CERD/C/ECU/CO/19 page 2 4. The Committee welcomes with satisfaction the creation of the Rural Development Programme within the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion as a follow-up to the Poverty Reduction and Local Rural Development Project which ended in 2007 and which provided services to citizens from various provinces and cantons with indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian populations through seven regional offices. 5. The Committee welcomes the fact that the Standing Committee on the National Human Rights Plan has organized human rights training in 22 provinces with the aim of creating a culture of tolerance and non-discrimination through the implementation of the operational plans on the Afro-Ecuadorian people, migrants, foreigners, refugees and others. 6. The Committee notes with satisfaction the fact that the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion, through the Office of the Under-Secretary for Social Development, has funded a number of projects in the framework of a strategy for territorial development of rural and urban marginal areas, whose beneficiaries include indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian organizations. 7. The Committee welcomes the actions taken by the municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito to improve the living conditions of indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian citizens living in that district, including the Programmes for Afro-Ecuadorian and Indigenous Development (2001), the Ordinance for Ethnically Based Social Inclusion of the Afro-Ecuadorian People (2007), the Metropolitan Social Council for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (2007) and the Strategic Metropolitan Plan for the Comprehensive Development of the Afro-Ecuadorian People of Quito (2007-2015). C. Concerns and recommendations 8. Bearing in mind that the draft Constitution guarantees the specific rights of the indigenous peoples and the Afro-Ecuadorian communities, the Committee remains concerned that a high proportion of persons belonging to the indigenous peoples and Afro-Ecuadorian communities continue to suffer in practice from racism and racial discrimination in the State party. The Committee recommends that the State party should undertake to combat racial discrimination by drawing up a comprehensive national policy to combat racism and racial discrimination. The Committee also calls on the State party to include in its next report indicators on the enjoyment by the various indigenous peoples and Afro-Ecuadorian communities of the rights guaranteed in the draft Constitution, broken down into the urban and rural population by age and sex. 9. While the Committee welcomes the information contained in the periodic report on statistics relating to the ethnic composition of the State party, the Committee notes the limitations in the 2001 National Population Census and wishes to receive additional information on the characteristics and particular situation of the various ethnic groups. The Committee recommends that the State party should continue to refine the census methodology so that it reflects the ethnic complexity of Ecuadorian society, bearing in mind the principle of self-identification, in keeping with its general recommendation 8 (1990) and with paragraphs 10 to 12 of the guidelines for the CERD-specific report to be submitted by States parties under article 9, paragraph 1,