There are more than a hundred nationalities living in Russia. Indigenous peoples in Russia are now officially considered as 30 small-numbered nations which historically are settled in the huge territory of the North from the White sea in the west up to Bering Strait in the east. Each northern ethnic group has it own history and problems. They vary much from each other by number type of settlement, presence or absence of their own autonomy, ethnicity, geographical and climate condition, language etc.

This report is aimed at presenting an overview of the situation of adult education for indigenous peoples in Brazil based on a significant, if not exhaustive, survey of projects in hand in this field. At present, most projects in this area comply with a conception of the indigenous right to intercultural, bilingual education, even though this may be understood in many different ways, leading to great disparities when it comes to practical experiences.

The history of adult education for Aboriginal peoples in Canada is recent. Only since the 1970s has specific attention been paid to the needs of Aboriginal peoples in higher education. Not so long ago, it was a non-issue for few were allowed to go beyond 8^th grade without being threatened to lose their Indian status.

Adult education programs for indigenous peoples in The Philippines used to be the monopoly of the church, mainly the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches. Indigenous peoples were given basic literacy training to enable them to write their names. Numeracy was also given importance to prevent the people from being cheated of their products by non-indigenous traders. To uplift the economic situation of the people, the church included the formation of cooperatives and training in agricultural techniques in their programmes.

The Sami people is an indigenous people living in the northern areas of Norway, Sweden and Finland and the Kola peninsula in Russia. Throughout history, several states have sought to control the natural resources and the people of Sápmi or Samiland, and the borders across Sápmi have been altered several times. The four countries in which the Samis live today have all included the Samis into their national education system. The Samis had to, and still have to, fight for an education which is built on their own language and culture and which provides knowledge which is relevant to them.

Los Pueblos indígenas y la educación de adultos en Guatemala (Indigenous Peoples and Adult Education in Guatemala)

CONFINTEA crystallized an idea into an event, and made of an event an agreement between countries, principally by governments wishing to recognize and give impetus to the shifts taking place in the world of adult learning. However, the idea of adult learning, as it is now understood, is so broad and so all encompassing that to try to follow the whole field is to miss the essentials. How then to monitor the follow-up to CONFINTEA in its entirety when the field is so vast?