Free, Prior, and Informed Consent Protocols (FPIC)

A growing focus of our work has been on free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), which requires full community participation in decisions that would impact their land or natural resources.  In the same way that community-based property rights (CBPRs) derive authority from the local community in which they originate, FPIC, to be legitimate, must respect local institutions and decision making processes.  CIEL has developed a template to help communities define their expectations for how “outside interests” engage with them in the context of activities that could impact their land or natural resources.  These “FPIC protocols” specify how outside interests should seek to obtain the consent of the community.  

Mursi Tribe In Ethiopia

In 2007, the Law & Communities Program helped the Mursi tribe in southern Ethiopia develop its FPIC protocol, a complex process that took three months of engagement and discussion with different communities within the Mursi tribe.  At the time, the tribe’s way of life was threatened by the African Parks Foundation, which had a contract with the Government of Ethiopia to manage Omo National Park located on Mursi land. 

African Parks Foundation was going to implement policies that would have prohibited the Mursi’s customary agricultural practices.  African Parks Foundation withdrew their operations from Omo National Park in late 2007, but that was not the only threat to the Mursi.  In May 2008, the Mursi tribe in Southern Ethiopia delivered their FPIC protocol to the Ethiopian Rift Valley Safaris which had been operating tours on Mursi land without their consent. 

The process of developing the FPIC procedure has empowered the Mursi to defend their right to manage their own resources and has resulted in a complementary effort to develop a wildlife management plan for their territory.  The Mursi are currently facing another threat to their livelihoods, a mega-dam being constructed upriver from their territory which will reduce water levels in the Omo River that has supported the Mursi system of flood plain agriculture.  The FPIC protocol could be used to help prevent the World Bank and other financial institutions from financing the project.
For more information, please review the Mursi’s FPIC protocol and a petition, prepared by CIEL, to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.  Support for this project was provided by the Tikvah Foundation and Ford Foundation.

Guide for developing FPIC protocols

The L&C Program is currently drafting a guide to help organizations work with community organizations to develop FPIC protocols.  After the guide is finalized, the Program hopes to launch it through a series of regional workshops.  This initiative is supported by the Tikvah Foundation.