Philippines: Voluntary National Review Writeshop
The Indigenous Navigator Initiative in the Philippines conducted a writeshop on the Indigenous Peoples report to the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on the Voluntary National Review of the Philippine government.
The writeshop brought together indigenous leaders from Mindanao, Palawan and Mindoro to draft a report that reflects the realities of their peoples in relation to progress made on the implementation of the SDGs. The writeshop worked to highlight their experiences with the implementation on the ground. Bringing together these powerful, passionate and committed leaders has been an inspiring and energizing exercise.
The Indigenous Navigator process continues to contribute to the empowerment of communities through the data they have collected, analysed and used to advance their own agenda.
We must engage this VNR process using the Indigenous Navigator results to baseline our situation as we have not done this ever, and we must now consciously monitor and update our data to continually call into account our government. We have used these results in our campaign for the proces of our FPIC in our ancestral domain with respect to our inclusion in a new autonomous region and even if we had not been successful, our information is made public. This is the value of engaging the VNR. - Timuey Jojo Ambangan
The SDGs: are we not being left behind? Are we being reached? - Some of the key questions addressed by the participants in the VNR writeshop.
In addition, participants were directly engaged to provide their recommendations and best practices in ensuring the participation of indigenous peoples in the development process.
Participatory approaches to problem identification were used to ensure that participants could share and visualise the good practices and innovations that indigenous peoples use for self-determined development. The writeshop also focused on ensuring that the specific needs and priorities of indigenous youth, women and persons with disabilities were addressed. Finally, participants added their input on the lessons learned in relation to the inclusion of indigenous peoples.
The Indigenous Navigator team in the Philippines is looking forward to presenting the findings of their report to the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) in July.
