Breaking Barriers: ITC’s strategy to empower Indigenous Peoples in global trade

Indigenous Peoples face major barriers in global trade, including inadequate infrastructure, logistical challenges, limited access to services and finance, and discriminatory practices that exclude them from formal markets. That’s why the International Trade Centre (ITC) has developed a strategy to empower Indigenous businesses to engage in regional and global trade while ensuring that their unique cultural heritage, traditional knowledge and sustainable practices are preserved and promoted.

Empowering Indigenous Peoples Through Trade: A comprehensive roadmap outlines ITC’s new Indigenous Peoples and Trade (IPT) Strategy and presents an opportunity for development partners and international organizations to collaborate to support Indigenous Peoples.

‘Trade has always been integral to Indigenous Peoples. Yet, history has shown a pattern of exclusion and exploitation in global trade in which Indigenous communities face market barriers and limited representation in trade policy decisions,’ says ITC Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton. ‘This must change.’

While Indigenous Peoples represent just 6% of the world’s population, they account for 19% of its extreme poor – yet they also manage or hold tenure rights to 25% of the Earth’s surface and protect 80% of its biodiversity. And they rely on traditional knowledge and innovative practices to address environmental challenges such as climate change.

Through desk research and discussions with Indigenous Peoples, ITC identified four unique challenges they face in global trade. These are land rights and resource access for traditional foodstuff and raw materials required for Indigenous crafts; intellectual property protection for traditional knowledge and cultural expressions; administrative barriers resulting from communal land ownership structures and non-traditional business models; and an intergenerational approach to business and sustainability that prioritizes community and environmental well-being over short-term profit.

Strategy is based on a team-driven approach

Five core needs stem from these challenges: access to resources and infrastructure; improved skills and capacity; trade-specific obstacles; cultural and social challenges; and policy and representation. To address these, ITC has outlined three broad goals for the IPT Strategy: enhance the capacity and competitiveness of Indigenous businesses in global trade, empower business support organizations to assist small Indigenous firms and advocate for supportive national and international trade policies and regulations to aid Indigenous entrepreneurship and trade.

‘Guided by principles such as cultural integrity, inclusive participation, broad representation, transparent consultations, Free, Prior and Informed Consent, and local leadership and sustainability, these goals form the foundation for 10 objectives designed to operationalize the strategy,’ the book says.

The strategy envisions ITC collaborating with Indigenous Peoples, national governments, local entities and international partners such as the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Economic Forum. New projects and collaborations, which will emerge under the strategy, will be developed in partnership with Indigenous leadership, ensuring these interventions remain culturally relevant and meet community needs.

As a joint agency of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, ITC is uniquely positioned to lead this initiative. With its dual mandate to promote inclusive trade and sustainable development, ITC has a long history of helping micro, small and medium-sized enterprises overcome barriers to trade and access international markets. The IPT Strategy builds on this expertise, aligning with ITC’s broader mission and global frameworks such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.