The Indigenous Peoples & Local Economic Development (IP/LED) Programme supports indigenous and tribal peoples’ communities to develop local economies and employment strategies.
IP/LED is located within the Local Economic Development Unit of the Job Creation and Enterprise Development Department.
LED initiatives take place within a specific territory or area and this is what the local in LED refers to. The size of “local” can vary from a village or town to a larger area involving a whole range of local actors and indigenous peoples. The economic in LED refers to the strategic focus on building on economic potential and the mobilisation of local resources and assets. Development refers to a process whereby the priorities for development are set by indigenous communities. LED is a participatory development process that is locally owned and managed and based on local needs, aspirations and ownership.
LED is an area-based approach in line with indigenous peoples’ right to control their own social, economic and cultural development based on their own concept of development and diverse values, visions, needs and priorities. Through LED initiatives the ILO work in partnership with member states and indigenous peoples’ communities to find ways to reduce poverty by boosting local economies.
The primary goal of the IP/LED programme is to work with indigenous peoples’ communities and organisations to create healthy and enterprising indigenous localities where women and men and the young people are actively contributing to local economic development. The vision is to do so by building on local people and resources allowing a community to build from the “inside-out”, capitalizing on local assets, rather than from the “outside-in”, relying on external interventions. This will allow indigenous peoples to increasingly become actors of change and partners in development rather than recipients of aid and government welfare. It is a way to strengthen indigenous territories and also promote equitable access to labour markets and social services.
The IP-LED programme builds local capacities for economic development, facilitates dialogue among local stakeholders, promotes full and inclusive participation in the decision making process, makes resources and tools available for assessing local economic potential, and supports indigenous peoples’ communities to design and implement their local economic development strategies. In the process of pursuing local economic development, the promotion of indigenous peoples’ rights and recognition of their cultural heritage and traditional knowledge are key elements based on the principles of ILO Convention No. 169.