In 2021, at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, a group of environmental conservation donors made a historic $1.7 billion pledge to support Indigenous Peoples’ and local communities’ forest guardianship. But getting conservation funding to lndigenous or local community-led groups can be a challenge, particularly for larger funders.
Commissioned by the Ford Foundation on behalf of the Forest Tenure Funders’ Group, Indufor’s report, ‘Forging Resilient Pathways: Scaling up Funding in Support of Indigenous Peoples’ and Local Communities’ Tenure and Forest Guardianship in the Global South’ explores some of the obstacles funders face in reaching the most effective, locally led organisations, and offers recommendations and practical guidance to donors on how to overcome those obstacles.
Here we take a look at some key findings from the report and explore some of the approaches it highlights, including Synchronicity Earth’s own Pooled Fund model.
The funding dilemma
There is growing recognition among many funders that the knowledge, culture, and practices or lifeways of Indigenous Peoples and local (territorial) communities need to be at the heart of our response to the current environmental crises we are facing. But for this to happen, we must start by recognising that the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities need to be advanced and protected. Fortunately, there are organisations taking steps to achieve this.
However, there is a huge shortfall in the amount of conservation funding reaching Indigenous Peoples and local communities. In fact, donors have initially reported that only around 7% of the $1.7 billion pledge has gone directly to Indigenous communities. Further studies have revised that figure to less than 3%. With larger funders struggling to get effective funding to those working on the ground, local organisations are not getting the resources they need to do their work.
Supporting the pledge
The report’s main purpose is to help large pledge donors fund Indigenous Peoples and local communities by providing practical guidance, strategic insights and examples of best practice. As more large donors are given the tools and approaches to fund these groups effectively, the hope is that this will increase the flow of much needed funding to the places and organisations where it can have most impact.
Presenting the first global analysis of this kind, the report encompasses a range of approaches to tackle the funding dilemma. It draws on case studies from three types of organisations: Indigenous-led funders like Pawanka, re-grantors like Synchronicity Earth and Fundo Casa, and groups who focus on developing organisational capacity, such as Maliasili.
Asociación Pro Fauna Silvestre work to promote Indigenous rights, environmental management, and research in Ayacucho, Peru. They are one of five partners supported by pooled funding to attend the Latin American Congress of Herpetology. © Chris Scarffe
Making funding more effective
Assessing the current models which channel resources to communities and organisations, the report pulls out several barriers and offers advice on how to overcome them. For instance, a barrier to successful forest management funding is that Indigenous and local groups have often lacked the power and necessary channels to state their own needs, goals and priorities – instead, decisions are ‘top-down’ and donor driven. As such, the outcomes are often poorly aligned with the needs of the community, and their benefit is limited.
Pawanka tackles this by empowering communities to approach organisations, accepting proposals based on an Indigenous group’s self-identified needs. Communities conduct their own needs assessments, and Pawanka staff work with partners to support them to develop proposals.
Meanwhile, Fundo Casa does not hold open calls for proposals, but instead uses its own networks and deep local knowledge to build partnerships. As well as reducing burdens on grantees, this approach delivers timely and strategically targeted funds.
Other suggestions include:
- Building strong local groups by investing in organisations as a whole, rather than just short-term projects;
- Accepting proposal submissions and reports in local languages or through video to reduce power imbalances; and
- Providing space for local organisations to coordinate, sharing strategies and data.
The Synchronicity Earth approach
We are proud to have been recognised for the work we are doing to empower communities and Indigenous Peoples to defend their territories and the biodiversity within them.
The case study featuring Synchronicity Earth describes the work of our Congo Basin Programme and in particular, the ‘pooled fund’ approach it has taken since 2017. Based on interviews with Synchronicity Earth staff, our Congo Basin partners, other funders, and affiliates, various key elements of practice were highlighted in the report, including:
- Our innovations in relationship-building and prioritising relationships built on mutual trust to enable a shift away from traditional top-down approaches. Partner organisations highlighted Synchronicity Earth as one of the best funders they work with when it comes to providing them with discretion to use funds as they see fit.
- Clear and systematic risk assessment to go beyond only funding ‘safe’ organisations. Effective risk mitigation allows us to support brilliant and underfunded conservation groups working in ‘higher-risk’ contexts like the Congo Basin.
- Investment in frontline organisations as a whole to deliver greater impact, with longer-term, strategic funding offering durable and sustainable results.
- Streamlining administration processes to reduce ‘red tape’ paperwork for our partners.
- An emphasis on core support to address needs like administration, staff salaries, organisational infrastructure and, where appropriate, supporting organisations on the path to legal status. The programme also maintains an emergency facility to support partners in times of dire need.
Sophie Grange-Chamfray, our Learning and Knowledge Lead, with Affiliate Bihini Won wa Musiti at a dinner organised by Synchronicity Earth for its Congo Basin partners in Kinshasa.
Benefits of the Pooled Fund
Our ‘pooled fund’ approach supports our Congo Basin Programme to provide partners with core support and funding for capacity building. The key benefit of this approach, as described by the report, is that it reduces the burden