Introduction

This programme, established in 1992, was one of the basis for the creation of Iepé – Instituto de Pesquisa e Formação em Educação Indígena (Institute for Research and Training in Indigenous Education) in November 2002. With the objective of providing community training opportunities to the approximately 650 Wajãpi living in the region of the Amapari River in Amapá, the programme comprises a series of activities and projects in the areas of school education, health education, territorial and environmental management, community self-management and empowerment, and the valorization of indigenous cultural patrimony.

During its first years, the Wajãpi Programme supported the formation of the Wajãpi Villages Council - Apina, which brings together the leaders of all the local groups currently living on Wajãpi Indigenous Land (Terra Indígena Wajãpi / TIW), and since this time the programme has been developed in partnership with this indigenous organization.

Among the principal achievements of the Programme since 1992, of particular importance have been the demarcation and permanent control of the Wajãpi Indigenous Land / TIW, the progressive training of Wajãpi teachers and indigenous health workers and the consolidation among the Wajãpi of their traditional method of territorial occupation, a decisive factor in the maintenance of their quality of life and in the environmental conservation of their territory.

During recent years the Wajãpi Programme has received support from important partnerships with various organizations, such as the Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN), the Brazilian National Indian Foundation’s Integrated Project for the Support of the Indigenous Populations and Lands of Legal Amazonia (PPTAL/FUNAI), the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ), the Amapá State Department of Education, the Brazilian Ministry of Education’s of Indigenous School Education (CGEEI/MEC), the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment (MMA), The Indian Museum of the Brazilian National Indian Foundation (MI/FUNAI) and the Special Indigenous Sanitary District of Amapá and Northern Pará (DISEI/AP), among others.