A/HRC/4/32/Add.2 page 19 68. As a general rule, the so-called “Hispanic” schools (which are neither intercultural nor bilingual) have better resources, meaning that many parents prefer their children to attend these schools, leaving intercultural bilingual schools for poor indigenous people. In terms of good-quality, culturally appropriate indigenous education, the Ecuadorian bilingual intercultural education programme is generally considered one of the most successful in Latin America, despite its aforementioned limitations. 69. During 2005, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) undertook various activities and projects on literacy and bilingual intercultural education, organizing two educational workshops to support native languages, in coordination with DINEIB and promoting the Literacy and Education Programme for Life in the canton of Cayambe. Within the framework of an agreement between the Provincial Council of Chimborazo and the United Nations, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) undertook to facilitate children’s access to basic education, by implementing a programme to provide schoolbooks to 5,182 children aged 5. J. International cooperation 70. Ecuador is carrying out a number of programmes explicitly targeting indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian peoples through multilateral and bilateral cooperation. These projects relate to bilingual intercultural education and, in conjunction with the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ), the training of indigenous university teachers. The European Union is cooperating in the implementation of a credit scheme specifically targeting women in Chimborazo province, and another development project in Cotopaxi province, with the local provincial council and the Cotopaxi Indigenous and Campesino Movement (MICC). The Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI), together with the organization CODENPE, is currently running a development project with 31 municipalities led by indigenous people (referred to as “alternative municipalities”). IV. CONCLUSION 71. In recent decades, the indigenous peoples of Ecuador have made important steps forward in securing recognition of their human rights and fundamental freedoms. Constitutionally, Ecuador is a multicultural and multi-ethnic country, which recognizes a range of collective rights of the country’s 14 indigenous nationalities. 72. One of Ecuador’s principal challenges is to give full effect to the constitutional principles concerning indigenous rights through secondary legislation and regulations on various constitutional rights. There are worrying delays in this field, given that the political instability of recent years has prevented the Government from adopting the necessary laws arising from the Constitution in this matter. 73. The same situation obtains among the various governmental authorities created by presidential or ministerial decree to tackle issues of particular concern to indigenous peoples, such as CODENPE, DINEIB, DNSI and DINAPIN. These institutions, which enjoy the active participation of indigenous representatives, lack the necessary legislative support and budgetary resources to allow them adequately to meet the needs of these peoples.

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