A/HRC/36/53 to financial services. Article 41 of the Declaration calls upon intergovernmental bodies and institutions to contribute to the full realization of the Declaration through the mobilization, inter alia, of financial cooperation and technical assistance. 75. To that end, the Government of Australia has proposed a global indigenous investment fund, which it argues could help fill the gap in the investment market by providing “targeted, ethical, and culturally sensitive capital investment” to indigenous businesses in developing countries, particularly indigenous women and persons with disabilities at risk from marginalization from mainstream lenders. The suggestion is that the fund could be capitalized with “blended finance” from government, philanthropic and private funding.48 76. While the World Bank has no specific funding mechanism for indigenous peoples’ businesses, it is currently focusing on community-driven development, which is an approach to local development that empowers community groups with control over planning and investment decisions. The World Bank has established a Dedicated Grant Mechanism for indigenous peoples.49 None of the regional development banks for Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe have such a financing mechanism dedicated to indigenous peoples. 77. National development banks also have a role when investing in sustainable development projects and initiatives aiming to protect the environment in or near indigenous lands and to strengthen indigenous peoples’ control over their lands. In Brazil, for example, indigenous peoples, non-indigenous organizations, traditional communities and small scale farmers have established a network covering 13 municipalities for production and commercialization of forest products to protect the Xingu river basin with support from the Fundo Amazonia and the National Sustainable Development Bank. 50 78. Another form of financial assistance provided to indigenous peoples to support their business aspirations are microfinance loans. Microfinance loans tend to be conceived for people who cannot access mainstream financial services due to low incomes and other disadvantages. They often involve funding from investors from developed countries to entrepreneurs from developing countries. Initially, microfinance loans were heralded as a way to alleviate poverty, however in recent times they have come under increasing scrutiny due to the unscrupulous practices of some lenders who are charging exorbitantly high interest rates. There are however promising practices of indigenous peoples themselves establishing microfinance schemes. For example, in Canada, Waubutek Business Development Corporation is a group of 50 organizations that are owned and managed by Aboriginal Peoples. They provide financing, loans and economic development services to First Nations and Aboriginal Peoples.51 IV. Challenges A. Persistent prejudiced views of indigenous peoples’ business capacity 79. Indigenous peoples continue to be regarded as high risk borrowers by conventional banks and lending institutions, in part because they may lack credit history. Generally, indigenous peoples have less intergenerational wealth, they do not always have title over their lands and are less likely to own their own home, and therefore often lack collateral for 48 49 50 51 16 See the submission from Australia. See Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, “Urban indigenous peoples: the new frontier” World Bank blog (6 August 2017). Available from https://blogs.worldbank.org/category/tags/indigenous-peoples. See www.socioambiental.org/pt-br/o-isa/projetos-estrategicos/sociobiodiversidade-produtiva-noxingu. Barb Nahwegahbow, “Microfinance could be a good fit for Aboriginal people” Windspeaker, vol. 31, No. 8 (2013).