INTRO: HISTORY OF ILRF Indigenous communities are intrinsically linked to the land through their survival strategies, economies, ceremonies, language and spiritual traditions. Intimately familiar with the ecology and environment, indigenous peoples rely on the natural resources of their homelands for their very survival. Indigenous people have often used the phrase "of the place" to describe not merely the physical location from which an indigenous community originates, but to convey how deeply their homeland is invested in all aspects of their culture; in medicine, wild foods, game animals, belief systems, artwork, stories, myths and songs. Our organization began with the San (Bushmen) of Botswana. Nowhere is the relationship between an indigenous people and their land stronger than in the Southern Africa Kalahari where the San Bushmen arose thousands of years ago as the first humans to walk the Earth. Unfortunately, in recent years, the Gana and Gwi San Bushmen of the vast Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) in Botswana have been evicted from their ancestral lands. Unjustly and violently removed from the CKGR, this hunter-gatherer indigenous society hovers at the brink of extinction. Torn from the homeland they love, the San Bushmen have lost the source of their sustenance, unique culture, community cohesiveness and spiritual base. Unless they are allowed to return to their homeland in the CKGR, they will forevermore remain in the overcrowded, squalid and disease-ridden conditions of government resettlement camps outside the reserve. In desperation, the leader of the evicted CKGR San Bushmen, Roy Sesana, turned to indigenous rights activists Rupert Isaacson and Kim Langbecker. Rupert and Kim soon began discussing the creation of an indigenous land claims NGO with Roy and several representatives of the Maori, San, Mayan, Hawaiian, Lakota and other indigenous groups also seeking assistance in advocating for community land rights. Specifically, the indigenous leaders desired a "go to" NGO based in the West but working closely with affected indigenous communities. This organization would provide them with international advocacy and defense against displacement through legal and media campaigns. Through consultations with their clients, Kim and Rupert developed a vision of a strong indigenous rights organization that would not dictate to the peoples appealing for assistance, but would rather work to ensure that the organization reflected at all times the needs and wishes of those groups. Thus, the Indigenous Land Rights Fund (ILRF) 501 (c)3 was born in 2004 and immediately began working for the CKGR Gana and Gwi. The San Bushmen are the most marginalized, dispossessed and discriminated against people in southern Africa. ILRF recognized early on that a comprehensive strategy for conducting indigenous land claim campaigns was needed. The strategy ILRF developed intertwines numerous partnerships and programs that contribute to the positive resolution of indigenous communities' land conflicts. Both in-country and international partnerships facilitate activities essential to program implementation, such as searching for funding, putting on awareness-raising events, outreach to the media, securing legal teams, legal consultation and pro bono litigation and mediation work. For example, in the CKGR Gana and Gwi case, ILRF partnered with the in-country Bushman rights organization, First People of the Kalahari, in order to better represent and communicate with the San community. ILRF also cooperates with and contributes funds to the in-country legal team, Duma Boko and Associates. On the international front, ILRF secured pro bono representation with legal teams at the DC-based Public International Law and Policy Group and the Human Rights Clinic at Washington College of Law, American University and direct funding for the British lawyer (Gordon Bennett) representing the San at the Botswana high court. ILRF also ensured the assistance of the First Nations Development Institute on legal and negotiation strategies and funding. In addition, ILRF consults with the Kalahari Peoples Fund and collaborates with Survival International on media events and publicity. ILRF also looked to mediation and engaged the support of Nobel Peace Prize laureates such as Desmond Tutu, Jose Ramos Horta, FW De Klerk and others to call for mediation. Specifically, Jose Ramos Horta, who has extensive experience in violent conflict resolution, has come forward as principal mediator. ILRF also partnered in the mediation effort with the prestigious indigenous rights group, First Peoples Worldwide (FPW). In December of 2005, ILRF committed to taking on cases for the Batwa and Mbaroro pastoralists in Cameroon and the Carib and Maroon communities in Suriname who are in the early stages of developing land claim campaigns. ILRF is also currently in dialogue with other indigenous communities in North and South America about their potential land claims. Indigenous peoples' land claims are long-term, complex campaigns that require extensive collaboration amidst the indigenous communities, legal teams and facilitating NGOs such as the ILRF. Unique among indigenous rights organizations, ILRF specifically recognizes the need for an individualized and fluid approach to each land claim campaign. Every indigenous community has particular land needs for socioeconomic, cultural and spiritual prosperity and different relationships with the dominant groups and government of the larger society. Pursuing a land claim to successful completion requires adaptability and perseverance, but it is the most critical achievement for an indigenous people's survival. While running the San Bushmen land claim campaign over the past two years, ILRF evolved into a holistic resource for indigenous communities, providing pro bono legal, political, financial, media, networking and consulting services. The organizational mission is to work in partnership with indigenous communities striving for the realization of their land rights, human rights and cultural rights. The purpose of ILRF is three-fold: 1) To assist indigenous communities in gaining secure tenure of ancestral lands; 2) To support cultural integrity, sustainable development and self-determination; and 3) To help protect the health and safety of community and environment. ILRF works from the ground up, not from a top-down perspective. The philosophy of ILRF is to strengthen the capacity of indigenous communities to advocate for themselves. The organization functions as a resource for affected communities to use, rather than as an outside entity that imposes its ideas on those communities. The growth of ILRF's reputation as a collaborative supporting institution for indigenous community partners has led to a number of recent requests for different types of assistance by indigenous groups around the world. Subsequently, ILRF has recently initiated four projects in collaboration with indigenous peoples from Suriname, South Africa, the islands of Hawaii and Central Africa. ILRF is also developing a Latin American Human Rights Clinic with the University of Texas.