Arun Agrawal (UM SEAS), Kimaren Ole Riamit (ILEPA), Pasang Dolma Sherpa (CIPRED), Olusegun Okunade (UM SEAS), Kyle Whyte (UM SEAS), Mina Setra (AMAN), Michelle Martinez (UM SEAS), Andy White (UM SEAS), Arvind Khare
Pathways Alliance for Change and Transformation (PACT)
Vision
The Pathways Alliance for Change + Transformation (PACT) (Formerly the Partnership for Transformation) is a strategic alliance of leading Indigenous and Local community research organizations and academic allies in the Global South and North.
PACT’s mission is to catalyze research that supports the transformation of international systems that are of concern to Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities, especially in relation to conservation, climate change, livelihoods, and sustainability issues. PACT envisions the following outcomes:
- Well-staffed, significantly resourced, highly visible Indigenous and community-led research institutions in each major region of the Global South that can partner with Indigenous peoples in the Global North;
- A new cohort of Indigenous and community scholar-organizers who are globally networked and engaged in innovating and implementing new strategies for land rights, conservation, livelihoods, and climate action;
- Locally-led research advances priority policy reforms and systemic institutional change in their countries and in strategic regional and international arenas;
- International donor finance for research in the Global South shifts substantially to directly support Indigenous and community-led research-action institutions.
Founding partners are the Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN - Indonesia), the Center for Environment and Development (CED - Cameroon), the Center for Indigenous Peoples Research and Development (CIPRED - Nepal), the Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners (ILEPA - Kenya), and the School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) at the University of Michigan.
Read Latest PACT Publications
Land Return Strategies by Selected Tribal Nations in the United States: Case Studies for International Audiences
Check out the Latest Media
Keep Scrolling to watch videos from the Making History: The Leadership of Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, and Afro-Descendant Peoples at COP 30 and the Path Forward event organized by PACT, Rights and Resources Initiative, University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability.
ILEPA hosted the 4th PACT Conference
Co-authors and institutional representatives include Arun Agrawal, Arvind Khare, Samuel Nguiffo, Kimaren Ole Riamit, Mina Susana Setra, Pasang Dolma Sherpa, Andy White, and Kyle Whyte.
SEAS Contacts
Approach: Catalyzing Systemic Change for Impact
PACT's core strategy to achieve its mission focuses on strengthening IP&;LC-led research institutions, deepening their relationships within and across regions, and training and strengthening the capacity of young Indigenous and community scholar-activists. Members of PACT bring proven capacity, stability, and strength to this vision and strategy to leverage systemic change.
PACT has and will continue to identify promising initiatives and change agents, convene key actors to strengthen Indigenous and Local community rights and well-being, support the knowledge and leadership of women and gender non-binary persons, learn about and develop more effective solutions, instigate and undertake necessary analyses of major environmental problems, and pursue strategic actions to strengthen institutional innovations for system transformations.
Many existing organizations support Indigenous peoples and Local communities. The distinguishing feature of the PACT is its composition of Indigenous and Local community led research organizations and its focus on building the capacity of promising youth scholar-activists to advance change.
By focusing on creating conditions of stronger IP&LC research/action institutions and the next generation of leaders, PACT adds value to the existing ecosystem of support organizations, complementing those, for example, focused on securing land and resource rights or directly engaging in current conservation and climate action.
PACT International Exchanges and Conferences
Since getting organized in Ann Arbor in February of 2023, PACT has organized and hosted a series of international exchanges and conferences to amplify and support Indigenous and community led research, land rights, education, climate change mitigation, and conservation.
Exchanges and Conferences
| PACT Partner Host | Place | Date |
|---|---|---|
| University of Michigan with non-PACT partner Eastern Band Cherokee | Cherokee, North Carolina | September 2023 |
| CIPRED | Nepal | September 2023 |
| University of Michigan with non-PACT partner Chulalongkorn University for Sustainable Development | Thailand | March 2024 |
| University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, Michigan/Virtual | April 2024 |
| AMAN | Indonesia | August 2024 |
| CIPRED | Nepal | September 2024 |
| ILEPA | Kenya | August 2025 |
Current Projects and Media
Indigenous-Led Solutions to Climate Change: Case Studies
Capitalist market-based solutions to climate change mitigation have either already failed or will fail. There is a window to demonstrate expansive economic solutions to climate change and biodiversity that are led by Indigenous peoples. This project will produce a set of compelling case studies that will demonstrate Indigenous-led solutions to climate change that flow from Indigenous economic self-determination, territorial rights, and knowledge sovereignty. The case studies are from Indigenous Peoples in Cameroon, Nepal, Thailand, Indonesia, Kenya, Philippines, Bangladesh, and the United States.
Developing Meaningful Well-Being Indicators
Indicators regarding the development and implementation of the Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, and Afro Descendants strategy in the Forests People Climate program. PACT seeks to focus on the indicator of “well-being”. The project is examining what initial steps must be outlined for there to be trackable indicators related to well-being, what models of well-being are already being used in particular areas, and what conditions must be in place for well-being to be tracked. The project engages early career Indigenous, Local Community, and Afro Descendant leaders and youth regarding their knowledge about the development of indicators and their ideas about the support they need to solidify their voices with Forest, People, and Climate. The well-being indicators will be developed with Indigenous Peoples in Cameroon, Kenya, Nepal, and Indonesia.
Media
Standard Media covered the 4th PACT Conference hosted by ILEPA, August 2025
PACT Produced Resources
Communities, and Trade in Terrestrial Carbon Markets: Time to Recognize Their Rights, Support Their Organizations, and Impose a Moratorium on Terrestrial Carbon Trade.
Executive Summary
Position Paper
Current Funders and How to Support PACT's Work
Special thanks to:
- University Michigan School for the Environment and Sustainable
- Climate and Land Use Alliance
- Christensen Fund
- Bay and Paul Foundations
- Builders Initiative
Interested in supporting PACT's Work?
Contact Mary Beth Jäger at [email protected]
Creation Story
In 2013, AMAN called for a new collaboration between Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and international allies for fundamental change in the international institutional architecture for development. A decade later, in February 2023, the founding leaders, including representatives from AMAN, met at the University of Michigan to create PACT. PACT founders are a combination of leading scholars and activists from the Global South and North. The School of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan anchors the PACT secretariat.