The indigenous right to self – determination in the translation of the family farming policy of Ecuador

This research paper analyses to what extent the translation of the Ecuadorian Family Farming (FF) policy in Waorani communities reflects the enforcement of their indigenous right to self – determination. To do that, it employs a case study research design that com-bines primary and secondary qualitative data. Following the Policy Translation framework, the paper analyses the transformation of the policy as it travels from the central level of government to the front line of implementation. It puts agents, sites and scale at the centre of the analysis and considers the power relations embedded in the discourses that shape the policy. Findings reveal that the FF policy set in 2017 was already a recast of previous policy ideas that arrived at Ecuador before the creation of the Sub - Secretariat. Furthermore, local agents implemented an adjusted version of the policy after recasting the cultural values of Waorani population and considering the limitations of their work conditions. Although the translated version of the policy seems more sensitive to the Waorani context, agents still keep a discourse that regards traditional agricultural practices as obstacles to productivity and does not abandon the goal to connect this population to the market. According to interviews with Waorani leaders, this translation might address some agricultural needs of this population that were provoked by the negative impact of the oil industry on their agricultural produc-tivity and lifestyle. Nevertheless, the interviews suggest that their main agricultural aspirations are associated with recovering and maintaining the traditional lifestyle of their ancestors, something that seems to be out of the hands of the politically and economically weak FF policy.