Ethnic Community Development Organization - ECDO

ith the leaders of local indigenous communities, and as we are indigenous people ourselves, ECDO benefits from having a unique link and bond of trust with its target beneficiaries, and thus greater access in to indigenous communities than might be enjoyed by other, non-indigenous organizations. We utilize this advantage by involving the communities as much as possible in all decision-making processes, and we operate a right-based approach to development. Our philosophy is to utilize everything from high-quality academic research to regular open-forum discussions in villages to try to understand the situation and needs of the indigenous people, and we always attempt to make their analyses as participatory as possible, to ensure a sense of community empowerment, ownership, and long-term sustainability to the projects. From its inception, ECDO has formed its mission and vision from the opinions and needs of the indigenous people themselves. Our vision
ECDO envisages a society where empowered, educated, aware and culturally diverse indigenous groups are able to ensure their own human development free from discrimination, poverty and exploitation.