Latest news about the Collective,
our fieldwork, experiences and learning
Bodies and Belonging – Our Summertime Exquisite Corpse Project
Our Summertime Exquisite Corpse was an opportunity to get creative, connect and ...
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by Jay Mistry
Finding slowness, ammonites and connections – Reflections on the Cobra Collective 2025 Annual Retreat
Reflections on the Cobra Collective 2025 Annual Retreat including slowness, ammo ...
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by Julia Jung
New book released on participatory video
A new book co-authored by Cobra Collective member Elisa Bignante on the use of f ...
Living in harmony with rivers
Matthew Simpson outlines why the Rights of Wetlands project is supporting a moti ...
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by Matt Simpson
River Tana Basin Water Protocol
Under the Rights of Wetlands project, Wetlands International Eastern Africa have ...
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by Jay Mistry
Strengthening community resilience through training and action in the North Rupununi
The North Rupununi District Development Board in Guyana are long-term partners o ...
Fire as a land management technology
As the LANDMARC project comes to an end, we reflect on our contributions to this ...
Supporting community-led capacity building for Village Sustainability Plans in the North Rupununi
In the heart of Guyana, the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB), T ...
Community food growing and wellbeing in Reading
Over the course of three months, we facilitated a participatory video process wi ...
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by Jay Mistry
Women on wetlands
Today, on International Women’s Day 2025, meet some amazing women fighting ...
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by Jay Mistry
What are wetlands?
Wondering what we mean by ‘wetland’? Getting confused by the differe ...
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by Jay Mistry
Understanding the complexities of fire management in the Mediterranean region of France
Over the last two weeks, we’ve been on secondment in France as part of the ...
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by Jay Mistry
Protecting Wetlands for Our Common Future
Today on World Wetlands Day, we explain why the Rights of Nature is an important ...
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by Jay Mistry
Multiple perspectives on integrated fire management from Latin America and the Caribbean
We love all things visual at the Cobra Collective, and so we’re kicking of ...
Quick Guides to Wetlands
Our collaborator, Gillian Davies from the BSC Group has been busy developing an ...
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by Jay Mistry
Participatory video to evaluate community-led research
We’ve been busy with two community groups in Reading, helping them use par ...
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by Jay Mistry
Operationalising the Rights of Wetlands in Bolivia
The Instituto de Investigaciones Socio-Económicas (IISEC), Universidad Ca ...
Operacionalizando los derechos de los humedales en Bolivia
El Instituto de Investigaciones Socio-Económicas (IISEC), la Universidad ...
Rights of Wetlands at the More Than Human Life (MOTH) Gathering in Sarayaku, Ecuador
Project partner team members Kai Huschke and Gillian Davies travelled to the Ama ...
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by Jay Mistry
Indigenous crafters of Guyana: a directory
This directory presents craftswomen and craftsmen from Regions 1, 3 and 9 who we ...
Working with communities on the Rights of Wetlands in Kenya
This week we've been working with Indigenous people and local communities i ...
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by Jay Mistry
Safeguarding craft materials
This craft materaisl directory is aimed at helping to safeguard the knowledge on ...
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by Jay Mistry
Crafting on World Indigenous Day
On World Indigenous Day today, we share a directory of crafts compiled through w ...
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by Jay Mistry
Rights of Wetlands Review
The Rights of Wetlands Review is a working document that introduces Rights of We ...
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by Matt Simpson
Colombo wetland management framework
A key output of the ‘Increasing the resilience of biodiversity and livelih ...
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by Matt Simpson
Metro Colombo urban wetland status report
The Metro Colombo urban wetland status report reviews the progress made since th ...
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by Matt Simpson
Community’s right to grow
Supporting community food growing has become an important mechanism for deliveri ...
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by Andrea
Urban wetlands improving the wellbeing of city dwellers
In a participatory video made by the community of the Mulleriyawa wetland in Col ...
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by Matt Simpson
What is a Rights of Wetlands approach?
Rights of Nature is gaining increased support as a solution, an approach that is ...
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by Matt Simpson
Sharing Indigenous crafting knowledge and skills
Throughout Guyana, Indigenous craft practices are on the decline. As part of our ...
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by Jay Mistry
Understanding Relational Values in Conservation Practices
Dinda Prayunita is currently pursuing an MSc in Sustainable Development at KU Le ...
