Ethnodevelopment

Ethnodevelopment is the means of countering ethnocide by enabling ethnic, minority, and/or exploited groups to revive values of their specific culture with a focus on strengthening their ability to resist exploitation and oppression and especially, their independent decision-making power through more effective control of the political, economic, social, and cultural processes affecting their development. Ethnodevelopment is a policy established in response to ethnocide, where indigenous cultures and ways of life are being lost due to large-scale development and exploitation in certain developing countries around the world. This large-scale development could include urban development in rural communities and exploitation of natural resources including building dams, mines, or clear-cutting forests. Typically self-led ethnodevelopment is favoured, where the indigenous peoples are involved in creating a plan for their future development and organization of communities in a way that follows their tradition beliefs and customs.