Hi, Maggie

I suggest reading ethnographic work on the particular tribe in Suriname to understand embedded structures of power and its circulation, before going into the community. The depth of ethnographic studies produce more insightful understanding of societies and that wld be more helpful than policy reports, which have a limited and selective focus.

Wish you the best!

Maggie, you start with SALT conversation, it creates a space for people to open up and discover their own strengths and each others strengths.

Thanks to Ellen,Upul, Blake and Benu (in chronological order) for taking out time to respond. Cristina sent Maggie a response over email.

Dear Maggie,

What helps me a lot in gender assessments, is to look for the cultural mechanisms around

- access to & control over (1) resources, (2) opportunities and (3) decision-making. 

This is in a nutshell what you like to know. Indigenous culture can surprise you in the way the voices of men, women and children are heard and weighed in decision-making. And the different roles of women, men, girls and boys can define the access they have to certain resources, opportunities and decision-making. Sometimes the voicing of women is not visible in the public space, but is fully considered in the men participating in the community decision-making. My experience is, that many indigenous cultures have been much more equal than the Western culture (especially one like the Brazilian culture). So the influence of the Western culture has often actually been more negative for women and girls and has been shifting the roles of women and men and therefore created imbalance within the indigenous culture.

Good luck!

Hady Klaassen