OBJECTIVES

YACHAY WASI means HOUSE OF LEARNING in Quechua, the language of the Inkas and of their descendants, the Indigenous Peoples of Peru.

YACHAY WASI, incorporated in 1993, is a 501 (c) (3) tax exempt Cultural and Educational Organization based in New York City and in Qosqo (Cuzco), Peru. Yachay Wasi is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations since 2001 and is associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) since 1997. Yachay Wasi is in Operational Relations with UNESCO since 2007.

Yachay Wasi was a member until May 28, 2002 of the NGO Committee on the United Nations International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples(1995-2004).

Yachay Wasi's original aim was to establish a cultural exchange between the Native Peoples of Peru - which was part of Tawantinsuyu, the empire at the time of the Inkas - and the Peoples of New York City through lectures, photo and art exhibits, slide shows, films, music and dance programs, craft demonstrations with participation of artists from Peru for "People to People Encounters".

Yachay Wasi has now long term cultural and sustainable development projects in the Qosqo (Cuzco) region, such as the Centro Cultural Yachay Wasi, runasimi in the Andean village of Acopia, which includes traditional textiles preservation and production and the ongoing environmental project "Recovery of the Circuit of Four Lakes" in the Dept of Cuzco. This project is registered as a Partnership with the UN Commission on Sustainable Develoment. Yachay Wasi sponsors occasional cultural tours to the Peruvian Andes.

In June 2001, Yachay Wasi held its first Encounter of Indigenous Communities in the High Andes in Acopia, in cooperation with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.Its second Andean Encounter took place from 5 thru 9 November 2003.

In New York City, Yachay Wasi participates in environmental festivals with an informative display and is very much involved in United Nations social issues such as the Commission on Sustainable Development, the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa and most of all the sessions of the recently established ECOSOC subsidiary body: the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

At the funded invitation of UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Yachay Wasi president Luis Delgado Hurtado attended in November 2001 the World Heritage Peoples Council of Experts (WHIPCOE) Workshop in Winnipeg, Canada. Subsequently, Yachay Wasi organized a Panel discussion at New York University on May 15, 2002 entitled: "Cultutal Heritage and Sacred Sites: World Heritage from an Indigenous Perspective". It took place during the First Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (PFII).

The subject of Indigenous Sacred Sites was featured again on 19 May 2006 in a PFII side event organized by Yachay Wasi and hosted by the United Nations Environment Program at UN Hqrs, NYC, entitled: "Sacred Sites and the Environment from an Indigenous perspective".

Yachay Wasi, in collaboration with the ALDET CENTRE-SAINT LUCIA, is planning an International Conference on Indigenous Sacred and Cultural Sites in Cuzco, Peru - 5 thru 11 April 2009.

In 2003, Yachay Wasi collaborated with UNESCO NY Office to organize the first commemoration of the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development on May 21 at UN Hqrs. It was a side event to the Second Session of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Yachay Wasi publishes a quarterly newsletter Yachay Wasi 'Simin' (The Voice of Yachay Wasi) which is accredited at UN/DPI, United Nations Dag Hammarskjold Library, the Bahá'i' World Centre Library in Haïfa, Israel and at the Brooklyn Museum Art Reference Library.