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by Julia Jung
Learn more about Indigenous crafting in Guyana
This short stop-motion video gives a quick overview of our 'Indigenous craf ...
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by Jay Mistry
Reflections on participatory video in Colombo
Community researchers in Colombo are currently exploring the challenges and best ...
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by Jay Mistry
Community food growing report
The report 'Visual Storytelling about Community Food Growing' emerges ...
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by Andrea
Radically hopeful cooperation in community food-growing
In March-April 2022, the course on ‘Visual Storytelling about Community Fo ...
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by Julia Jung
Remote working in participatory video - the UN Women experience
The Covid-19 crisis forced many people to stay at home and work remotely. In thi ...
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by nuzzo
Evaluating the impact of community food growing initiatives
As our digital storytelling about community food growing project comes to an end ...
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by nuzzo
The Exquisite Corpse Process: Expanding our participatory art-based methods
The Exquisite Corpse process uses art and creative expression as a way of surfac ...
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by Julia Jung
Connecting Wetlands - Celebrating World Wetlands Day 2022
Celebrating World Wetlands Day, we tell a story spanning three different and div ...
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by Julia Jung
International Women’s Day 2022
To celebrate the International Women's Day, we would like to present the fr ...
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by nuzzo
“We feel at home” at the Calthorpe: Community garden volunteers share their experiences
Screening short films made by participants in various community-gardens in Londo ...
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by Julia Jung
Digital Storytelling about Community Food Growing Project: Second Insights from autumn 2021 course
Visual stories developed through the Grassroots Visual Storytelling about Commun ...
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by Julia Jung
Amerindian Heritage 2021
Celebrate the start of Amerindian Heritage Month in Guyana with this video from ...
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by Jay Mistry
Using Storytelling to Engage in Complex Social-Ecological Challenges
How do we navigate our way through complex challenges and how can storytelling s ...
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by Julia Jung
Community food growing helps build the future differently: An invitation to tell your visual story
Starting in September 2021, we are recruiting a second cohort of participants fo ...
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by Julia Jung
Traditional knowledge for global biodiversity and development goals
On the 12th July 2021, we showcased the results and outputs of the Darwin Initia ...
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by Jay Mistry
Digital Storytelling about Community Food Growing Project: First Insights
As part of the ‘Digital storytelling about group food growing’ proje ...
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by Julia Jung
Covid-19 impacts on Indigenous food sovereignty, livelihoods and biodiversity, Guyana - the findings
We present work in the form of a report from a Darwin Initiative Covid-19 Rapid ...
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by Jay Mistry
Traditional knowledge article series in national newspaper
As part of the national consultations of the Traditional Knowledge National Acti ...
New online course for strengthening community mental health resilience
The Cobra Collective is proud to announce the launch of its freely available Ope ...
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by Julia Jung
Indigenous women: keepers of sacred knowledge
Indigenous women are distinct knowledge-holders, as well as agents of change and ...
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by Grace Albert
Consultations of the Traditional Knowledge National Action Plan for Guyana begin
A national consultation process for a draft Traditional Knowledge National Actio ...
Ceramics, food and Indigenous identity
“Rekindling the Indigenous practice of pottery in Guyana. A collaborative ...
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by Jay Mistry
Guyana's biodiversity global hotspot - the North Rupununi Wetlands
This short animation demonstrates the importance of the North Rupununi Wetlands ...
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by Matt Simpson
DETECT Capacity Building Programme
DETECT, which stands for Integrated Space Technology Vector Control aims to comb ...
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by Julia Jung
Digital Storytelling about group food growing - Invitation to Participate
Have you experienced benefits in your everyday life through group food-growing a ...
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by Julia Jung
Darwin Traditional Knowledge project participates in global biodiversity consultations
The Second Global Thematic Dialogue for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities ...
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by Jay Mistry
Building capacity for improved inclusion of traditional knowledge
The Darwin Project in Guyana – “Integrating traditional knowledge in ...
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by Jay Mistry
Erasmus+ trainee Julia Jung joins the Collective
We are delighted to welcome Julia Jung who has just started a 6 month Erasmus+ t ...
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by Jay Mistry
Indigenous Heritage 2020: Traditional knowledge directly supports conservation efforts
It has been a delight to have shared several videos that have been produced thro ...
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by Grace Albert
Indigenous Heritage 2020: Elders are the community’s historians
As part of the Darwin Initiative Traditional Knowledge in Conservation project, ...
