"Indigenous-Led Research Paves Way for Self-Governance": Indigenous Communities Driving Their Own Research Agendas for Autonomy

The 4th PACT International Conference on Indigenous-Led Research was held in Narok, Kenya from August 26 to 28, 2025, marking a significant step towards empowering communities to define their own research, education, and futures. Hosted by the Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partners (ILEPA), the conference aimed to replace externally imposed studies with community-centered knowledge creation that strengthens self-determination, resilience, and justice.

The setting of the conference in Narok County, the heartland of the Maasai, was symbolic and a declaration that research belongs on the land of the people it concerns. Participants did not just sit in halls but walked the hills, visited sacred sites, planted trees, and met community leaders to emphasize that knowledge is embodied in the land and people's lived realities.

PACT is a global alliance of Indigenous organizations and leaders from Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Pacific. The conference confirmed that Maji Moto's lessons are global, with delegates recognizing their own struggles in the Maasai story and seeing Indigenous-led resilience as a shared DNA of survival worldwide.

One of the highlights of the conference was the visit to Maji Moto, the birthplace of ILEPA. The Maji Moto hospital, built by the community with the help of ILEPA, serves more than 200 women, providing a safe place for mothers to deliver close to home. The visit also highlighted the community's land justice victory, where fraudulent titles were revoked and reissued to rightful owners.

Maji Moto showcased innovations in pastoralism, such as rotational Sahiwal bulls and massive hay silos, that help families survive drought without abandoning homesteads. Universities like Masai Mara University are taking steps to prioritize community needs in their research and to return findings to benefit those communities.

The Indigenous Navigator Project, a 14-country initiative, prioritized community-driven research, with communities themselves identifying needs, setting priorities, and implementing solutions. Ole Twala stated that the Indigenous Navigator means no donor dictates or imposed timelines, with the community deciding.

Government officials at the conference acknowledged that Indigenous evidence is indispensable for policy. The conference underscored the importance of narrative sovereignty, as without it, evidence risks being ignored or distorted. The call of the conference was clear: Indigenous Peoples are not subjects of research; they are researchers of their own lives. They are not obstacles to development; they are architects of sustainable futures.

For many participants, the pain of extractive research was not abstract but lived, with examples of disastrous policies imposed through studies that framed their communities as primitive or invisible. The conference framed its mission as a reclamation of knowledge, not as a conventional academic event.

ILEPA was founded in 2009 by Stanley Kimaren Ole Riamit as a response to land rights and governance struggles. The measure of success will not be another conference, report, or donor project; it will be communities empowered to define their own research, education, and futures.