More than 400 persons, laymen and religious, are working with indigenous people throughout the entire country. They are divided in 112 teams, supported by eleven regional offices and a National Secretariat in the capital Brasília.

 

The Secretariat

The national secretariat  assists with methodological, political, legal, theological and anthropological matters. The head office in Brasília consists of a juridical, a communication and a documentation department. The head office has published the magazine ´Porantim´ – only magazine in Brazil focussed on indigenous issues – for already more than 30 years.

 

The theological department of CIMI is situated in São Paulo.

 

General Assembly and presidency

Every two years there is a meeting of the General Assembly, where the priorities of Cimi are defined. The directorship is composed of the eleven coordinators of the regional offices and a Presidency. This presidency consists of a president (a bishop chosen by CNBB), a vice-president and two secretaries.

 

Methodology

Cimi aims to work together with the catholic church, the state and the society. They want to unify the missionary work with the indigenous people, to intervene in Legal, Executive and Judicial acts and to stimulate different social movements to show solidarity with the indigenous issue.  

 

Central issues 

Through its National Secretariat and the regional offices, Cimi supports indigenous peoples and their organizations in the following issues:

 

1. Land

For all indigenous people land is a condition for life and a full accomplishment of the culture. Priority of Cimi is to support the fight to recuperate, demarcate and guarantee the completeness of the indigenous territories.

 

2. Indigenous movement

There are many organizations, articulations and mobilizations, together called the Indigenous Movement, which are helping to defend the indigenous rights. It is a place for building common proposals and consolidating alliances. Cimi participates in this Movement by informing, discussing, and supporting.

 

3. Alliances

It is necessary to transform Brazilian society, building a new social order, based on solidarity, respect for human dignity and ethnic and cultural diversity. For this reason Cimi establishes alliances with sectors of civil society, Latin-American organizations, solidarity groups and international cooperation.

 

4. Formation to serve the autonomy of indigenous people

Cimi sees this formation as an integral process, which takes place during the work itself. It is constructed together with each community, the people and the indigenous organization. There is a permanent reflection on the challenges, the perspectives and the directions.

 

5. Education, health and self-sustainability

For these three dimensions Cimi finds it important to recognize and value the characteristic ways of all different indigenous peoples to build their own lives. It is necessary to comprehend deeply and to respect radically their different visions on the world, their own systems of health care and education, and their proposals for self-sustainability. The way Cimi works in the villages and in the sphere of the public power when discussing the planning of public policies, has this perspective as a condition.

 

6. Intercultural and inter-religious dialogue

Cimi wants to establish a dialogue, based on mutual respect and equality among people and cultures. The religious dimension is present in all of the aspects of the lives of indigenous people, in their ways of being, thinking, living and interacting. The inter-religious dialogue estimates the deep respect for the diverse conceptions of the sacred one, the origin and the meaning of the human life and the valuation of the multiple forms of faith and beliefs. It is the engine of their life, helping them to find alternatives for the actual neo liberal project.

 

7. Indians in urban centers

The intense and constant pressures upon indigenous cultures and territories result in constant migration of indigenous families or even entire indigenous peoples. Many indigenous people have moved to cities, in search of better living conditions. This is a new challenge for Cimi: to understand this reality and initiate a dialogue, guaranteeing the rights and articulating the struggles to a broader indigenous issue.