Equitable Origin’s award-winning CEFO Indigena partners with Indigenous rightsholders across Latin America’s biodiverse regions to foster more accountable energy and resource decisions.
Our Partners & Funders
Digital Equity & Connectivity
Deploying locally managed, high-speed community Internet networks, with a focus on supporting Indigenous women’s cooperatives and digital safety.
Rights-Based Training & Resources
Delivering training on Indigenous rights, sustainable development, and Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC)
CEFO Indigena Will Connect 100 Communities by 2035
Internet access is a foundational tool for territorial monitoring, conservation, natural resource accountability, and participation in carbon and biodiversity markets. In 2020–21, CEFO’s baseline study with COICA revealed fewer than 5% of Indigenous Peoples in Latin America have reliable internet access. In response, CEFO launched pilot projects in Mexico’s Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and expanded to communities across Ecuador and Peru—two of the world’s most critical biodiversity hotspots.
“This work is about more than just connectivity. It’s about supporting Siekopaai people as they return to their ancestral territories and equipping Indigenous women with the tools and skills to lead their communities toward sustainable digital inclusion and resource governance in the Amazon.”
- Joaquin Wray, CEFO Project Director at Equitable Origin
Ceramics, weaving and other ancient handicrafts are are passed down across generations through the women in these communities, in informal associations like the Kenao. With their consent, we train association members to be the technical managers of our solar powered and battery-backed connectivity solution, and enable them to micro-sell the service within the community. They offer a better, safer service at lower cost than for-profit competitors, allowing them to sustain and scale the service. The technical leads become trainers themselves, traveling to other villages to replicate the model. This creates a growing network of Indigenous technical leaders who share knowledge and support each other through our online peer-learning platform, Territorio Vivo. Our program has been recognized with innovation awards from the IEEE and ITU.
Today we are working to layer on territorial monitoring as a basis for carbon credit generation while we scale up. Join us!
“We believe in supporting communities to unlock the Internet's potential to tackle global challenges, and we are confident Equitable Origin and its partners are well-positioned to achieve this.”
Maiko Nakagaki,
Internet Society Foundation
Artwork by Fabián Patinho
“The internet is a key tool for the development of our people, especially for young people. The workshops and connectivity are providing opportunities and knowledge that benefit the whole village.”
Yolanda Tando,
Yayu Community
“The CEFO program for the Siekopaai communities of Ecuador and Peru [is] fundamental to strengthen education, strategic communication, and the territorial consolidation of our great Nation.”
Yadira Ocoguaje,
Kenao Women’s Co-operative Association
(translated from Spanish)