Leaving No One Behind: a UN Joint Programme in Suriname

The Republic of Suriname is the smallest sovereign state in South America, and one of two mainland countries that are members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). And while it is more than 32 times larger than Trinidad and Tobago, its population is just over 600,000, or less than one-half of T&T.

This translates into two things: half of its population is made up of people who live outside the capital Paramaribo, and much of these people belong to indigenous and tribal communities. On the topic of “translate”, Suriname’s melting pot of diverse peoples means that there are over a dozen languages used in everyday communication. Suriname is the only place outside of Europe where Dutch is the primary language.

Suriname is home to diverse indigenous and tribal peoples, holding onto cultures and traditions that stretch back millennia. These groups, known locally as inheemse and Tribale volken, haven't just survived, they've thrived, adapting to their unique environments and shaping the nation's cultural heritage.

The country boasts that it is the “most forested country on the planet”, with over 93% forest cover, something that is evident as one journeys away from the city, into the interior. Remarkably, the road infrastructure is top-notch, especially considering that the hundreds of miles of forest roads are traversed regularly by extra heavy trucks hauling full loads of lumber or moving in and out of the country’s gold mines.

The benefits of Suriname’s rich natural resources do not always trickle down to the average citizen; members of the indigenous and tribal communities say they often struggle for basic essential services such as, access to clean water, education, transportation, and getting their products to market.

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Matta

The indigenous village of Matta welcomes the first-time visitor with an other-worldly experience… turning off the highway onto a flat, Martian-red gravel road, which snakes into the interior, where the hot, dry wind keeps particles of the red dust suspended, to give the sky a unique hue. Matta is a Lokono (Arawak) village in the Para District. The heat here is unforgiving; one can smell and taste the land; the eyes are forced to squint by the harsh glare and the many mirages that tease a parched throat; and the ears get weary of trying to pick out familiar sounds from a foreign language. But this is home to a section of the country’s indigenous peoples. This is Matta.

According to the 2012 population census, Indigenous peoples of Suriname make up 3.8% of the total population of 541,638. The largest groups are the Kaliña (Carib), Lokono (Arawak), Trio (Tirio, Tareno) and Wayana, but there are numerous smaller groups dispersed across the northern and southern parts of Suriname.

Chiefs – or Kapiteins – of various villages meet at Matta’s large, open-air community centre to discuss issues of governance and progress… the thatched roof dispels enough heat to ensure a cool and productive conversation. One of these chiefs is Kapitein Angelique Palmtak, head of the Grankreek

Village Council. She’s wearing a fuchsia t-shirt with “"Klimaatverandering - a kenki fu a weer" printed in white – one does not need a second language to know it’s a message about climate change.

Palmtak is the first female leader of her village, and an active member of the Vereniging Inheemse Dorpshoofden Suriname (VIDS), which is an organization of village chiefs that represents the interests of indigenous Surinamese. Leadership is in her blood, as her grandfather was the leader of another village, and her father founded the village of about 500 people which she now manages.

She takes her responsibility with a smile: “as a young person, to have the responsibility over such a big community is a big challenge”. Palmtak is big on development and mentoring the young women under her charge, noting that “under my leadership, for girls, sport is a big activity in my village. They do korfball... another sport that resembles cricket. Women are also more represented in the government. We also have others who do their crafts at home... they bake their cassava... and they do it good. But they have no place to serve... no market."

Her people subsist entirely off the land and the river; it’s what kept the community alive during the pandemic. “During COVID, it was very heavy, because the people couldn't really do their jobs, but one way or another, we were able to survive by planting, while others went hunting, so, we were able to survive."

The goods, crafts, and services provided by her village have remained in decline, not because of COVID, but because of a lack of access to markets.

Palmtak says, “So a while ago I started a market. At every end of the month, I had a market, a small market. But you know, everything is getting more expensive... and the people are looking more for their gains (profit), and they say if they cannot make any gains, then they cannot continue... they are losing. So, I'm going to do it again, but now also in the VIDS, I (will also) have some other time to be on it. I am the one who is guiding the village. Everybody is depending on me. So, I'm looking forward to it. I'm also now trying to let the women in my village follow trainings to bring their entrepreneurship to another level... and their way of thinking, to develop it. "

She knows that where there’s a will, there’s a way, and in the last eight years as Kapitein, she’s pushed a lot of development in the village. However, she is hopeful that her people will get the extra help that they desperately need: “You need to have a will - as a man, as a woman, as children - to reach something,” she says, as a continuous reminder to her fellow villagers.

Kapitein Sergio Srisria is also another young leader of the recently established village of Washabo. Ironically, his village began because of a disease that decimated a settlement that was known as Apoera.

Srisria is just the fourth Kapitein of his village, and his focus is on the young people. The challenge, though, is that as a young person himself, he did not have the privilege of being an understudy of senior chief. He says he started his leadership role “from zero” but tries to solve the many issues using his personal reasoning. His main concern is education and believes that education creates opportunities for sustainable livelihoods for his people.

