On April 23, 2025, Eduardo Nugkuag set foot in Washington, DC, for the first time. As a young Indigenous leader from the Peruvian Amazon, Eduardo serves as a technical advisor at Asociación Interétnica de Desarrollo de la Selva Peruana (AIDESEP), Peru’s most prominent national Amazonian Indigenous organization. Eduardo arrived in the U.S. capital as a Sandra N. Smithey Fellow for Equity and Accountability in International Development(1), sponsored by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and with the support of the Bank Information Center (BIC) and the Accountability Research Center (ARC).
Eduardo’s visit was more than a personal milestone, it marked a critical point in an ongoing effort to reshape how multilateral development banks engage with Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon. The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) selected AIDESEP to implement a 3-year, $1 million grant to support and strengthen AIDESEP’s National Indigenous Bioeconomy Program—an initiative designed and led by AIDESEP members to support bioeconomy businesses in the Amazon.
Eduardo's Washington visit builds on years of advocacy by BIC and its partners. Since the launch of the IDB’s Amazon Initiative(2) in 2021—rebranded as Amazon Forever in 2023—BIC has worked with allies, including AIDESAP, to place the rights and leadership of Indigenous Peoples, Afrodescendants, and traditional communities at the center of IDB Amazon-related investments.
In 2022, the IDB invited BIC and the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) to provide input on the operating manual of the Amazon Bioeconomy and Forest Management Multi-donor Fund—one of three original funds under the Amazon Initiative. The opportunity to provide input arose as a direct response to pressure from BIC and COICA to reframe the Initiative around the priorities of Amazonian peoples, including Indigenous Peoples, Afrodescendants, and Traditional Communities. One of BIC’s key recommendations was for the IDB to allocate at least 23 percent(3) of the fund directly to Indigenous Peoples, Afrodescendants, and traditional communities to support their forest conservation efforts. This recommendation was adopted, and Germany and the Netherlands—the fund’s initial donors, each pledging $17.5 million initially— raised the allocation to 25 percent. With this, the IDB developed the first dedicated fund to support Indigenous Peoples and Afrodescendants.
Crucially, the fund allows recipient organizations to decide whether to manage funds directly or partner with implementing intermediaries, breaking a long-standing pattern of external control over resources intended for Indigenous communities. This shift opened the door for organizations like AIDESEP and CONAQ to design and manage their initiatives on their terms. Therefore, Eduardo came to D.C. to work with the IDB Amazon Coordination Unit, gaining an in-depth understanding of the bank’s procedures to facilitate the smooth implementation of the project. He engaged with operational teams, board members, and other key stakeholders, offering valuable insights into AIDESEP’s mission and operations.
In 2024, BIC helped these groups navigate the proposal process and secure funding under the reformed IDB Multi-donor Fund. As AIDESEP President Jorge Pérez Rubio stated, “AIDESEP has been developing a process of dialogue and technical work with IDB Amazon Program officials, which has resulted in the approval of a $1 million project to strengthen Indigenous bioeconomy initiatives. With these funds, AIDESEP will be able to support bioeconomy initiatives of its members… strengthening the organizational territorial structure as collective peoples.”
In Brazil, CONAQ secured $600,000 to map quilombola communities and advance bioeconomy alternatives rooted in land regularization and sustainable development. A CONAQ representative reflected on the partnership with the IDB as a milestone: “We recognize that this is a significant opportunity, and with it comes the responsibility to ensure that the interests of quilombola communities are prioritized… If successful, [it] could result in lasting positive impacts for quilombola communities in the Amazon.”
These efforts represent more than just new projects. They demonstrate that development finance can be effective when communities are treated as equal partners in protecting forests and advancing sustainable livelihoods. They also challenge a longstanding problem in traditional funding models to Indigenous communities: the tendency for community-directed funds to be absorbed by intermediaries before reaching the people they’re intended to support.
Eduardo’s presence in DC underscores the fact that systemic change in development finance is possible. As Eduardo continues his work back in Perú as the point person representing AIDESEP in the implementation of the IDB grant, his experience as a Sandra N. Smithey fellow in Washington, D.C. will carry forward, demonstrating that Indigenous Peoples are not only forest stewards but also full partners in conservation.
Footnotes:
(1) The Sandra N. Smithey Fellowship supports frontline changemakers from the global South who are working to transform international development investments in favor of social and environmental sustainability.
(2) In 2021, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved the Amazon Initiative for sustainable development in the Amazon biome. The initiative was based on the Leticia Pact and was built upon four thematic pillars: bioeconomy; sustainable agriculture, livestock, and forest management; human capital (health, education, and employment); and sustainable infrastructure and cities. In 2023, the IDB rebranded the Amazon Initiative as the Amazon Forever Program, conserving the pillars and adding more funds to support coordinated work in the Amazon.
(3) BIC and COICA suggested 23% based on data collected by COICA that demonstrates that IPs, control 23 percent or more of the entire Amazon biome.