Reciprocity

The Indigenous Reciprocity Initiative of the Americas (IRI) is a community-led biocultural conservation program consisting of a network of 38 different Indigenous groups in 20 partner organizations engaged in different projects involving food & water security, agroforestry and environmental health, fighting for land rights, and building economic and educational support. The thread connecting each project is that they are all self-determined by local people, designed and implemented by Indigenous communities to meet their own needs and priorities, rather than something imposed from the outside. Donations are accepted with strict adherence to the terms set by the community organizations, and those funds are distributed evenly and unconditionally, with no strings attached. IRI funding is also 100% community controlled. IRI works from the understanding that ground-up structures emphasizing local agency are the most meaningful way to support Indigenous and local community autonomy, and the most impactful way to support biodiversity.IRI works towards a process of reciprocity by evenly distributing funds without conditions, which can be used to address the immediate and changing needs of community projects, as well as providing a platform for education and collaboration in service of biocultural conservation, and engaging with Indigenous and local stakeholders on their own terms to co-produce relevant audiovisual resources. Thanks to your support, we raised over 100K for Indigenous organizations since launching IRI last year, which has been instrumental in the vital work of our partners—learn more at www.chacruna-iri.org