"That they (the young people) get a good education. They need to get higher than you. Before there was nothing, but now there's a secondary school there. And if you need to go to high school, you need to go to Nickerie. You have to leave your parents behind. Some of the kids make it... and some don't make it," he laments.

Atjoni

Atjoni seems like the end of the road. It is largely a transport and administrative hub for the dozens of villages downstream. And yes, the road literally ends at the jetty. Getting there – even suspiciously above the speed limit – takes a shadow more than three hours heading south.

The tribal villages here fall under the representative umbrella of Samenwerkingsverband van Tribale volken in Suriname (Collaboration of Tribal Peoples in Suriname consisting of the Kwinti, Aluku, Matawai, Paamaka, Okanisi and Saamaka, or KAMPOS).

And while there are geographical and cultural differences, KAMPOS leaders’ hearts beat at the same pace as their VIDS counterparts.

Six Tribal peoples primarily inhabit the interior, living in harmony with the rainforest, practicing subsistence agriculture, hunting, fishing, and crafting intricate wood carvings and baskets.

Tribal peoples who are descendants of escaped enslaved Africans, also play a vital role in Surinamese society. Groups like the Ndyuka, Saamaka, and Matawai established their own autonomous societies in the interior, developing unique languages, music, and social structures.

Together, these communities represent a vital part of Suriname's identity, adding immense cultural richness and ecological knowledge to the nation. Despite facing challenges like land encroachment and resource exploitation, they continue to advocate for their rights and strive to keep their traditions alive, offering valuable lessons for sustainable living and cultural resilience.

Silvy Majokko is a respected member of the Cajana village, and just like Kapitein Srisria, is focused on young people and their education. She desperately wants a school in Cajana.

"We need our children not to leave. That's why we need the school... that the school can stay there because when they're leaving, they're not coming back. Soon then we're alone sitting with all this work to do, but not having enough hands to do it. So yes, we need them to stay and to develop, to help us to grow. If they go back, they go back to the city, let them come back to help us,” she pleads.

“If our children are leaving from the interior, go to the city and suddenly we are hearing different news about them... this and that... so we are asking the government or the people to help us to guide our kids when they are there, and that they help us look after them... that we not hearing that they're dead or smoking or becoming something or leaving to do something else. So, help us to keep an eye on them also."

For the children that remain in Cajana – especially the girls – Majokko has opened her arms and is teaching them to sew. It’s a valuable skill for many… even more so during the pandemic, when they mass-produced face masks to generate revenue to feed their families. Now that masks are not mandatory, she has two sewing machines that need not only operators, but a market for the various designs that are stitched out.

Majokko encourages the upcoming generation to take care of the senior villagers, as they have already made their contributions. But there are also challenges there. Majokko must journey two days on the river to get to Atjoni – a lifetime for someone needing medical help. To make matters worse, the river level has dropped drastically on some places, making travel by boat a test of skill for even the most experienced operator. Indeed, the serpentine river reveals slip-off slopes that are hard and bare; testament that water levels are receding as quickly as the climate gets hotter.

Rita Misiedjan is the leader of the Pikin Kondre Village, and shares Majokko’s challenges of remote schooling.

"Life for us would improve. The parents who don't have money to send their children to school far away... if they take the schooling right at home, their mom can cook and let them eat... so they are nearby (their) home,” she says.

But that’s only one of the issues on Misiedjan’s mind.

"Water. Clean water. Those things... We don't have doctors. We don't have high schools. All the children are at home... they don't have good clothes. I am asking for all of these things… we also need a building in the village, where we can sit and have our meeting... like a community building. We did a proposal, but up to now, we did not receive permission.”

United Nations Joint Programme

The UN Joint Programme (JP), Leaving No One Behind (LNOB), Building Resilience, and Improving Livelihoods of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples (ITPs) in Suriname is being implemented by the United Nations in collaboration with the Government of Suriname. The programme is funded by the Global Joint Sustainable Goals (SDG) Fund, led by the UN Resident Coordinator (RC,) and is implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UNWOMEN. The Multi-Country Office (MCO) of the Resident Coordinator is responsible for Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Aruba, Curacao, and Sint Maarten.

In November 2023, FAO, the organization that specializes in food security, improved livelihoods and rural poverty in collaboration with UNWOMEN, the Agency dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment, and VIDS and KAMPOS, with support from the Ministry of Regional Development and Sport, and the Gender Bureau, led a mission to Matta and Atjoni to gather data on the food security and livelihood needs of indigenous and tribal communities respectively. The findings of the needs assessment will be used in two key areas. Primarily, it will be used to inform the development of an Integrated Policy Framework for Indigenous and Tribal Peoples demonstrating the Government’s commitment to protecting their rights, and also in the design of programmes to strengthening the food security and economic resilience of the people of indigenous and tribal communities.

The United Nations Multi-Country Team is committed to ensuring that all due efforts to respect, include and promote indigenous and tribal peoples’ issues in line with Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) protocols, are observed.