Based on the above case answer these question:

1- Introduction: Briefly introduce the case from an Intercultural Communication perspective.

2- Problem identification. Identify the root of the problem (Why such incidents happen? What has initially been presumed? What was deficient? Any discrepancies?)

3- Challenges. What are the challenges / difficulties to avoid or overcome such issues?

4- Remediation. What should organizations / businesses consider to be prepared for such incidents?

5- Conclusion: Write your own opinion about the importance of considering intercultural agility in the professional world. What is at stake?

Save the Project on Indigenous People - Ecuador The author analyses the cultural elements influencing the negotiations on a UN project led in Ecuador and proposes a communication strategy. 1. Case study When I arrived in Ecuador I was assigned, among others, the coordination of a project on human rights and indigenous people. To be precise, there was only a first written draft of the project document, which I had to finalise. The project was developed in collaboration with UNDP headquarters (New York) and another UN agency based in Geneva (they were both providing funds). Both the headquarters and the other UN agency lobbied to have, as the primary objective of the project, the creation of a consulting indigenous people forum (on the model of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues) that would function as an advisory body for the UN system in Ecuador. The idea was very innovative and challenging, but in my opinion, there was no favourable background for doing this in Ecuador at that time. However I could not see how the forum could be created in Ecuador at that specific moment, I had to include the creation of the forum into the project document as my colleagues based in New York and Geneva insisted. The compromise that was found was to transform the creation forum as a sub- objective of this pilot project and not anymore as the main objective. Due to some administrative delay the project, although was formulated and financed by December 2003, started to be implemented only in August 2004. Socio-political changes occurred in the country since the project's first draft had been written and continued to take place throughout its implementation. For example, the indigenous people party "Pachakutic" representatives were no more part of the government1, the indigenous people movement suffered the worst split and internal fights in decades, indigenous people representatives were marginalised from any decision making body and their institutions in the government and state system2 undermined, the President of the Republic was overthrown by popular protesters in 2005 and political and institutional instability became normal. For these reasons, while implementing the project, I had to adjust it to the new context situation and to the needs of the beneficiaries, which I learned more and more as the project advanced in its implementation. As a result, I had to revise the project's objectives and abandon the creation of the indigenous people forum. Once the project's implementation was finished, I had to justify to the headquarters and the other UN agency why the indigenous people forum was not in place. Apart from needing to maintain good relations with the other two international actors involved, this was a critical issue as they were also going to approve the financial contribution for the second phase of the project. Without their financial aid, there was going to be no second phase. While presenting them my arguments to explain why it hadn't been possible to create the forum, I realised that this was a challenging task, which underlined differences between two different cultural contexts