PACOS Trust is a community-based organization dedicated to supporting indigenous communities in Sabah. Although registered under the Trustees Ordinance (Sabah) only in 1997, we have been actively involved with communities since 1987 as a different legal entity. PACOS is an acronym for ‘Partners of Community Organizations in Sabah’.
The organization sees itself as an organization that strives to empower indigenous communities through systematic building and strengthening of community organizations, which can act collectively on its own. We also realized the need to support networking among organizations struggling to assert right over community resources and revitalizing indigenous systems which is what we are currently striving to do.
PACOS Trust supports community organisations (CO) in 19 districts involving 27 geographical areas in Sabah, with each community organisation determining and implementing its own area plan and work programme. PACOS Trust strives to improve knowledge and skills of CO leaders through advice, training and appropriate exposure. PACOS Trust has 80 personnel with various backgrounds. Almost all are working in their own communities but also contribute to the organisation by being part of different ad-hoc committees as resource persons depending on their skills and knowledge. A Committee of the Board of Trustees oversees the direction of PACOS Trust.
We hope to have contacts in all 27 rural districts in Sabah with at least one community organization in each district. We also plan to boost our work on Land Rights by planning a 4-year land campaign, continue our effort to ensure active participants in regulating and protecting access to biological diversity and indigenous knowledge, participate and contribute actively in the Malaysia and Asia network, and provide input into development-related issues faced by indigenous communities.
Financial support comes from the volunteers themselves, individual donors and also local and foreign fundraisers to fund the implementation of PACOS Trust programmes and activities.
