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which it was negotiated are not respected.
Their consent is only meaningful on these
terms. Fair, non-coercive negotiations
respected by all participants produce lasting and sustainable agreements.
Specific approaches and strategies that
take into account socio-cultural and linguistic differences and literacy levels must be
developed to fully inform people of both
potential positive and negative consequences. These may include, for example,
theatre techniques or site visits, rather than
written documents. Before consent can be
requested, it must be independently verified
that the people concerned have properly
understood information given.
Prior
Consent must be negotiated before people
are affected by external actions. In situations
where activities have already taken place
before a FPIC process has begun, consent
must be sought for any further activities
once a FPIC approach is applied.
Prior engagement should enhance the
success of projects by defusing potential
conflicts and creating partnership opportunities at the beginning. The earlier an FPIC
process is implemented the more lasting
and sustainable the benefits for all stakeholders will be.
The eight key stages of a FPIC process
1. Strengthen institutional capacities
In order to ensure fair negotiations between
parties, some institutional strengthening
may be needed within the government body,
private company or NGO so that it can
provide appropriate support to the communities affected. This often requires creating a
team with expertise in communication and
in the languages, concepts and culture of all
the parties involved. It may include people
of confidence chosen by the affected peoples
who can supervise the process of ongoing
negotiation.
2. Develop communication and information strategies
Once the potential positive and negative
impacts have been identified, a key task for
the communication team is to develop
appropriate communication methods to
ensure the widest possible participation of
the communities without discrimination
against any groups (such as women). The
social and cultural context, languages, literacy level, political organisation and local
styles of exchanging information, learning,
discussing and negotiating must all be taken
into account to ensure that information is
properly transmitted and that the negotiation of consent is therefore viable and
durable.
3. Create a participatory partnership and
inform local communities
In order to create a participatory partnership, it is crucial that the affected peoples
decide how they wish to represent themselves. They should also be offered
appropriate support to ensure the internal
flow of information, and be given the opportunity to explain how they make decisions
concerning consent.
Based on this participatory partnership,
the methods developed by the communication team should ensure the ongoing
transmission of the information necessary
for informed negotiation and the full participation of affected communities in the
discussions and decisions related to their
consent. These enable the state, private
company or NGO to provide key information to the concerned population for the
duration of the project. Such information
should include project activities on the lands
of the affected population, potential positive
and negative impacts, and potential benefits to be realised, the process of negotiating
consent, and the right to refuse consent or to
re-negotiate it by, for instance, demanding
protection of key resources or benefit sharing.
4. Carry out participatory mapping of land
use
In order to decide of whom consent must be
requested and to determine the potential
impact of the proposed activities on
communities, it is vital to document the land