Congress of Communities Convenes Indigenous Representatives of Caquetá

Rural and urban indigenous authorities of the eight communities who live in the department of Caquetá attend the Congress of Communities.

June 3, 2014

Representatives of the eight indigenous communities with a presence in the department of Caquetá participate in the Congress of Communities, which commenced yesterday at the Seminary of Florencia.

Florencia

Indigenous representatives of the Caquetá department are participating in the Congress of Indigenous Communities, an activity that is part of a project to strengthen the indigenous organizations of Caquetá, executed by the NGO Amazon Conservation Team (ACT).

According to Mario Jacananejoy, the inter-institutional liaison for the indigenous peoples, the development of this Congress has as its primary objectives the provision of information to each of the authorities of the different communities with respect to the progress in an organizational strengthening project submitted to the national General Reparations System.

Through the framework of this meeting, there is an opportunity to perform a socio-political and socio-cultural analysis of each of the communities and to develop an inter-institutional agenda for the 2014-2015 period.

Additionally, the inter-institutional liaison for the indigenous communities stressed that address other issues will be addressed such as the appointment of the new board of the Indigenous Council of the Caquetá Department, CODIC, which will be the entity in charge of this entire process. "Those are the most important objectives, of course, and we will work on other topics involving the primary needs of each of the communities in order to submit a joint proposal to all institutions of the department and nationally," he said.

Progress

With regard to the organizational strengthening project, the leader of the indigenous communities reported that a diagnostic had been performed in each of the communities, surveys that revealed the reality of the difficulties faced by indigenous communities. "This is a step that had not been taken by any institution, and there is no database, but now we are capable of providing guidance to the departmental development plan," he stated.

The Event

All rural and urban indigenous authorities and the eight indigenous communities living in the department of Caquetá have been invited to the Congress, with attendance of approximately 130 people. The event started yesterday and will conclude on June 4. The activities are being held in the San Jose Seminary, where they are assembling to work internally with the communities.  The final activity will focus on the traditional authorities of the department.

Summary

Yesterday saw the opening of Congress of Indigenous Communities, which seeks to bring together all communities and indigenous authorities of the department in order to evaluate the process led by CODIC.

In Numbers

130 people from eight communities are participating in the Congress of Communities.