About Us

Indigenous Information Network (IIN) works on rights issues for pastoralist and forest-dwelling indigenous groups in Kenya. It is a non-profit, volunteer-run non-governmental organization (NGO) registered in the Republic of Kenya. The organization was founded in 1996 by a group of professionals in response to addressing needs for information through media and other channels about Indigenous Peoples, their livelihoods, and the challenges they face as they struggle to exist. It has been involved in dissemination of information, environmental conservation activities, community development, and advocacy activities in support of Indigenous and Minority Peoples in the region.

IIN works directly with indigenous groups from rural areas to address issues in the following areas:

• environmental conservation
• health, including HIV/AIDS
• women’s rights and gender mainstreaming
• education
• fundraising and income generation
• cultural preservation
• land rights

Communication Strategies:

IIN engages in research on the ground, the results of which are used to create trainings and workshops for grassroots community-based organizations. In these outreach programs, techniques for income generation, cultural preservation, and sound environmental management are promoted, and methods of achieving gender equality and improving community health are discussed. Concrete action plans are formulated and subsequently implemented. In urban areas, advocacy and lobbying are done at meetings, conferences. and other forums where interests of indigenous and minority peoples are being discussed.

IIN also engages in networking and information sharing between the indigenous peoples of Africa and worldwide via electronic and print media, including their bi-annual magazine, Nomadic News. These efforts include indigenous journalists’ training. Nomadic News focuses on the struggles of Indigenous Peoples in Africa and makes connections between grassroots, national and international politics.

CURRENT ACTIVITIES      

The Batwa of Uganda in a training for Indigenous Peoples and The Convention on Biological Diversity with a focus on Community Cultural Protocols.

Global Forest Coalition and Indigenous Information Network in Narok County during the launch of Community Conservancy Resilient Initiative in Kenya.

Participants of Indigenous People and Tribal Chiefs in a training on the Convention on Biological Diversity with a focus on Bio-cultural Community Protocol