Today, August 9th, the entire world celebrates the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples. Created by the United Nations in 1994, this date celebrates the resilience of indigenous peoples in the face of the diverse threats they have faced throughout the centuries and encourages awareness of the specific rights of these peoples. As an ally, ISPN supports indigenous peoples by proposing integrated strategies to address the challenges they face and recognizes the important role of these peoples in maintaining the diversity of the planet's cultural and environmental landscapes. In order to join forces in the celebrations of this important date, ISPN is launching two calls for proposals aimed at strengthening local initiatives for territorial production and management, and also at supporting the retention of indigenous students in higher education institutions.
Call for Microprojects
The first call for proposals is for Microprojects, which aims to support local individual or family initiatives that complement traditional productive activities, combined with environmental conservation and the livelihoods of communities. Proposals should include actions involving the themes of traditional agricultural systems and food security; traditional practices of land and natural resource management; and cultural expressions. The call for proposals is open to all Indigenous Lands (ILs) in Maranhão, as well as the Alto Rio Guamá IL, of the Tembé people, in eastern Pará; and the Kraholândia and Apinajé ILs, of the Krahô and Apinajé peoples, respectively, in northern Tocantins. Communities surrounding some of these ILs may also apply according to territorial distribution. The subsidy per microproject will be up to R$ 5.000,00, paid in a single installment. “The micro-project aims to be a kind of facilitator for those families who need support to boost their initiatives,” comments João Guilherme Nunes Cruz, coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples Program at ISPN.
Microprojects is a funding modality for small initiatives within the scope of the Indigenous Peoples and Sustainable Landscapes in the Cerrado and Amazon project, executed by ISPN in partnership with the Indigenous Work Center (CTI), Instituto Nupef, with support from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) within the framework of the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI). The project is allocating R$ 300.000,00 (three hundred thousand reais) specifically for this modality. With this, the project aims for the supported indigenous initiatives to contribute to environmental and territorial management on a macro-landscape scale and mitigate the pressures that these territories have been suffering in recent years.
Call for Applications for Scholarships for Indigenous Students in Higher Education
The second call for proposals aims to support, through scholarships and mentoring, the continued enrollment of Indigenous students in undergraduate courses at Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in Brazil, recognized by the Ministry of Education (MEC). The initiative is intended for students from the following Indigenous peoples: Gavião (Mãe Maria Indigenous Territory, in Pará); Guajajara (Rio Pindaré and Caru Indigenous Territories, in Maranhão); Tupiniquim and Guarani (Tupiniquim Guarani, Caieiras Velhas II and Comboios Indigenous Territories, in Espírito Santo); and Krenak (Krenak Indigenous Territory, in Minas Gerais). This first call for proposals will offer 50 scholarships, each worth R$ 1.000,00 (one thousand reais) per month and a laptop computer for each student, based on the conditions prescribed in the call for proposals. Applications must be submitted by email by September 10, 2021.
The scholarships are part of the PIPOU Program – Indigenous Program for Permanence and Opportunities at the University (PIPOU), a partnership between the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN) and the Vale company. In addition to strengthening affirmative action initiatives for indigenous populations in higher education institutions across the country, the program aims to create support strategies to mitigate the numerous difficulties faced by students that ultimately lead to dropping out, such as: lack of financial resources, absence of academic support, difficulties with subjects that often do not resonate with their realities, among other issues. In this sense, the scholarship program serves as an incentive for more and more indigenous students to occupy universities as a rightful place and have the opportunity to build their academic trajectories in line with the realities and demands of their peoples.
Click here to download the Microprojects call for proposals.
Click here to download Annex 1 of the PIPOU Notice in Word format.