The Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues participated in a mission to Paraguay from 24-26 November 2015. The mission was part of a project of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) on “Promoting political dialogue between indigenous peoples, governments and the United Nations system for follow up to the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples”.

The objective was to follow up on progress made by government, indigenous and other partners in developing a national action plan on indigenous peoples.

During the visit, government and indigenous representatives met, reported on progress made with the national plan and discussed steps to identify priorities for inclusion in the plan. It is hoped that the action plan could be finalized in April 2016, in time to be presented during the annual session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in May 2016.