From Small Grants to Big Results: Voices that Transform
In the face of threats to Indigenous territories in South and Central America, the VOCES Project's Small Grants Mechanism promotes local solutions with community leadership, a rights-based approach, and a commitment to environmental justice. This initiative strengthens governance, the local economy, Indigenous communication, and the defense of collective rights, demonstrating that change begins in the communities.
Indigenous communities in South and Central America currently face multiple threats that put their territories, cultures, and ways of life at risk. Among the main pressures are deforestation, the expansion of the agricultural frontier, extractive activities, and the accelerated loss of biodiversity.
Between 2001 and 2023, Ecuador lost nearly 997,000 hectares of tree cover[1]. In the Peruvian Amazon, 146,575 hectares were deforested in 2023 alone, a figure higher than the 137,976 hectares recorded in 2022[2]. Honduras, for its part, lost approximately 1.4 million hectares in the same period[3]. The main causes of this environmental damage include agricultural and livestock expansion, mining, oil exploitation, infrastructure construction, forest fires, illegal logging, and illicit crops. These threats not only affect ecosystems but also compromise the food security, health, cultural identity, and self-determination of Indigenous peoples. Added to this is the lack of effective recognition of their territorial rights and their limited participation in decision-making processes, which increases their vulnerability to a development model that neither includes nor protects them.
In recent years, the need to empower Indigenous communities in their struggle for sustainable natural resource management and environmental justice has gained momentum. In this context, the VOCES Regional Project: "Advancing Effective Conservation and Territorial Management with a Rights-Based Approach: Strengthening Regional Indigenous Cooperation in Latin America”—funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Asdi) and implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) through its regional offices in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean (ORMACC), and South America (SUR)—emerges as a concrete response to these urgent demands. The initiative's main purpose is to promote the integration of a rights-based approach and environmental justice into conservation and sustainable resource management processes in Indigenous territories in Latin America.
To this end, it articulates four fundamental lines of action: 1) strengthening territorial management and governance practices, 2) protecting environmental defenders, 3) promoting community communication strategies, and 4) making indigenous voices visible in international forums related to conservation and human rights.
Within this framework, the Small Grants Mechanism (SGM) was created, a strategic instrument that directly supports initiatives led by Indigenous peoples and partner organizations. Its objective is to strengthen the capacities of community organizations, Indigenous communicators, and local actors to develop actions related to territorial defense, conservation, local governance, communication, and advocacy at multiple levels.
About the Small Grants Mechanism
The Small Grants Mechanism focuses on the VOCES project's intervention areas, which include: six Territorial Councils of La Mosquitia in Honduras; the Amazon regions of Ecuador; and the departments of Loreto, Ucayali, San Martín, and Amazonas in Peru. These areas have been selected for their vast biological and cultural wealth, as well as for the challenges they face in terms of environmental conservation and recognition of territorial rights.
The Mechanism promotes a participatory approach that ensures the active inclusion of women, youth, and other vulnerable groups in both decision-making processes and project implementation. It also aligns with the objectives of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), making a concrete contribution to meeting international conservation and sustainability goals.
Winning projects of the 2024 Small Grants
In 2024, eleven organizations from Ecuador, Peru, and Honduras were selected as Small Grant Mechanism winners. Each organization received $25,000 in funding to implement their initiatives over a 12-month period. Of these, six projects are women-led, with a total of $150,000, representing approximately 40% of the allocated funds. These initiatives are currently in the final stages of implementation and are already generating significant results for their communities and territories. See catalogue of winning projects.
Strategic lines of the Small Grants Mechanism and winning projects 2024
- Support lo local governance Voices that decide: protected territories
This line of action is aimed at strengthening local governance through the creation and implementation of tools that prevent and monitor threats to territories and community rights. Initiatives are currently underway in Peru and Ecuador, tailored to the realities and priorities of each territory
In Peru, Confederation of Amazonian Nationalities of Peru - CONAP promotes the strengthening of community monitoring systems in Regional Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon of the Province of Atalaya - URPIA and Regional Organization for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of Alto Amazonas - ODERPIA communities, with a strategy that combines technology—through an updated mobile app—and training for environmental monitoring and forest protection. In the Ucayali region, Regional Organization of Aidesep Ucayali - ORAU promotes traveling schools that travel through Amazonian communities, providing training and tools to local organizations for the defense of environmental defenders.
