In the recent years, major economic developments have occurred in rural Alaska that have permanently changed the social, political and institutional landscape. The 150 Eskimo, Indian and Aleut communities have borne the brunt of these changes. Few have had available to them the indigenous human resources, the technical skills and educational preparation necessary to assume full control over these forces. In 1980 the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, in cooperation with several native organisations, successfully approached the Bernard van Leer Foundation with a proposal to assist Alaska Native communities in developing their own capacity to shape their future. This is the story of how the ‘Van Leer Project’ has attempted to respond to those developments.