Indigenous Heritage 2020: Traditional tools
This video comes to you from the village of Maruranau and features several tradi ...
Indigenous Heritage 2020: Importance of Cassava bread making
In today’s video you will get a glimpse of the process of making cassava b ...
Indigenous Heritage 2020: Uses of the lime tree
Today’s video features the village of Maruranau as they focus on the medic ...
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by Grace Albert
Learning lessons from integrated fire management in Venezuela
As we start drawing together data and evidence from Indigenous fire management i ...
LANDMARC kicks-off!
What is the realistic potential for agriculture, forestry, and other land use se ...
Indigenous Heritage 2020: Traditional uses of cotton
The video being featured today comes to you from the community of Maruranau in t ...
Indigenous Heritage 2020: Story of Horse Pond
Today’s video features the story of ‘Horse Pond’ as told by el ...
Indigenous Heritage 2020: Importance of Parakari
Today’s video comes to you from the village of Parikwarinawa in South-Cent ...
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by Grace Albert
Indigenous Heritage 2020: The story of Elka and Christianity
Our next video represents the historical stories that can be told about a people ...
Indigenous Heritage 2020: Traditional fishing in Katoka Village, Central Rupununi
In this video you see a family’s day out fishing in Katoka, demonstrating ...
Indigenous Heritage 2020: How they do it in Fair View Village, Rupununi
This video from Fair View village outlines some of the elements of a typical Her ...
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by Grace Albert
Amerindian Heritage Celebrations 2020
Amerindian Heritage is an annual celebration of Guyana’s Indigenous people ...
Coping with Covid-19 in the North Rupununi
Cobra Collective member Grace Albert recounts the experiences of living with Cov ...
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by Grace Albert
Our solutions are in nature
As the world observes the International Day for Biological Diversity 2020, one w ...
Indigenous knowledge and conservation management
On the 9th April 2019, the project leader, Prof. Jay Mistry and co-leader Dr Lis ...
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by Jay Mistry
Using MAZI’s to stimulate discussions on traditional knowledge
We have been installing low-cost autonomous wifi zones (called MAZI) to create f ...
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by Jay Mistry
Creating shared futures together
This week a new ground-breaking app will be publicly released for community memb ...
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by Geraud
El Proyecto COBRA y las técnicas fotográficas participativas
September 27, 2013 El proyecto COBRA ha sido expuesto en la Universidad de C&oac ...
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by Geraud
Training researchers in Venezuela
On the 7th November 2015, a one-day training course on Cobra’s community o ...
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by Jay Mistry
Taller en Caracas, Venezuela: ¿Cómo encontrar y compartir soluciones comunitarias propias?
Recientemente apoyamos desde la IBG-Venezuela/ACOANA la organización y ej ...
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by Jay Mistry
Community owned solutions for fire management in tropical forest and savanna ecosystems
This paper, available in English, Spanish and Portuguese, highlights how the com ...
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by Jay Mistry
Festival de cine: “Somos todos parte del ecosistema: la voz de las comunidades a través de la imagen”
A film festival was held during the XI Venezuelan Congress of Ecology, from 11 t ...
“El valor de la integración del conocimiento local y científico en la investigación ecológica”
“The value of the integration of local and scientific knowledge in ecologi ...
Integrating Indigenous fire practices within government fire management policy
This photostory revealed scenes and activities of the first meeting of the &ldqu ...
Presentations to the scientific community of the Guiana Shield
We presented work on fire management, community owned solutions and peer-to-peer ...
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by Jay Mistry
New advances building the Participatory and Intercultural Fire Management in Venezuela (Part 1)
New advances and agreements in the Pemón Indigenous community of Kavanay& ...
Facilitating a dialogue on climate change in Venezuela
The project 'Facilitating a dialogue on climate change in Venezuela' a ...
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by Jay Mistry
New advances building the Participatory and Intercultural Fire Management in Venezuela (Part 2)
New advances and agreements with government agencies were made for the construct ...
New advances building the Participatory and Intercultural Fire Management in Venezuela (Part 3)
New advances and agreements with Venezuelan government institutions and policy m ...
Building capacity to use drones for mapping
The Cobra Collective has been working with members of the Rupununi Wildlife Rese ...
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by Andrea
Languages without borders
International Mother Language Day (celebrated on the 21st February each year) is ...
My first community visit as a researcher
Ena George joined the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB) as a com ...
