Malaysia. In June 28-30, 2004 in Kathmandu, Nepal. ASPBAE organized a Working Group Meeting of the key organizations and individuals involved in developing and testing CAT. In addition, representatives from indigenous communities in Indonesia, India and Nepal participated to bring in new ideas and feedback to the work. It was on the basis of the experience in Nepal and Malaysia and the subsequent feedback and critique from indigenous educators in other countries in the region that the first version of the framework for the Community Audit Tool was developed and drafted. The name was amended to Community Action Tool to emphasis the dynamic process leading to change. Guided by this commonly agreed framework, community education groups in India and Indonesia additionally agreed to pilot CAT.

The document represents the agreements of the IEP Working Group meeting held 4 - 6 June 2006 at Davao, Philippines, following a review of experience in the expanded piloting of CAT.

Meetings, Trainings, Workshops

Since 1996 a series of Workshops & Meetings:

  • 1998           Working Group Meeting, Chiang Rai, Thailand.
  • 1999 Sept   ASBPAE Regional Methodology Exchange and Advocacy Workshop for Indigenous Educators, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
  • 2000 Aug    Thailand, China, Taiwan Exchange, Guangdong Province, China
  • 2000 Oct     SE Asia Exchange, North Sumatra, Indonesia
  • 2001 Jan     South Asia Workshop, Udaipur, India
  • 2002 Apr    Working Group Meeting, Bali, Indonesia
  • 2002 Sep     Indonesia – Malaysia Exchange follow-up, Pontianak, Indonesia
  • 2002 Nov    South Asia Workshop on Land, Language Resources & Education,  Kathmandu, Nepal -   
  • 2004 Jan     Regional Workshop, Ipoh, Malaysia,
  • 2004 Sept   Working Group Meeting, Kathmandu, Nepal
  • 2005 Dec    Regional Workshop, Festival Of Learning,     Yogyakarta,     Indonesia,
  • 2006 June   Working Group Meeting, Davao City, Philippines