Addressing the Impacts of Development on Women and Youth

Promoting the wellbeing of Indigenous women and youth is integral to ensuring a sustainable future. Where the impacts of development in Indigenous communities take on many forms – environmental, cultural, social – these impacts have a lasting effect on the health of the community, notably the livelihood and welfare of families. And, these impacts of development often have a direct effect on women and youth.

In many cases, development in Indigenous communities has negative outcomes because of the failure to respect the human rights of the community. For women and youth the negative outcomes are magnified by their gender and age. For example, development often increases risk factors for violence against Indigenous women and youth; violence which then upends healthy cultural norms and creates trauma that is then carried for generations.

Incorporating Women And Youth Perspectives

All economic growth necessitates rigorous planning within the framework of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples that encompasses all impacts of development; and women and youth’s perspectives are vital to creating viable strategies for sustainability. 

To this end, First Peoples seeks to define and to describe the total range of impacts of development unique to Indigenous communities. Our aim is to ensure that the benefits of development fall within reach of all community members and that violence and dispossession are halted from the earliest phases of an investment. First Peoples' vision with this project is to build capacity that elevates indigenous women and youth leadership to articulate their community’s development priorities to decision-makers at all levels.