Voices from the Bolivian Amazon: Madidi—My Journey to the Indigenous Communities Meeting in Wikimedia Projects

EQUENE E QUEMA EJUDESHU TACANA IBUNEDHA

How It All Began

My connection to the Wikimedia projects began in 2024, when Eloisa Larrea Montaño, who coordinated editing workshops organized by Wikimedians from Bolivia, arrived in Tumupasa—a town located in the north of the department of La Paz, at the gateway to Madidi National Park in the Bolivian Amazon—with the goal of creating local content about the Tacana people from our own perspective and raising awareness of environmental conflicts, challenges, and projects we envision for our territory. The proposal was clear: that we ourselves, as the Tacana people, would tell our story on Wikipedia, including urgent issues such as the fires threatening our territory.

I was working at CIPTA, the Consejo Indígena del Pueblo Tacana (Tacana Indigenous Council), and in my role, I promoted the partnership to make these workshops possible: coordinating with the communities, creating opportunities, and facilitating connections between Bolivian Wikimedians and local organizations. At the same time, Veronica Marupa Chao, who worked at CIMTA, the Tacana Indigenous Women’s Council, fulfilled that same liaison role on behalf of the women’s organization—something essential to ensuring that the process truly included the voices and priorities of Tacana women and youth communities.

This collaborative effort between Bolivian Wikimedians, CIPTA, and CIMTA was documented in the Diff post titled “Why Is the Active Participation of Indigenous Peoples Important in Wikimedia Projects? We Share the Experience of Bolivian Wikimedians with the Tacana Indigenous People,” published in January 2025. This article describes the process and working methods required to carry out a project of this kind in the Amazon region: a journey that takes time and requires outreach and the approval of all local authorities in the area.

It was precisely during that process that I realized Wikipedia can be a space where the knowledge of my community is preserved: not only so that the rest of the world can learn about it, but also so that when we ourselves search for information about our culture online, we find ourselves represented.

The Indigenous Communities Meeting in Wikimedia Projects

On my recent trip, I had the opportunity to participate in the Indigenous Communities Meeting in Wikimedia Projects, held in Riohacha, Colombia, from June 11 to 13, 2026. I took part in a very enriching program. From the start of the meeting, I participated in activities aimed at strengthening knowledge about the preservation of Indigenous languages, the documentation of cultural heritage, and the use of digital platforms to share knowledge from a community perspective.

Throughout the event, I attended conferences, presentations, and workshops where I learned about successful experiences of Indigenous communities that are currently carrying out projects in documentation, language revitalization, and cultural dissemination through Wikipedia, Wikimedia Commons, and other open-knowledge tools. Each of these experiences gave me cause to reflect on the importance of our own peoples being the ones to document their history, their territory, and their knowledge, thereby strengthening Indigenous representation in digital spaces.

One of the most valuable opportunities for me was the working groups. During these discussions, I had the chance to present the initiatives we’ve been promoting within the Tacana community, share our experience in indigenous communication, education, and cultural preservation, and raise questions about opportunities for collaboration and institutional support.

I also actively participated in group discussion sessions, where each organization shared the challenges it faces in preserving its languages and cultures. Hearing the experiences of other Indigenous peoples also helped me realize that many of the challenges we face are shared, and that if we support one another, this can become one of our greatest strengths in driving sustainable projects.

Back in Tumupasa: Putting What I Learned into Practice

Upon returning to Bolivia, I felt it was essential to share everything I had learned with the young people in my community. As a result, we are launching a training program with Tacana and Uchupiamona youth in the municipality of San Buenaventura, the gateway to Madidi National Park, where I helped them create their Wikipedia accounts and upload their first photographs to Wikimedia Commons. This was an important step toward building a local community of editors who can permanently document our culture, our territory, and our biodiversity from our own perspective.

We are confident that this experience will continue to grow and that soon you will learn more about our projects and hear the voices from the Bolivian Amazon. We’ll start by working with three Indigenous nations in northern La Paz, Bolivia: Tacana, Uchupiamona, and Esse Ejja. My goal is to establish an Amazonian network of Wikimedia and Wikimedia Commons editors in the Bolivian Amazon and then organize international exchanges with other Indigenous peoples and nations in the Americas to share knowledge, challenges, and progress, and to carry out joint actions to promote free knowledge for our nations.