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Dear Cultural Survival community,
One part of our organization’s response to COVID-19 is making emergency grants to our partners. Each day we receive urgent requests from Indigenous communities coping with the COVID-19 pandemic across the world. So far, we’ve committed to 18 grants to our partners on the ground through our Keepers of the Earth Fund.
Many national governments are not supporting or allocating resources to help Indigenous communities amidst this pandemic. For several of our partners, our resources are the only resources being shared with them at this time. With your help, we hope to award more grants to Indigenous communities in need of support during this time. Some examples of the grants we’ve committed to include:
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Aldeia Vanuire - Krenak (Brazil)
The Krenak community is affected mainly economically due to the pandemic. Since their community members cannot work in the nearby communities and cities as usual, in addition to following the health care protocols, they are using funds to provide food and health kits to families which include medicine, food, cleaning supplements and locally made masks.
- Ka Kuxtal Much Meyaj - Maya (Mexico)
Ka Kuxtal Much Meyaj is developing a community protocol for COVID-19. They are establishing a communication network in the region through community delegates to inform the communities about the situation, creating a manual of medicinal plants, and making masks to protect residents.
- Organization of Indigenous Women United for the Biodiversity of Panama (OMIUBP) - Guna, Embera (Panama)
OMIUBP is implementing a print, radio, and television communications campaign in Guna, Embera, and Spanish with urgent preventative information for communities facing the pandemic.
- Tosepan Pajti - Nahua (Mexico)
Tosepan Pajti is carrying out a comprehensive emergency project on COVID-19 that includes food sovereignty and exchange of seeds, food and medicinal plants produced in orchards; a communication campaign through their community radio station; and are aiming to strengthen community health of Nahua families in Puebla.
- Council of Elders Iriria Bribri Sá Ká (Cabagra) - Bribri (Costa Rica)
The Bribri community is purchasing and distributing sanitation materials, buying and sowing seeds for local food production, and installing a water system for community use.
These are just a few of the inspiring actions Indigenous communities are taking to protect their people, cultures, lands, and territories. At Cultural Survival, we have dedicated the last 48 years to partnering with Indigenous communities across the world to assert their rights in protecting their lands, territories, and natural resources. We remain committed to supporting Indigenous Peoples -- but we need your help to continue this work.
Movement building work is ignited by people who are generous in redistributing and sharing resources. So if you can, please donate today! Your financial gift will allow us to continue to provide life-saving assistance to our partners across the world. We deeply appreciate your allyship to stand up for Indigenous rights.
In solidarity and gratitude,
 
Galina Angarova (Buryat)
Executive Director
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