Pilot training in traditional knowledge integration for local stakeholders in Guyana
Aimed at representatives of governmental organizations, civil society groups/NGO ...
New advances building the Participatory and Intercultural Fire Management in Venezuela (Part 4)
This article talks about new advances and agreements with Venezuelan government ...
The Pemón Indigenous elders are also scientists: their knowledge is key in environmental conservation
This article talks about disseminating the value of ancestral Indigenous knowled ...
Climate change planning workshop takes place in Caracas, Venezuela
This article talks about a workshop that brings together government authorities ...
Conversations on fire management
A ‘Fire Management Week’, 11 -17 March 2017, in Brasilia, Brazil aim ...
Report on intercultural and participatory fire management
This report outlines the main activities, findings and recommendations from the ...
Perspectives on intercultural and participatory fire management
This participatory video presents the diverse views of the participants of the i ...
Being Amerindian Today
Being Amerindian Today: new publication in the Yearbook of the Association of Pa ...
Learning and planning together for action on climate change mitigation and adaptation
This high level workshop brought together Venezuela’s leading scientists, ...
Reviewing global action plans for traditional knowledge
Jennifer Rose, an intern at Royal Holloway University of London, spent January 2 ...
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by Jay Mistry
Wildlife conservation: the role of traditional knowledge
This article celebrates World Wildlife Day and the important role that tradition ...
Bridging the north south divide
In this article, we hear from Marshalla Perry from Maruranau Village in the Sout ...
Progress towards greater recognition and integration of traditional knowledge in Guyana
This article talks about the Traditional Knowledge National Action Plan (TKNAP) ...
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by Jay Mistry
Hearing from community researchers - testimonials from the Darwin Traditional Knowledge project
Peer researchers are recognised members of, and have kinship, ties, and alliance ...
A journey up the Rupununi River for fieldwork in Apoteri and Rewa Villages – Part 2
Fieldwork through the eyes of Cobra Collective member Grace Albert - part 2! ...
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by Grace Albert
A journey up the Rupununi River for fieldwork in Apoteri and Rewa Villages – Part 1
Fieldwork through the eyes of Sean Mendonca - part 1 ...
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by Grace Albert
Why should we care about Indigenous knowledge to save the world?
This article talks about the importance of Indigenous knowledge for conservation ...
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by Geraud
Mental health project kicks off in Guyana
In collaboration with Guyanese communities and stakeholders, and funded by the B ...
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by Andrea
Documenting community owned solutions in the North Rupununi
In April and May, the NRDDB Darwin Team visited the North Rupununi villages asso ...
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by Jay Mistry
How Indigenous knowledge contributes to Mother Earth
Indigenous peoples around the world have set a pattern of caring for the Earth w ...
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by Jay Mistry
Engaging Communities to ensure Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC)
Community engagement continues, as the Darwin Initiative project focused on the ...
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by Grace Albert
Looking Ahead: engaging the policy makers
The communities of the North Rupununi have captured their opinions through parti ...
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by Jay Mistry
International Day for Biodiversity (IDB) 2018
As we celebrate the world’s diverse variety of life, IDB 2018 is an oppor ...
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by Jay Mistry
Parikwarunawa – Land of the heavy breeze!
Cobra Collective member Grace Albert recounts the trip in the South Rupununi fro ...
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by Grace Albert
Kaimen! Working with the Wapichan from the South Rupununi
Cobra Collective member Grace Albert reflects on her trip to the South Rupununi. ...
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by Grace Albert
Travelling South: my first field trip
Betsy Alvin, an intern on the Darwin Initiative Traditional Knowledge in Conserv ...
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by Grace Albert
COBRA Co-Director Jay Mistry wins £10 million Leverhulme Research Centre award
We are thrilled to announce that our colleague Jay has been awarded a £10 mil ...
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by Geraud
Participatory and Intercultural Fire Management Network
This report (available in English, Spanish and Portuguese) provides information ...
First meeting of the Participatory and Intercultural Fire Management Network
Between the 8-11 July 2015, more than 60 Indigenous, institutional and academic ...
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by Jay Mistry
Kapoto at the start of the dry season
Kremkrem team met to map and record traditional and prescribed fires in June 201 ...
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by Jay Mistry
Project Kremkrem kicks-off in Brazil
In April 2014, partners of Project Kremkrem met in Aldeia Piaraçú, ...
