Capacity-building for territorial defense and sustainable environmental management

APPLICATIONS TO THE COURSE: «CAPACITY-BUILDING FOR TERRITORIAL DEFENSE AND SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FOR INDIGENOUS YOUTH OF THE AMAZON BASIN»

Application open until September 18 – Classes go from October 17 – to December 30

Introduction

The Fund for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean (FILAC), through the Intercultural Indigenous University (UII); the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), and Conservation International convene the indigenous youth of the Amazon to the course «Capacity Building in Territorial Defense and Sustainable Environmental Management for Indigenous Youth of the Amazon Basin «.

Objective

To develop indigenous youth’s capacities in the Amazon Basin’s indigenous territories in aspects related to territorial defense and sustainable development management, regarding the conservation and sustainable management of the environment from a Good-Living approach.

Aimet at

Youth, indigenous leaders, professionals, and non-professionals from the Amazon Basin linked to Amazonian indigenous organizations and community initiatives, that are highly motivated to defend their territory and committed to replicating the lessons learned with their communities and organizations.

Format

The course will be online, with asynchronous self-study activities[1] and synchronous activities[2] to be implemented three times a week, with each session lasting four hours. Both synchronous sessions and asynchronous self-study sessions are mandatory. The learning modules and the platform with the asynchronous activities will be in three language versions: Spanish, English, and Portuguese.

Application requirements

The applicant must:

• Belong to an Indigenous People of the Amazon
• Be between 20 and 35 years
• Have a complete high school education, as a minimum.
• Have the written endorsement of a local, regional, or national indigenous organization, which attests to the relevance of the candidate’s participation in their territorial defense processes, as well as their commitment to supervise the fulfillment of the course’s academic requirements.
• Prove active community leadership in an Amazonian indigenous
• Have a commitment to contribute to the strengthening of a COICA affiliate
• Have availability to fulfill the course’s requirements during October, November, and December 2022, which weekly implies 12 hours of synchronous work and 10 hours of asynchronous
• Have internet connectivity or the possibility of accessing the internet during synchronous class

Modules

• Module 1: Indigenous peoples and
• Module 2: Sustainable environmental management, defense, and management of indigenous
• Module 3: Indigenous youth leadership and collective rights to territory and sustainable
• Module 4: Formulating projects related to sustainable environmental management and territorial
• Module 5: Advocacy and/or replication practices within indigenous

Duration and time load

The program will have 8 weeks of classes, plus 3 weeks of work in the participant’s territory, for a total of 180 hours, with 100 synchronous and 80 asynchronous hours.

Certification

Those who complete all the academic requirements and attend 85% or more of the course activities will be certified by the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos de Madrid and FILAC’s  Universidad Indígena Intercultural.

Scholarschip offer

The organizing institutions offer 80 full scholarships, that cover all academic and administrative expenses.

Those selected will be provided with a Tablet, a smartphone, and a connectivity grant to facilitate access to the course activities.

The selection process will consider compliance with the requirements, track record and advocacy potential, gender equity, and regional balance, including representation of the 8 countries that make up the Amazon Basin.

Aplication

The application process will take place from August 23 to September 18. Interested indigenous youth should apply through the following form:

https://form.jotform.com/222306907433654

The completed form must be sent by September 18th to the e-mail uii@filac-test.org with the subject «Territorial Defense Capacity-Building Course for Indigenous Youth of the Amazon Basin”:

• A letter from an Amazonian indigenous organization endorsing the student’s application, stating the applicant’s organizational links and the relevance of their participation in the course for ongoing or planned
• The applicant’s letter of commitment to their organization to replicate what they
• A copy of the applicant’s national identity document and,
• A copy of the applicant’s secondary education degree or equivalent.
• Letter of intent that clearly explains: a) the applicant’s interest in the course, b) his or her lans to apply what they learn in their community, c) the applicant’s role in leadership or involvement in an ongoing or already developed community initiative, d) the applicant’s commitment to involvement with a COICA affiliate

IMPORTANT: Applications received after the deadline that do not send the required documentation or that do not register the information in the form will not be considered.

Calendar

[1] Asynchronous learning takes place while disconnected through videos, material or educational resources that will be previously downloaded by the student.

[2] This refers to education where students can learn and interact on the spot (or «live») with the teacher and their classmates. It requires being connected online to the virtual classroom.