ECUADOR - Land Tenure and Property Rights Portal

5.0 INSTITUTIONALSTRENGTHENINGInstitutional strengthening of indigenous entities is considered as a key intervention that heightens thepotential of efficacy and sustainability of indigenous territorial consolidation interventions. Accordingly, itssuccesses and challenges within both projects are highlighted below.5.1 CAIMAN: FEINCESuccesses: FEINCE has made exceptional progress since CAIMAN began to work with the organization in2003. From the ground up, it has established a physical infrastructure, accumulated staff, securedorganizational and technical capabilities, developed relationships with external actors, and strengthenedconnections to its Cofán constituents. FEINCE has gone from an ineffective organization existing only onpaper to an entity that has been recognized as the legitimate voice of the Cofán people. The mutuallybeneficial relationship with Fundacion Cofán has further strengthened FEINCE and allowed a clearseparation of political and technical functions, with FEINCE taking over the former and the FundacionCofán maintaining the latter. This has enabled technical work to advance separate from political interests. Thewillingness of organizations such as CARE, The Nature Conservancy, the Institute for the Eco-developmentof the Amazon Region, the Field Museum, and the Government of Ecuador’s Child Development Fund toprovide grants (including those that are competitively awarded) to FEINCE attests to the organizationalprogress achieved.Challenges: FEINCE faces challenges in obtaining ongoing financial support, specifically funding that is notdependent on often-shifting donor programming priorities. The federation will further benefit fromenhancing the professional capabilities of its in-house staff and adopting by-laws and practices that allowprofessionals to remain within the organization—even after leadership changes. While FEINCE is nowviewed as the legitimate representative of the Cofán, it needs to forge stronger relationships with all of itsconstituent communities. The strong partnership FEINCE has with Fundacion Cofán yields many technicaland financial sustainability benefits and should be strategically built upon over the long term.5.2 PSUR: FISCHIn 2003, CARE and FICSH reached an agreement whereby the implementation of NRM subcomponentactivities on land titling would be carried out primarily by FICSH. In order to better implement thissubcomponent, CARE carried out two kinds of institutional strengthening activities within FICSH: (a)training of community members in forestry skills, including mapping and GPS, to broaden FICSH’s capacityto carry out land titling activities; and (b) administrative and accounting training of FICSH staff. FICSHcontinued to work with a lawyer to complete the titling process.Successes: FICSH has managed to rally segments of various communities to effectively defend the Shuar’sproperty rights. FICSH also has a clear vision of the Shuar’s desire to control its own destiny. Finally, theINDIGENOUS TERRITORIAL RIGHTS IN ECUADOR: RAPID IMPACT ASSESSMENT 21