The crucial role of gender in rural poverty reduction and sustainable development has recently gained much more attention it deserves in the development arena, while rights-based approach has initiated in some developing countries recognizes that support to indigenous women's claims to entitlements, enhancing their traditional knowledge systems, protection of their intellectual property rights and sensitivity to their culture, language and cosmogony can assist in mainstreaming their concerns into the development arena, on their own terms. It also acknowledges these elements as important to the building of partnerships, and the ownership, and hence engendering sustainability, of development initiatives. This book highlights the concerns of indigenous African and Indian vulnerable people and the challenges they face.