Locally Led Development Champion: Dr. Ajb’ee Jimenez
Engaging Indigenous Peoples in Guatemala’s development
Over the past six years, Dr. Ajb’ee Jimenez has been a catalyst for Indigenous engagement at USAID. As USAID/Guatemala’s Senior Advisor for Indigenous Peoples Issues, Dr. Jimenez is shifting mindsets and fostering a deeper understanding of Indigenous Peoples and the challenges they face.
“When I arrived at USAID/Guatemala in 2017, I kept repeating that Indigenous engagement is Mission-led,” says Dr. Jimenez, emphasizing the importance of Mission leadership and initiative in bridging gaps in knowledge and understanding with Indigenous communities.
Since 2017, Dr. Jimenez has spearheaded efforts at USAID/Guatemala to meaningfully and intentionally engage with Indigenous communities and leaders. Through formal and informal meetings with the ancestral Indigenous authorities in Guatemala, he broadened the Mission’s knowledge about Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and the distinction between their collective rights versus their individual rights. “Being in the community is key. If you really want to learn about Indigenous Peoples you need to be there. You need to live it. This is what locally led development is all about. Being a part of the process - being there along the way.”
Despite his background as an anthropologist, Dr. Jimenez humbly admits, “I don’t know enough! Even though I grew up in an Indigenous community, and am an Indigenous person myself, every culture is dynamic, and there are power dynamics that are constantly changing that I need to re-learn. There are also things that I’d learned that I’d needed to un-learn.”
His advice for other development practitioners looking to enhance their support for locally led development? “Listen carefully, without using the listening cues that westerners usually use. Eye contact doesn’t necessarily mean disrespect for an Indigenous Person. For an Indigenous Person, not making eye contact means that he or she is paying attention. Learning how to communicate changes a lot, and the way people communicate changes from one context to another - which has a lot to do with cultural practices. Learning about the context is very important.”
Dr. Jimenez is proud of the strides made by the whole team at USAID/Guatemala. He shares, “To increase USAID/Guatemala’s knowledge of Indigenous Peoples, we organized learning sessions, inviting Indigenous keynote speakers to come and speak. We tried to make this process sustainable and institutionalized.” Dr. Jimenez adds that USAID/Guatemala began celebrating Indigenous People’s contributions, such as Indigenous Peoples’ International Day, and the Indigenous Peoples’ Day of Languages.
USAID/Guatemala also strengthened its team by directly hiring Indigenous Peoples and initiating a Young Fellowship program, where six young Indigenous fellows will join the Mission for 10 months to support different technical teams. “In return,” Dr. Jimenez explains, “USAID/Guatemala hopes to learn about the intricacies of Indigenous Peoples’ communities, their development experience, expertise, and challenges.”
Dr. Jimenez has extended this focus on expanding the hiring of Indigenous team members beyond USAID/Guatemala to implementing partners. He shares, “We recommended that they hire Indigenous professionals on their staff. And, in some cases, our implementing partners have developed their own strategies.” Dr. Jimenez also organized the K’at Community of Practice, in which USAID/Guatemala’s implementing partners can collaborate and share lessons on Indigenous engagement.
“Engaging with and receiving engagement from our implementing partners is very useful for our work, and it is a principle that we should keep in mind all the time as a lifestyle, not a guide,” concludes Dr. Jimenez, emphasizing the ongoing commitment to Indigenous engagement as not just a development strategy, but a way of life.