ITU is committed to empowering indigenous peoples – globally there are more than 476 million indigenous people around the world, across 90 countries and representing 5 000 different cultures –through ICTs. Most of these populations lack access to adequate economic resources, education and social protection.
ITU has developed and delivered the following training for indigenous peoples:
- ITU’s Capacity-building trainings for indigenous communities empower indigenous people and communities through technology. The course has reached out to 70 indigenous participants – from Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru – of whom 30 per cent were indigenous women.
- ITU’s one-year course ‘Technical promoters in telecommunications and broadcasting in indigenous communities’ trains indigenous professionals in maintaining indigenous networks from infrastructure to communication delivery, boosting professional development and socio-economic development and self-sustainability of communities.
- 141 indigenous participants from twelve countries across the Americas participated in ‘Innovative communication tools on how to develop, manage and operate an indigenous radio network’ (2021).