9
The Toolkit consists of four parts:
Part I is intended to help community facilitators understand and effectively use the Toolkit. It
introduces the Toolkit and what biocultural community protocols are and how they are being used
around the world. It provides guidance on using the Toolkit, including considerations of
understanding the community and the role of the facilitator. It also provides an overview of a
number of key methods and tools to choose and adapt as appropriate in each local context.
Part II provides guidance on documenting and developing a biocultural community protocol. It
references key methods and tools from Part I and suggests guiding questions for the appropriate
documentation of aspects of the community’s ways of life, consolidation of a protocol, and
development of strategies to put the protocol into practice.
Part III provides guidance on using a biocultural community protocol. It suggests a number of
ways to engage with external actors, raise awareness with communities and the broader public,
engage in key decision-making processes, negotiate with external actors, and prevent and resolve
conflict.
Part IV provides guidance on reflecting on processes and changes to date, reporting back to the
community and to external actors, and revisiting and revising the protocol and associated
strategies and plans.
The Toolkit is intended for use in conjunction with the dedicated website www.community-protocols.org.
The website contains a wide range of supplementary multimedia resources that will be added and
updated over time, including:
Short films, photo stories, and slideshows;
Articles, books, magazines, and journals;
Information about key methods and tools relating to endogenous development, participatory
documentation and communication, legal empowerment, social mobilization, advocacy, and
monitoring and evaluation;
Legal resources such as e-learning modules on key legal frameworks that relate to Indigenous
peoples, local communities, and their territories and areas;
Networking opportunities; and
Links to existing community protocols from Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the Americas.
Overall, the Toolkit aims to strike a balance between underscoring important principles and providing
practical guidance, retaining some degree of structure without being overly prescriptive. It is intended to
empower communities to make informed decisions about participatory and legal empowerment methods
and tools that can help secure their rights and responsibilities and strengthen customary ways of life and
stewardship of their territories and areas.
B.
BACKGROUND TO THE TOOLKIT
This is the first edition of the Biocultural Community Protocols Toolkit, developed as part of the Regional
Initiatives on Biocultural Community Protocols.2 Protocols are being developed by a number of Indigenous
peoples and local and mobile communities and their supporting organizations around the world (see Table
1).
2
For more information on the African and Asian Initiatives on Biocultural Community Protocols, see:
http://naturaljustice.org/our-work/regional-initiatives/biocultural-community-protocol.