INVITATION TO THE FORUM CONFERENCE 2010
“INDIGENOUS PARTICIPATION IN POLICY-MAKING: IDEALS, REALITIES AND POSSIBILITIES”
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TROMSØ, NORWAY, OCTOBER 25TH – 26TH, 2010
We hereby invite you or your organization to this year’s conference hosted by the Forum for Development Cooperation with Indigenous Peoples together with The Resource Centre for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Galdu) as collaborating partner. The conference takes place at the University of Tromsø on October 25th – 26th 2010. The title of the Forum conference 2010 is “Indigenous Participation in Policy-making: Ideals, Realities and Possibilities.”
The Forum for Development Cooperation with Indigenous Peoples is a meeting place for researchers, development workers and Sámi organisations engaged in cooperation with indigenous peoples in the South. By initiating important debates concerning policies and practice, the Forum seeks to improve the quality of Norway’s development co-operation with indigenous peoples elsewhere. The Forum was established in 2000, and is aiming to be an important meeting place for researchers, development workers, administrators and activists working with indigenous peoples’ issues, where experiences from different development efforts related to IPs can be discussed.
The Forum is led by an Advisory Board at the University of Tromsø, with external representation from Galdu, the Sami Council, Nupi and the Rainforest Foundation. The Centre for Sami Studies at the University of Tromsø hosts the Secretariat of the Forum.
The Forum has contributed to focus on different, sometimes controversial aspects of Norway’s development cooperation, through indigenous rights-based lenses, and how the policy influences the capacity and ability of indigenous peoples to shape their own future. Each year an annual conference takes place in the Arctic city of Tromsø, Norway.
The 2010 Forum Conference addresses important dimensions of Indigenous Peoples rights to participation. The main regional focuses will be on Asia and Latin America, but the relevance of the Sami’s recent struggles and victories will debated. This year’s Forum Conference will address principal policy issues and major conceptual and pragmatic challenges and constraints in realising different kinds of participation. The sub-themes described in the program will be addressed mainly through the lens of Indigenous perceptions of justice and rights. Invited speakers include prominent indigenous leaders representing indigenous and ethnic or inter-ethnic umbrella organisations (both intermediary and national).
The conference languages will be English, Spanish and Sami. The conference program and information will be published on this homepage: http://www.sami.uit.no/forum/.
The number of participants is limited to 200. The registration deadline is set to 15 October 2010 if you need accommodation. The registration deadline without accommodation is set to 21 October 2010. Please register for this year’s Forum conference by using the registration form on our web pages: http://www.sami.uit.no/forum/.
Sincerely
Professor
Tone Bleie
Leader of the Advisory Board
Forum for Development Cooperation with Indigenous Peoples
Terje G. Lilleeng
Advisor