This month, Greengrants had the rare opportunity to host one of our Southeast Asia advisors right here in Boulder, Colorado. On a visit from the Philippines to attend the International Funders for Indigenous Peoples Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Edtami Mansayagan stopped off at the Greengrants headquarters this month to discuss his work around indigenous issues with The Samdhana Institute, a Greengrants Alliance of Funds member.
After catching up with the Greengrants staff, Edtami shared his firsthand knowledge with the local Boulder community at an evening event generously hosted by The Oreg Foundation at the Highland City Club. For 20 years, Edtami has been working tirelessly to establish and maintain the rights of indigenous peoples in the Philippines. A member of the Arumanen Manobo Indigenous group on Mindanao Island, Edtami provided a unique view into how indigenous communities are breaking new ground in the movement for their rights and sustainability practices in his native Philippines.
Indigenous people make up around 15 percent of the population in the Philippines, and as in most parts of the world, their way of life, and land, have been disappearing. With the passing of the country’s Indigenous Peoples Rights Act in 1997, nearly 25 million acres of land have been returned to indigenous populations in the country. The passing of this act, one of the first of its kind, marked a momentous victory for Filipino indigenous groups and established a worldwide precedent for government recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights. However, it did not come without challenges. Much of the land returned to communities had been deforested or polluted by extractive corporations, and while the land’s new owners longed to return to their traditional, sustainable, ways of life, no resources for reparation were provided.
In response, Edtami is spearheading Samdhana’s effort to establish a Southeast Asian Indigenous Peoples Support Fund that is directed by indigenous people and finances their efforts to recover their territories and exercise their right to self-determination. Using innovative strategies to train local leaders, promote good land governance, and establish sustainable development practices, Edtami and his colleagues are helping to shape a brighter future for indigenous peoples around the world.
For a complete list of grants made in the Philippines through The Samdhana Institute, click here.
EDTAMI MANSAYAGAN has worked for indigenous peoples since 1988. He is former Commissioner for the Philippine National Commission of Indigenous Peoples representing the Central Mindanao Ethnographic Region. In 1995, he became Secretary General of the National Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines, where he served for five years until being appointed to sit on the National Anti-Poverty Commission. He then was chosen for the Presidential Task Force for Indigenous Peoples charged with implementing the hard-won Indigenous Peoples Rights Act. As a Fellow/Advisor of the Samdhana Institute, part of the Global Greengrants Fund network, Edtami helps to identify and evaluate small grants for indigenous peoples’ communities in the Philippines. He is also one of the main initiators behind the Indigenous Peoples Support Fund and is on the board of the Foundation of the Philippine Environment established by USAID.