The Garifuna Institute for Indigenous Research and Understanding supports the efforts of Garifuna community to exercise their rights to their communal lands. Education and awareness are the strongest weapon we can use to equip ourselves and to keep our community members knowledgeable and informed of their rights.
As the only institution that was build by Garinagu, for Garinagu and other Indigenous groups who suffer the same fate, GARIU has undertaken the role of sourcing experts in relevant fields, including Law, Human Rights, Environmental Science, Social Science and Education for the purpose of providing training and skill building workshops in our communities While these subject matter experts (SME) usually make their financial contribution in kind, there are still exists a need for funds to support their work.
For example, when our Anthropologist and Lawyer SMEs visited, we had to provide housing, food and transportation on the ground. In the future, we would like to at least be able to provide airfare as well and offer a stipend so that they do not have to incur these expenses. Funds are needed for these activities.
Currently we need financial support in the following areas;
