Women in Geospatial Technologies Rally Workshop reaches young women from indigenous territories in Southern Costa Rica
The workshop is a space for innovation that involves geospatial technologies and digital applications to address the issues of biodiversity loss and climate change.
Young participants at the Women's Rally and the facilitating team. © BIOFIN-UNDP
Emerging technologies and digital applications play a fundamental role in the search for solutions to address the greatest problems facing humanity: climate change, biodiversity loss, and gender inequalities. Likewise, indigenous peoples have ancestrally been, due to their worldview, the ancestral guardians of nature; however, people in indigenous territories do not always have access to or are duly empowered in the use of technologies to monitor the positive impacts of their actions at different scales.
The young participants received training in technological tools such as 3D printing and electronic prototyping with Arduino. © BIOFIN-UNDP
In this context, a Women's Rally on Geospatial Technologies aimed at young women between the ages of 15 and 35, from indigenous territories in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica, who share these challenges and opportunities, was developed. The workshop aims to go over the technological advances in low cost and user-friendly open platforms that support a long-term process in the transformation of the role of women, youth and indigenous people in their communities. It seeks to encourage innovation and technology through new patterns of equity and entrepreneurship rising from their indigenous identity.
Participants had an initial reflection on the importance of young women's leadership in combating violence against women. © BIOFIN-UNDP
The workshop for the indigenous territories of Buenos Aires and Perez Zeledon was organized by the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), in collaboration with the Costa Rican Innovation and Research Promoter, the National Indigenous Roundtable of Costa Rica and the REDD+ Results -based Payments Project and was held in December 2023.
For the first time this learning space was opened exclusively for young women from the indigenous territories located in the canton of Buenos Aires and Pérez Zeledón. © BIOFIN-UNDP
The methodology for this Women's Technology Rally, aimed at indigenous women involved in tourism and conservation issues, consisted of a combination of theory and practice. The workshop was divided into four main parts: training in technological tools such as 3D printing and electronic prototyping with Arduino, as well as field practices, application of the Canvas business model and design of solutions based on these technologies as a final product that can contribute to their environmental and social challenges. In addition, topics related to natural resource management, tourism, gender equality, and an initial reflection on the importance of young women's leadership in combating violence against women were addressed throughout the workshop.
21 indigenous women from China Kichá, Térraba, Rey Curré, Ujarrás, Salitre, Boruca and Cabagra participated in this space. © BIOFIN-UNDP
Throughout the workshop, collaboration and teamwork were encouraged among the participants, so that they could learn from each other's experiences and knowledge. In addition, feedback and reflection activities were included to ensure that all participants could understand and apply what was delivered in the workshop in their daily work in tourism and conservation in their indigenous territories.
The young participants share their experiences. (Spanish only) © BIOFIN-UNDP
- Country: Costa Rica
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