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Diana Pastor (maya k’iche’), CS staff

A group of women dance and sing around the fire. The atmosphere is one of camaraderie and joy. In addition to singing and dancing, they play games, paint tattoos, and offer words of gratitude to the land and to themselves for having shared knowledge and experiences in recent days to continue to protect their territories. The feeling is one of bittersweetness, but also of satisfaction. 

By Organización Comuna Amazónica 

The aggressive advance of mining extractivism in Ecuador threatens the entire country. In our province, Napo, we are experiencing one of the most serious environmental disasters in our history, caused by the complicity of mining companies, illegal mining operators, and the government, who have formed a network of corruption that is poisoning our water sources and bleeding the jungle, affecting our economy and putting our health at risk.

By Chenae Bullock (Shinnecock)

Indigenous Peoples hold tenure to over 25 percent of the world's land surface, which is home to about 80 percent of the remaining global biodiversity, all while making up just a bit over 6 percent of the human population. Investing in Indigenous communities can promote cultural continuity, economic empowerment, environmental protection, and social justice, leading to a more sustainable and equitable world for all.

Indigenous community media is essential for Indigenous Peoples’ reclamation and resistance movements worldwide. They contribute to securing respect for individual and collective rights, ensuring access to relevant, contextualized information and content in Indigenous languages, created and transmitted according to the interests, needs, and worldviews of the Indigenous communities they represent.

Deadline to apply: November 30, 2023
Fellowship range: $2,500 - $6,000

Cultural Survival has defended Indigenous Peoples’ rights and supported the self-determination, cultures, and political resilience of Indigenous communities since 1972.

Cultural Survival’s Indigenous Youth Fellowship supports young Indigenous leaders between the ages of 17–28 who are working to transform their communities and create opportunities for the elevation, defense, and strengthening of their cultures and traditions while developing their leadership, organizational, and management skills. Since 2018, we have awarded 111 fellowships supporting 215 fellows.

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