SPERI's Brochure 5.6.2006

Vision

SPERI works towards a society where indigenous people and ethnic minorities have equal access to social justice, gender equity, natural resources and fair social economic systems. Indigenous people and ethnic minorities and their cultural identity deserve respect in society.


Mission

SPERI sees itself as the facilitator providing opportunities to stimulate social justice, equity and dignity for poor people in mountainous and isolated rural areas, especially indigenous peoples, by strengthening livelihood strategies and contributing to democratization processes.


Strategy
SPERI’s strategy is threefold:

1) SPERI strengthens farmer networks in Vietnam and the Mekong regions to empower indigenous communities socially and economically.
2) SPERI conducts development research to scale up lessons learnt and experiences.
3) SPERI lobbies for better policies with regard to issues concerning ethnic minorities.



Approach

SPERI’s development approach is based upon human ecology principles, which focuses on the relationship between humans and their (natural) environment.
SPERI uses a holistic approach to help people solve problems and enhance human potential within their environments - their family, community and natural environment.
SPERI’s research and lobby work is rooted in the experiences of the local people.


Background

SPERI was founded in 2006 as a merger of two experienced Vietnamese development organisations. These were Towards Ethnic Women (TEW, 1994) and Center for Indigenous Knowledge Research and Development (CIRD, 2000).

The grassroots development work that TEW and CIRD have been doing for the last 10 to 15 years has resulted in key-farmer networks, which in turn have consolidated into community based organizations (CBOs). As a result of this development, the CBOs are now step by step taking over the facilitating and coordinating role in community development.

SPERI scales up the development efforts of TEW and CIRD by an increasing focus towards research and lobby.



Main areas of work

Mekong Community Network and Ecological Trade (MECO-ECOTRA)

This is the name of the farmer networks.

During community development activities the farmer networks have been set up as a form of creating social capital.

The farmers in the networks help each other by exchanging knowledge, learning from study tours between provinces, and by planning, implementing and monitoring of community development activities.

In 2006, about 4000 key farmers in Vietnam and Laos actively participate and in total about 20.000 farmers benefit from the networks’ activities.

The new challenge for the social farmer networks is to engage in the market economy without loosing social capital and cultural identity.

Focus areas for the Mekong Community Network and Ecological Trade are:
· Customary law and watershed forest management
· Human ecology villages (eco-tourism)
· Organic farming
· Herbal medicine
· Handicraft
· Vocational training
· Main areas of work

Research

Social issues, policy analysis and ecological aspects are integrated in the research conducted by SPERI. Major issues for research are:
· Role of indigenous knowledge about ecological products in the context of transition to free market.
· Customary law in land use planning and watershed forest management.
· Gender equity and empowerment through land right allocation and livelihood generating opportunities.
· Local/indigenous knowledge for biodiversity conservation.
· Conflict resolution and mediation between local communities, state-forest enterprises and national parks.

Lobby


Current project locations

Past project locations
(still network link)

Project in Laos
(Luang Prabang prov.)Development organizations play a vital role in identifying the needs and problems at grass roots level and are in a good position to offer advice to policy makers when deciding on policies that will (in)directly influence the lives of the communities. Lobby activities will focus on two major issues:
· Civil society: lobbying policy makers in creating a legal framework for grass roots organizations.
· Needs and concerns directly linked to grassroots level: e.g. land-decentralization, customary law, community forests.
Project locations




























Social Policy Ecology Research Institute
A4 Pham Huy Thong street, Ngoc Khanh
Ba Dinh district, Hanoi, Vietnam
Telephone: +84-4-7717367
Fax: +84-4-7715691
E-mail: speri@speri.org
Website: www.dolame.org