Using the Indigenous Navigator in South Rupununi, Guyana: A first-hand experience
Indigenous communities in Guyana collected data on their communities and used this to create tailored projects to make education more accessible.
Indigenous Wapichan communities in Guyana used the Indigenous Navigator tool to gather data on their population, with the aim to further their rights. This was led by the South Rupununi District Council (SRDC), the legal representative institution of the 21 mostly Wapichan communities of the South Rupununi region.
The SRDC used the Indigenous Navigator survey in 12 of the 21 villages in the Wapichan wiizi, which gathered vital information about the status of the population and of land tenure for communities in the region.
The Indigenous Navigator is a framework and set of tools for and by Indigenous Peoples to systematically monitor the level of recognition and implementation of their rights. By using the Indigenous Navigator, Indigenous organisations and communities, duty bearers, NGOs and journalists can access free tools and resources based on community-generated data.
The framework begins with a survey that collects the data, and then it can be inputted into the Indigenous Navigator database so that communities can compare their results with other communities around the world. It also allows them to use this data to prove if their governments aren’t upholding the requirements of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
This article explores the experience of the Wapichan people as they implemented the Indigenous Navigator framework on their territories.
Context:
Since its establishment in the 1960s, SRDC has worked to advance the rights of our people, particularly through securing legal title to the ancestral territory of the Wapichan people (wiizi).
Not all of their territory is legally titled to the Wapichan peoples, however. Securing title to the entire extent of the Wapichan wiizi has increasingly become important as third-party interests such as commercial mining, agricultural leases, privately-owned ranches and conservation efforts threaten the rights of our people.
There are about 12,000 people who live in the Wapichan wiizi. The majority of the population is Wapichan; one village also has Macushi residents and another has Wai Wai residents. Residents mainly rely on farming, hunting and fishing for sustenance. A few people have shops and some have government jobs in the health posts or in schools. There are two administrative centres, Aishalton and Sand Creek, which have secondary schools and hospitals. Other villages have primary schools and a health post.
Conducting the Indigenous Navigator Survey
We learnt about the Indigenous Navigator survey from one of our partner organisations, the Forest Peoples Programme (FPP). We were interested in understanding whether our communities were able to realise their rights and work towards closing some of the gaps which would be identified in the process. We realized that the data gathered through this process would be important to convey our perspectives and strengthen our voice and visibility in discussions around development and public policy. It also gives us the opportunity to better understand violations of our rights and enables us to hold the State accountable.
In late 2022, we began a community paralegal programme, where we gave legal training to 10 key resource people from our communities. While they had been selected to help communities better understand the nuances of Carbon Markets, help villages develop protocols on Free, Prior and Informed Consent and assist communities to come up with recommendations on the Amerindian Act of 2006 which was scheduled for revision, it was decided that theses community paralegals, with their understanding of the law, would be best placed to gather data based on the survey questionnaire.
The community paralegals spent two days in each of the 12 villages that were selected to carry out the survey in (Potarinau, Sawariwau, Achawib, Karaudarnau, Maruranau, Parikwarunau, Rupunau, Parabara, Shulinab, Shiriri, Sand Creek and Bashaizun).
There was one communal assembly in each village, which saw attendance from several members. Other than that, individual surveys were carried out with knowledgeable people in the villages and there were also focused group discussions with health workers and teachers for the sections on health and education. Group discussions were also had with members of the village councils. Men, women, elders and youth were all included in the surveys. The community paralegals had tablets with them which would be used to record the data, but in some cases, they would also take handwritten notes which would be typed up later.
Collection of data for all three teams across the 12 villages took a little over 1 month. After this, there was a debriefing session which was facilitated by FPP. During the debriefing, we learned the method to upload the data which had been collected.
During this process we learnt how the responses to the questions the community paralegal had asked were assigned with a numerical value between 0 and 10. If the response to a particular question reflected that the right in question is being fully recognised and implemented, the answer would score 10 points. On the other hand, if the right is not being recognised or implemented, it would score 0 points.
These scores would allow us to compare the data from the national survey and draw comparisons from other indigenous communities abroad. We also saw some examples of how the data would be displayed in a visual manner by looking at data which other communities had already collected and uploaded.
Realising the importance of understanding the implementation gaps between recognition in national laws and the reality on the ground for our communities, we started uploading the data on the portal and were eager to see the results.
Empowering our Communities through Wapichan Literacy
The right to education is connected to our other rights as indigenous peoples, including the rights to self-determination, culture, and land. The Government of Guyana has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which provides that education must be directed, among other things, toward children’s cultural identity, language and values.
The CRC also requires that “a child … who is indigenous shall not be denied the right, in community with other members of his or her group, to enjoy his or her own culture, to profess and practise his or her own religion, or to use his or her own language.” Similarly, our Constitution, in Article 149G, provides that “Indigenous peoples shall have the right to the protection, preservation and promulgation of their languages, cultural heritage and way of life.”
Education is one important means for the preservation and promulgation of indigenous languages, cultural heritage, and ways of life.
The community surveys revealed that our people face two connected challenges related to education. The first is the enrollment in higher education and the other is learning Wapichan, our language.
Enrollment in Higher Education
The survey revealed that even though 83% of girls and 75% of boys were being reported to pass primary school, only 17% of girls and 8% of boys completed secondary school. Furthermore, only 1 out of 5 students who finished secondary school pursued tertiary education.
