Skip to main content

Connecting Indigenous research leadership in Canada and the Global South

Work is now underway by seven research teams selected through IDRC’s call to connect Indigenous research leadership in Canada and the Global South.
Two men hold up shovels they use to plant trees in a natural setting
Adam Perry, Nisga'a Lisims
One of the projects: the Nisga’a Nation in Canada is working with Indigenous researchers in the Eastern Cape of South Africa to better connect addiction treatment with traditional healing practices.

The collaborations bring together Indigenous communities, researchers, institutions and knowledge holders to co-develop research agendas grounded in knowledge-sharing and reciprocal learning. Together, they are advancing priorities that include territorial protection, conservation, maternal and neonatal health, healing practices, fisheries governance, and climate-resilient food systems. 
 
The seven teams span collaborations linking Canada with Colombia, Ecuador, South Africa, Ghana, Uganda and Nepal. Their projects highlight the value of exchanges between scientific approaches and traditional knowledge, including Two-Eyed Seeing, to strengthen Indigenous-led research and community priorities. 

Research teams in Canada and Ecuador are advancing a joint agenda around conservation science, community and planetary health that values Indigenous stewardship and aims to safeguard Amazonian and Omushkego ecosystems. 

Foundation Inisha Nunka, Ecuador / Mushkegowuk Council 

Research teams in Cauca, Colombia and Manitoba, Canada are strengthening research capacity on maternal and neonatal health through knowledge exchange and Two-Eyed Seeing approaches that integrate Indigenous and Western science methodologies.  

Organizations: International Center for Medical Training and Research, Colombia; First Nations Health and Social Secretariat of Manitoba (FNHSSM) 

Indigenous researchers in the Eastern Cape of South Africa are working with the Nisga’a Nation to better connect the treatment of drug addiction with traditional knowledge and healing practices. 

Organizations: Walter Sisulu University, South Africa; Nisga’a Nation 

Research teams in Ghana and Uganda are collaborating with a Mi’kma’ki institute in Canada to promote climate resilience and food sovereignty through the exchange of Indigenous and scientific knowledge with a Two-Eyed Seeing approach.  

Organizations: Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organizational Development, Ghana; Unama’ki Institute of Natural Resources (UINR), Mi’kma’ki 

Fishing communities in Uganda and two First Nations in the Great Lakes are co-creating an Indigenous-led research agenda on fisheries governance that centres Indigenous knowledge and leadership and strengthens climate-resilient food systems.  

Organizations: Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda; Walpole Island First Nation, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation 

Indigenous-led research teams in Nepal and Canada are generating evidence on restoring abandoned farmland in Nepal’s middle hill regions and co-developing a joint research agenda that advances Indigenous women’s leadership, knowledge sovereignty and climate-resilient food security. 

Organizations: Salasan Nepal; Centre for Indigenous Environmental Resources (CIER) 

Indigenous women in Colombia and Canada are strengthening territorial defense strategies in the Andean-Amazonian foothills by revitalizing ancestral knowledge, spiritual practices and partnerships that centre gender equity and intergenerational inclusion. 

Organizations: Association of Indigenous Women Chagra de la Vida, Colombia; Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en and Gitxsan Nations 

The seven projects were selected by an internal-external review panel composed of Indigenous scholars and representatives of IDRC and Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, following an open call that attracted more than 200 proposals.    

These activities aim to co-develop an interdisciplinary, Indigenous research agendas and build alliances between Indigenous researchers in the Global South and First Nations, Métis and Inuit researchers in Canada, potentially leading to broader joint research endeavors in the future. 

Share this page