Biocultural Community Protocols: A Toolkit for Community Facilitators is intended to support communities to secure their rights and responsibilities and strengthen customary ways of life and stewardship of their territories and areas through biocultural community protocols. It is directed primarily towards facilitators from the communities themselves, or from supporting organisations with whom they have long-standing and positive relationships.
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.