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by Jay Mistry
Community Owned Internet: DIY networks
DIY networks are local wifi zones independent of the internet. The key component ...
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by Andrea
Participatory video empowering Indigenous youth
Celebrating the United Nations International Youth Day - read our article in the ...
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by Jay Mistry
Screening community videos with policymakers
Over the past year, Indigenous communities in the protected areas of Guyana have ...
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by Jay Mistry
Photostory: Engaging Indigenous villages around the Kanuku Mountains Protected Area
This photostory gives you some insight into the recent journeys to some of the I ...
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by Jay Mistry
The integrating of traditional knowledge into national policy project continues to touch communities
Integrating Traditional Knowledge into National Policy and Practice is one-year ...
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by Jay Mistry
Masakanarî Village: The Unexpected
The Darwin field team recently visited the Wai Wai indigenous community of Masak ...
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by Jay Mistry
Review of traditional knowledge within Guyanese policy
This working paper presents a policy review method that has been developed to as ...
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by Jay Mistry
Community engagement in the North Rupununi, Guyana
This video shows the first phase of community engagement in the Darwin Initiativ ...
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by Jay Mistry
Voices of the communities
Between November 2017 and January 2018, the NRDDB Darwin Team visited four North ...
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by Jay Mistry
Traditional Knowledge in Guyana: Let's talk about Wetlands!
As we join the world in observing World Wetlands Day, let us reflect on the impo ...
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by Jay Mistry
Traditional knowledge challenges and community owned solutions
Building capacity was not the only activity the local North Rupununi District De ...
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by Jay Mistry
Building capacity in participatory video in the North Rupununi
Over the course of the last four weeks – 19th Nov to 16th Dec – the ...
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by Jay Mistry
Getting Creative
Claudia Nuzzo, participatory video expert from the Cobra Collective, joined the ...
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by Jay Mistry
Free, Prior and Informed Consent Process begins in the North Rupununi for COBRA 2.0
This article described the Free, Prior and Informed Consent process in Guyana fo ...
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by Jay Mistry
Darwin Introductory Video
This video was developed by the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB ...
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by Jay Mistry
Developing a theory of change for traditional knowledge and conservation
The Darwin Initiative inception meeting took place on the 6th September 2017 at ...
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by Jay Mistry
Darwin Initiative project launched in Guyana
British High Commission hosts launch of 'Integrating traditional knowledge ...
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by Jay Mistry
Protecting and promoting traditional knowledge on UN Indigenous Peoples Day
This article talks about the 10th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on the Right ...
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by Jay Mistry
Launch of Darwin Initiative project
Working in Guyana, this project will address Aichi Biodiversity Target 18, incor ...
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by Jay Mistry
Pantani Book - 33 Amerindian Tales from the North Rupununi, Guyana
Pantani – pronounced ‘pan-duh-nee’ — means “storie ...
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by Geraud
Virtual reality - the future of participation
This article talks about the potential of virtual reality in participation work. ...
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by nuzzo
Using technology to combat environmental crime
Technological advances in recent years have made it possible for regulatory bodi ...
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by Geraud
Why use photographs in field research?
The use of images produced by the researcher or interviewee can facilitate the c ...
Community owned solutions and the UN Sustainable Development Goals
This article discussed how the community owned solutions approach aligns with th ...
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by Jay Mistry
5 Tips for taking a good photograph
Taking a good picture requires practice, so we have put together this poster, fe ...
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by Geraud
What is Indigenous health and well-being?
Among many Indigenous peoples, health is not limited to the health of the body. ...
Electricity Generation as a Community Owned Solution - Webinar
In this webinar, Andrea presents a generic organisational model for community ow ...
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by Andrea
Dawn of the Eco-drones?
In this article,we discuss the potential of drones for environmental mapping and ...
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by Andrea
Why bridging traditional knowledge and environmental science matters
In the Collective, we endeavour to bridge Indigenous and Western science knowled ...
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by Jay Mistry
Controlling the Zika virus with Community Owned Solutions
In this article, we discuss an alternative ’community owned solution&rsquo ...
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by Andrea
Are Community Owned Solutions against progress?
This article explores community owned solutions and progress. ...
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by Andrea
The power of participatory visual methods
The Collective uses the participatory visual approaches of Participatory Video a ...
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by Jay Mistry
Why Community Owned Solutions
This article described community owned solutions and why we support this approac ...
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by Andrea