ID: 1602
Presenting Author: Maria Cleto
Session: 729 - FPIC - How prior is prior?
Status: pending
ADB’s experience shows that “prior” in FPIC is a continuum of trust-building, adaptive engagement, and shared governance, where timing and quality of participation shape meaningful consent outcomes.
Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) remains one of the most challenging yet transformative dimensions of social impact assessment and safeguards implementation. This presentation draws on the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) decade-long experience in obtaining Broad Community Support (BCS) from Indigenous Peoples across multiple projects in Asia and the Pacific - now reframed under Environmental and Social Standard (ESS) 7 of ADB’s Environmental and Social Framework. Through comparative case studies in Viet Nam, Nepal, Lao PDR, Bangladesh, India, and the Philippines, the study examines how the timing, continuity, and quality of engagement shape both the legitimacy and outcomes of consent processes.
Findings reveal that “prior” is not a fixed point but a continuum of relationship-building, trust, and adaptive learning that begins even before formal project conceptualization. Early engagement fosters co-design and community ownership but often contends with information gaps and procedural uncertainty; later engagement offers technical clarity but risks diminished influence and perceived tokenism. The study identifies enabling conditions, such as culturally grounded consultation methods, intermediary facilitation, and iterative feedback loops, that bridge these temporal trade-offs.
The session will discuss emerging “building blocks” toward operationalizing FPIC as a process of shared governance rather than a procedural milestone, offering practical insights for governments, financiers, and practitioners navigating how prior is truly prior in development contexts.
Maria is an Indigenous Ibaloi and Senior Safeguards Specialist at ADB with over 15 years' experience in 14 countries.