This trainer’s manual was developed to help strengthen and build the capacity of community activists, community based organisations (CBOs), other non-government organisations (NGOs) and community educators to support communities to understand Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC). It is hoped that the manual will then enable communities to demand meaningful participation in natural resource management decision-making; that internal community decision-making processes include all members of the community; and that projects only go ahead if the consent of the affected community is given.
FPIC is recognised in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Declaration says that “States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources”.
