International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples
The United Nations marks the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples on 9 August. This year the day celebrates the role the youth play in keeping their culture, traditions, and contributions alive. The International Trade Centre (ITC) works with indigenous peoples to grow their businesses, whether they're roasting specialty coffee or bringing traditional foods into supermarkets. Here are some of their stories.
Ibrahima Thiam is intent on raising Senegal and Africa’s consumer awareness of lost indigenous foods and cereals, and on mainstreaming them back into the continent’s eating habits.
‘Today, the things I ate growing up in my village in Senegal, I can no longer find. These days people prefer imported rice, bread and pizza. Our ancient indigenous grains and foods are no longer popular,’ says Ibrahima Thiam, president and CEO of Senegalese brand Allido Food.
This is the challenge he is set on overcoming through his enterprise, which aims to promote healthy eating with an emphasis on products that grow in Senegal. Through local agricultural production and processing, and by working directly with a network of women producers and cooperatives, he has set up a business whose aspirations go beyond financial gain and economic development.
ITC-supported capacity enhancement training changed Surya’s career. He’s now spreading modern techniques of coffee brewing and processing among newcomers in Nepal.
After completing school, Surya Bahadur Dura was under immense pressure to take up any job to support his family in the remote Lamjung district of Gandaki Province. Finding a job was next to impossible then, since he hadn’t advanced far with his studies and he didn’t have any work experience.
He ended up working as a kitchen assistant in a coffeeshop in Pokhara, a popular tourist destination.
Now 30, he sharpened his skills in coffee brewing while working various cafés in Pokhara. As his skills and confidence grew, Surya decided in 2020 to open his own café to serve Nepali specialty coffee.
’It was a great relief for me when I got the opportunity to work in the café. That is where I learned basic techniques of coffee making,’ said Surya.
According to the International Labour Organization, 47% of all indigenous peoples in employment have no education, compared to 17% of their non-indigenous counterparts, and the gap is even wider for women.
Inclusive and sustainable economic growth cannot be achieved without strengthening indigenous economies including women. Building the skills and capacity of indigenous communities, in particular of women, to reach untapped market opportunities should be a priority for countries in developing and implementing their trade and development policies.
A recent ITC mission to Guyana with the Caribbean Development Bank—the prospective host institution of ITC’s first regional SheTrades Caribbean Hub to be launched in September— was a great opportunity to consult with indigenous peoples in Guyana, including women entrepreneurs, to understand their priorities and challenges, which will feed into the Hub’s work.