Strengthening the Capacity of Indigenous Organizations in the Amazon 2021 Q1 Quarterly Narrative Report

The project aims to enable IPOs to directly access international funding to advocate for indigenous peoples' governance of the Amazon, particularly in relation to significant infrastructure and extractive activities. The project also seeks to ensure that indigenous peoples' rights to free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) are respected, and to mitigate the negative environmental, social, and economic impacts of these development projects. The project is implemented by Pact, Inc. and has four Key Results areas: Activity design adapted by incorporating Applied Political Economy Analysis (APEA) results, social inclusion strategy, and indigenous organizations' input; IPO's capacities gaps addressed and strengths cultivated; IPOs demonstrate improved financial and organizational performance; and at least one key tool or resource identified and developed to be shared with other IPOs facing infrastructure and extractives development on their lands. During the reporting period, October 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020, the project continued to face challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Efforts to control the spread of the virus by national and local governments across the region yielded mixed results, and local governments implemented stricter isolation measures. Despite these challenges, the SCIOA team sought to identify alternative ways to continue supporting the participating IPOs through the project's five local partners, or Capacity Development Organizations (CDOs). The project made progress in its work plans, and IPOs in Suriname and Guyana developed a first draft of the proposals for the execution of their small grants. Additionally, Pact completed the recruitment for a Capacity Development Consultant for Guyana and Suriname, who will provide in-country support to the Ameridian Peoples Association (APA) and the Association of indigenous Village Leaders of Suriname (VIDS) and their respective IPOs in the absence of international travel options. Key Result 2, IPO's capacities gaps addressed and strengths cultivated, was a major focus area during the reporting period. In Colombia, the addition of Azcaita Association as an IPO was a significant achievement. The organization's strengths and weaknesses were identified, and modifications were made to continue activities under quarantine restrictions. CIMTAR finalized its Life Plan, and FCDS proposed to add a new IPO, Azcaita Association, to the project. Key Result 3, IPOs demonstrate improved financial and organizational performance, was also a key area of focus. In December 2020, the CDOs in Colombia, Peru, and Brazil applied the Sub-Awardee Risk and Responsibility Assessment (SARRA) with the IPOs they work with to assess organizational capacity to manage grants. The CDOs reassessed six of the twelve IPOs, and the project recorded the following results: Through the SARRA, IEB reassessed the three Brazilian IPOs, all of which showed improvement. The Organização dos Povos Indígenas do Alto Madeira (OPIAM) and the União de Mulheres Indígenas da Amazônia Brasilera (UMIAB) seek to improve their scores to become eligible to manage grants on their own; the Conselho Indígena de Roraima (CIR) is already eligible. The project also applied the Organizational Performance Index (OPI) to map improvements across organizational dimensions of the ITOCA and re-assess improvements of IPOs' institutional capacities. The CDO in Peru, Instituto del Bien Común (IBC), also applied these tools with the two Peruvian IPOs it currently works with. Concerning SARRA results, both IPOs' scores increased, despite still not meeting the assessment's threshold to receive direct grants. Using the OPI, both organizations showed significant improvement, mainly in the subdomains of "achieving results," "increasing reach," and "engaging target population." The weaker domain for both IPOs remains "sustainability."