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UNESCO in collaboration with the Nepal Federation of Indigenous Nationalities (NEFIN) and Nepal Indigenous Chamber of Commerce (NICC) organized a consultation with the representatives of Indigenous Peoples (IPs) institutions on 19th August 2022 in Khabarhub Media House in Kathmandu. The purpose of the dialogue was to discuss the issues and concerns regarding Local and Indigenous Knowledge System (LINKS) and International Decade on Indigenous Languages (IDIL) and to find ways to address and align office’s Programme. 

The dialogue was attended by a diverse group of people, including indigenous leaders, community members, persons with disabilities and including academicians, journalists, lawyers, young activists and anthropologists. The dialogue began with an opening statement by the facilitator, who welcomed everyone to the meeting and outlined the purpose of the consultation, followed by presentation and group discussion. Some of the issues that were raised included land rights, cultural preservation, and the importance of indigenous languages in preserving indigenous knowledges were highlighted.  

“The world is changing over time, however, Indigenous peoples continue to be excluded from policy initiatives, deprived of diplomatic dialogue and there is a lack of representation of the Indigenous Peoples in economic diplomacy as well” said Tej Bahadur Rai, Chairperson of Nepal Indigenous Chamber of Commerce. He further mentioned that the NICC hopes that UNESCO will help support Indigenous organizations to foster entrepreneurship and provide seed funds to encourage Indigenous youth in business and expect UNESCO to assist them in promoting Indigenous skills and crafts and documentation.  

“It is critical to bring Indigenous skills and knowledge back to the forefront; UNESCO strongly believes that the stories and voices of the indigenous community should be acknowledged and recognized if sustainable approaches are to be found”’ said Michael Croft, UNESCO Representative to Nepal. 

The President of NEFIN, Mr. Gelje Sherpa emphasized that similar dialogue sessions should be conducted in the future and focus on various aspects of the Indigenous community including, language, law, knowledge and skills. NEFIN hopes that the proposed inputs and feedback from the consultation dialogue would be considered by UNESCO. 

The recommendations received during the consultation were the necessity of taking UNESCO programmes at the local level, and integrating indigenous languages in the national curriculum including food, culture, traditions and intangible heritage of Indigenous communities. The participants emphasized that the government entities should integrate the actual perspectives of the Indigenous Peoples while developing programmes, activities, ideas and policies for the language decade. 

Overall, the consultation was a productive and meaningful exchange of ideas and left the meeting feeling heard and understood. It was agreed that follow-up meetings would be scheduled to continue the dialogue and work towards finding solutions to the issues that were discussed.