Globalisation and Indigenous Peoples
Facing the 21^st Century with Confidence, with the help of Information and Communications Technologies

"Where you live in the world shouldn't determine whether you live in the world"
 

The e-Bario Knowledge Fair

The e-Bario Knowledge Fair was a multi-disciplinary conference held in the remote village of Bario, in the Kelabit Highlands of Sarawak, one of the states of East Malaysia on the island of Borneo.

Bario is the traditional home of the Kelabit people, one of Malaysia's smallest indigenous ethnic minority groups.  It is also the home of the multi-award winning e-Bario project that introduced computers, telephones and the internet to this hitherto isolated community.

The Knowledge Fair was held to showcase how this highly distinctive and resourceful community has appropriated modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) for their own betterment, on their terms and in a way that is wholly compatible with their long-held and cherished traditions and culture. 

The community joined with researchers, practitioners, policy makers and other friends to share their knowledge and their culture. They demonstrated the evolving dynamics of the relationship between modern technology and their way of life, and how other communities can similarly embrace the opportunities offered by technology whilst simultaneously preserving and even enriching their traditional beliefs within the context of the encroaching forces of globalisation. 

The e-Bario Knowledge Fair involved indigenous peoples, academics, practitioners, policy-makers and activists with interests in community development, ICTs for development, community informatics, anthropology, community-based tourism, and S.E. Asian studies in general.  It is expected to contribute to the implementation of the Ninth Malaysian Plan by the Government of Malaysia, in which the benefits of ICTs are to be enjoyed by all sections of society, including the many underserved communities in remote and isolated locations like Bario. 

Click here to visit the UNDP/APDIP web page for the Workshop

UNDP Workshop on
E-Inclusion and Media for Indigenous Peoples

Supported by the UNDP Regional Centre in Bangkok, involving jointly; the Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP), the Regional Initiative on Indigenous Peoples’ Rights and Development in the Asia and the Pacific (RIPP) and the Asia Regional Governance Programme (ARGP).

This workshop identified effective means and appropriate modalities and mechanisms that will accelerate the pace towards e-inclusion for the world’s indigenous peoples; by bringing together researchers, practitioners and indigenous peoples to share their knowledge and to develop proposals for increasing e-inclusion for the world’s indigenous peoples.  The objectives of the workshop were to raise awareness by sharing good practices on ICTs and media for indigenous peoples, by;

• Brainstorming on and developing proposals for modalities and mechanisms for increasing e-inclusion for Asia’s Indigenous Peoples.

• Formulating an agenda on e-inclusion for Asia’s Indigenous Peoples in the context of the recent United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

• Obtain inputs to create a knowledge primer on e-inclusion for indigenous peoples.

• Develop a strategy for producing a knowledge portal for Asia’s Indigenous Peoples.