The Committee on the Rights of Child in 2013 raised concerns about the high rate of student withdrawals amongst students transitioning from primary to secondary school. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2015 was also concerned with “the decreasing enrolment rates and the high dropout rate, particularly of boys, in primary education, and at the low quality of education owing to the shortage of trained and qualified teachers, particularly in the hinterland and rural areas.” These findings corroborate trends identified by UNICEF researchers in 2017.
Several factors contribute to this trend. Opportunities for tertiary education are all on the coast in Georgetown, which is expensive and has a very different culture and environment than most of our children are used to. Additionally, job opportunities requiring secondary and tertiary education in the village are limited to teaching and health work. With limited opportunities, most children prefer to stay back in the village rather than opting for higher education.
Similarly, UNICEF identified six factors contributing to low secondary school attendance and retention: lack of secondary schools and difficulty accessing them, financial situations of families, the belief that education is not necessary, lack of employment opportunities, inadequacy of curricula, and teenage pregnancies. UNICEF also noted that “there is reason to speculate that the use of the English language in the classrooms and the exclusion of indigenous languages may be a contributing factor to the dropout rates in schools in indigenous communities”; our second intervention, described below, addresses this issue.
Responding to the survey
In response to the survey findings, we used a portion of the small grants made available under the Indigenous Navigator to have a Career Day in the secondary schools of Aishalton and Sand Creek to help students discover more career pathways. The purpose of the Career Days was to introduce students to the different opportunities available to them once they graduate school. This was facilitated by several organisations in Guyana who set up stalls and spoke to students about projects they are working on and opportunities available for students in the future. Don Antone, a resident of Aishalton village, an ex-teacher who is currently working as SRDC’s Wildlife Coordinator, felt “these Career days can show our youth that it does not matter where you are from or which school or university. As long as you focus and work towards your goals, you will create a concrete foundation for yourself and be happy in the near future.”
In Sand Creek, many organisations took part, such as the Regional Agriculture Department (NAREI), Conservation International Guyana (CI), South Rupununi Conservation Society (SRCS), Protected Areas Commission (PAC), Visit Rupununi (VR), Amazon Conservation Team (ACT) Guianas and the Quality Bilingual Education Programme(QBEP). It was attended by 459 people, most of whom were school-going children.
The Aishalton event was attended by 730 people and saw participation from all of the above mentioned organisations, but additionally included University of Guyana, Cyril Potter College of Education, Aishalton District Hospital, Mental Health Guyana and the Sustainable Wildlife Management Programme.
We also facilitated the creation of a memorandum of understanding between the Aishalton Village Council and the University of Guyana to set up a Satellite Campus in Aishalton Village. The satellite campus will make it much easier for the students who want to pursue tertiary education and encourage those who otherwise would not have done so. The satellite campus is currently in the process of being set up and will begin operating as a virtual campus until a physical campus can be constructed.
Wapichan Literacy
The survey results also demonstrated that most of the students at the end of primary and secondary school are not able to speak Wapichan. This is not surprising at all since the responses also highlighted how the use of Wapichan in teaching both primary and secondary classes are between none and limited. This further shows how the Wapichan people felt that they had no say in designing the curriculum taught in the schools.
Even though Article 149G of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana recognises the rights of indigenous peoples to the protection, preservation and promulgation of their languages, cultural heritage and way of life, the lack of steps taken by the State to do the same is a violation.
The lack of Wapichan literacy is troubling because language is an important mode of cultural transmission and preservation; indeed, language can be an expression of self-determination. In 2015, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights had expressed concerns about how some indigenous languages such as Warau and Arawak are at risk of extinction and that there is insufficient integration of indigenous cultures in the school curricula.
Response to the survey
As a result, we used the small grants from the Indigenous Navigator to focus on improving Wapichan literacy for the youth. We partnered with the Wapichan Wadauninao At’ii (WWA), which is a bilingual education programme, to train existing Wapichan tutors to go into their villages and have classes with students in the secondary schools.
Since the last training for these tutors took place a long time ago (approximately 10 years), the coordinator of WWA, Dr. Adrian Gomes, felt that they needed a refresher before they restarted the classes. Perpetua Rebeiro, from Maruranau village, who is coordinating the literacy programme recalled how enthusiastic all the tutors were when they first heard about the refresher course and the subsequent classes they would be carrying out. She feels really proud of the work they are doing since according to her, “these classes are really instrumental in keeping our language alive and it has been my privilege to be a part of it.” The refresher focused on going through the lessons the tutors would have to lead in the village-level classes. It was decided that the classes would be held in 18 villages and each class would be made up of 10 students. The classes began in September 2024, and a graduation ceremony celebrating their achievements was held in March 2025. During the graduation ceremony the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson of the SRDC, Toshao Daniel Aguilar and Toshao Nicholas Fredericks, noted how such efforts are an integral part of the Wapichan Management Plan, which aims to foster a robust and culturally rich community.
While there are still some classes left to be completed, the graduation event was a way to use the learnings from the Indigenous Navigator surveys to show to our youth the important role which language plays in preserving our culture and traditions.
Overview
- Resource Type:
- News
- Publication date:
- 27 June 2025
- Region:
- Guyana
- Partners:
- South Rupununi District Council (SRDC) & South Central People's Development Organisation (SCPDA)