In Ecuador, Ecuadorian Fund for Populorum Progressio — FEPP Ecuador supports participatory territorial agenda-building processes in the Upiritu Kankhe community, while promoting women's economic empowerment through workshops and knowledge exchanges. Furthermore, Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon - COFENIAE and Amazon Basin Indigenous Organizations - COICA are leading the strengthening of a network of Indigenous communicators in several provinces of the Amazon region, which plays a key role in highlighting rights violations and articulating messages from and to Amazonian communities.
Social and economic empowerment- Voice that undertake: alternatives with identity
This line of action promotes social and economic empowerment projects, fostering productive and livelihood initiatives aligned with Nature-based Solutions (NbS). Currently, initiatives are being developed in Peru, Ecuador, and Honduras, integrating local knowledge with sustainable practices and income-generating opportunities
In Peru, the URPIA organization is working with the Capajereato Native Community on a training program for raising paco fish, accompanied by the provision of supplies to strengthen the community monitoring and surveillance committee. In the province of Maynas, the Rainforest Foundation US Perú is conducting workshops on native bee management with Kichwa and Maijuna communities, opening up new economic opportunities that are respectful of the environment.
In Ecuador, the Sinchi Sacha Foundation is promoting innovation in the ancestral art of mukawa pottery through design workshops, the implementation of specialized kilns, and the promotion of marketing experiences led by the master ceramists of Canelos.
In Honduras, the Association of Miskitu Indigenous Women / Miskitu Indiang Mairin Asla Takanka - MIMAT association is working on the implementation of a solid waste management plan in Puerto Lempira, where the active participation of women from the urban area is key to moving toward more just and sustainable community management.
Communication and advocacy - Voices that visibilize: communicate to transform
This strategic line promotes communication and advocacy projects, aiming to strengthen the communication capacities of Indigenous peoples and highlight their contributions to biodiversity conservation and the defense of their rights. The supported initiatives are being developed in Peru and Ecuador, fostering networks of Indigenous communicators and ongoing training processes.
In Peru, the Intercultural Communication Services - SERVINDI organization leads a series of workshops focused on investigative journalism and the use of communication tools. These activities strengthen networks of communicators in the Ucayali and San Martín regions, promoting the dissemination of key issues such as the climate agenda, territorial protection, and Indigenous governance.
Also in Peru, Amazonian Institute for Social Promotion - IPSA, Radio Ucamara – Radio Ucamara works directly with adolescent women from Kukama communities settled along the banks of the Marañón River. Through training in journalism, the environment, and gender, they are building a network of youth correspondents who produce communication content on environmental issues, historical memory, and Indigenous women's rights.
In Ecuador, Coordination of Community, Popular, and Educational Media of Ecuador - CORAPE promotes the empowerment of a network of Indigenous women communicators from eight Amazonian provinces. These leaders are trained in the use of a mobile unit and a digital application to produce content that highlights the socio-environmental issues affecting their communities.
- Knowledge management and experience sharing - Voices that share: knowledge to strengthen
This strategic line promotes the creation of spaces for meeting and knowledge exchange, where environmental defenders can share lessons learned, forge alliances, and strengthen networks in prioritized countries. Although not all projects fall directly within this line, many develop it transversally through their actions.
In Ecuador, CORAPE has promoted spaces for dialogue and knowledge exchange among the Indigenous communicators who make up its network in the Amazon region. A collaboration agreement was also consolidated between COFENIAE and COICA, marking a milestone in the joint work to map environmental issues and implement territorial action strategies.
In Peru, the traveling schools promoted by ORAU in the Ucayali region have become key spaces for strengthening community knowledge about the protection of environmental defenders. In turn, the workshops promoted by SERVINDI contribute to strengthening local governance by developing communication skills, with a focus on environmental rights and justice.
Voices that transform: The power of local iniciatives
The eleven projects supported by the IUCN Small Grants Mechanism in 2024, demonstrate that Indigenous leadership, community participation, and the active role of women and youth are key to addressing socio-environmental challenges. In Ecuador, COICA and COFENIAE conducted participatory mapping that led to the development of threat response protocols and strengthened the communication skills of 70 members of the Communicators Network. In Peru, ORAU promoted traveling schools in 13 federal bases, where more than 200 people participated in training processes and the development of territorial safeguarding protocols. The Sinchi Sacha Foundation, also in Ecuador, boosted the production of ancestral ceramics through technological improvements that favored the local economy with a gender perspective.
These initiatives demonstrate how technical support and a participatory approach promote more inclusive and resilient territorial governance. In the coming months, we will share progress and results on our social media channels UICN SUR and UICN ORMACC, culminating in the launch of a digital platform that will bring together the achievements of each beneficiary project.
Follow the stories, share the voices, and join us on this journey of transformation!
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