LocationsFree, Prior, and Informed Consent: A vehicle for trust-building and community engagement in Bajo Chiquito and Canaán
A Pathway to Trust: Indigenous Voices and Community Consent in the Darién
November 27, 2024
On November 9, 2016, something unprecedented happened in the community of Canaán in the Emberá-Wounaan Territory: three very tall, slender Afro-descendant individuals arrived, and the community could not understand them beyond gestures mimicking wings and showing money. They were three people from Somalia who were eyeing chickens and wanted to buy some for food. The community had heard from afar that ‘migrants’ were arriving in Bajo Chiquito and La Peñita, but not in Canaán. The community did its best to assist and help them continue their journey. From that day on, more migrants began arriving, and they continue to arrive to this day.
Illustration 1 - Migrants’ tents in the Canaán community
This was one of the many experiences shared by members of the communities of Canaán and Bajo Chiquito during workshops designed to identify opportunities for strengthening social cohesion and peaceful coexistence in these remote communities of the Emberá-Wounaan Territory in the Darién region of Panama. However, before reaching this point, we embarked on an invisible but essential journey toward social cohesion and collective action: building trust.
The richness of Darién lies in its nature and its people
The dominant narrative about the Darién region paints it as an inhospitable place, with a dangerous and impenetrable jungle. But for the people who live here, "The richness of Darién lies in its nature and its people," as a sign in La Palma, the provincial capital of Darién, reads as it overlooks the Gulf of San Miguel. While this region faces one of the largest migration crises in the world, it is also home to people with a desire for a more desirable and possible future for the province and all the life that inhabits it.
Illustration 2 - Welcome sign on one of the main roads in La Palma, the capital of Darién Province.
This is why, in response to the migration crisis affecting the province, UNDP in Panama has developed a process of Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC), active listening, and actionable collective intelligence to contribute local knowledge-based solutions that address the nexus between humanitarian aid, peace, and development. This trust-building journey brought us to the Emberá-Wounaan Territory.
Illustration 3 - Panoramic view of Bajo Chiquito, Emberá-Wounaan Territory.
Why the Emberá-Wounaan Territory?
The Emberá-Wounaan Territory, an indigenous area established in 1983, includes the two communities through which nearly all 520,000 migrants passed in 2023 and over 197,389 by June 2024. However, the history of the Emberá-Wounaan Territory extends far beyond the migration crisis. It is home to more than 12,000 Emberá and Wounaan people, where state presence has been scarce, and basic services and conditions remain limited.
Illustration 4 - Women creating a timeline and participating in community mapping in Bajo Chiquito.
In this context, it is crucial to remember that beyond the limitations they may face, there is a deep understanding and connection to the land inhabited by these people. There is culture, life, ideas, and local actions emerging from their communities—important starting points for addressing the complex realities faced by Canaán, Bajo Chiquito, and the Emberá-Wounaan Territory as a whole in the context of the migration crisis.
What is Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC)?
To build from the worldviews, knowledge, and practices of indigenous communities like Bajo Chiquito and Canaán, FPIC is essential to ensure the effective participation of indigenous communities in decisions affecting their livelihoods and resources, contributing to a more just, peaceful, and inclusive society. This need arises from a history of discrimination, land dispossession, and marginalization experienced by indigenous peoples in Panama and globally.
FPIC is an internationally recognized fundamental principle that ensures the respect and acknowledgment of indigenous rights, promoting effective participation and informed decision-making by indigenous communities in any initiative that directly concerns them. This principle is enshrined in various national laws and international instruments, such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and is applicable across multiple contexts and jurisdictions worldwide, including Panama through Law 37 of August 2, 2016, and the Escazú Agreement.
Beyond procedure, implementing FPIC is essential for building trust at all levels of indigenous governance, including—and focusing on—the people within the communities that make up the territory. In the case of the Emberá-Wounaan Territory, it has its own governance system, consisting of a National Cacique, two Regional Caciques, and a Council of Nokoras (local authorities).
Illustration 6 - Meeting with Nokoras from the Cémaco region in the Emberá-Wounaan Territory.
The entire process required close coordination and planning with these territorial governance structures, including the review, validation, and adjustment of objectives, the methodology, and the formation of a work team alongside the territorial government to work in the communities of Bajo Chiquito and Canaán.
Beyond procedure, it is a vehicle for building trust
During the consultation process, the territorial authorities highlighted how “outsiders”—those from outside the community or territory—may see the FPIC process as a “delay” and attempt to “speed up” its approval by the indigenous communities and their local authorities. However, it is essential to understand the FPIC process as active listening, recognizing with respect and humility that no one knows the territory better than its inhabitants and that we have much to learn from local knowledge and actions, especially in a complex context like Bajo Chiquito and Canaán.
Illustration 7 - President of the Nokoras Council during a participatory mapping process with the Canaán community, Emberá-Wounaan Territory.
Taking the time to listen brings rewards. In our case, after two days of sessions with the regional cacique and the Nokoras council, a work team was established with coordination mechanisms and a communication flow to keep the General Congress of the Emberá-Wounaan Territory informed through the President of the Nokoras Council and the community informed through the Nokora and Nokó of Bajo Chiquito and Canaán. This facilitated logistics and enriched the process by bringing territorial authorities closer to the realities of these two communities.
A Landscape of Challenges and Opportunities
The FPIC process revealed the deep knowledge held by indignous authorities, particularly the Nokoras of the transit communities, regarding the migration crisis. Despite this, they play a crucial role in coordinating the response to this event, which exceeds the capacities of both communities and the Darién region.
While most members of the congress are men, it is essential to recognize the community leadership role that women in both communities play. An example of this is Nokora Esmeralda, a local indigenous authority in the Bajo Chiquito community, who brought us closer to the realities and actions led by women in the community.
Illustration 8 - Delivery of the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent guide to Esmeralda, Nokora of the Bajo Chiquito community, Emberá-Wounaan Territory.
Although there is an Organic Charter for the Emberá-Wounaan Territory, “migration” does not appear in the internal regulations. As in the initial story of the three people from Somalia, changes in community dynamics demonstrate the need for indigenous governance to incorporate these new issues into its structures.
In the case of the Emberá-Wounaan Territory, authorities acknowledge the need to address this topic in the internal regulations of the territorial congress, including coordination with state authorities in the Emberá-Wounaan Territory and Darién Province.
The FPIC process carried out as part of this initiative was essential in establishing trust within the communities. It underscored the importance of acknowledging and including indigenous governance structures in decision-making processes. In the case of the Emberá-Wounaan Territory, their participation and the incorporation of indigenous knowledge are fundamental in designing solutions to the migration crisis in Darién.
In the next blog, we will discuss how, through local memory, we identified challenges and opportunities for local development in the Emberá-Wounaan Territory using active listening and collective intelligence.
This process has been conducted as part of the initiative “Peaceful Coexistence and Social Cohesion for Local Development of Host Communities in Bajo Chiquito and Canaán in the Emberá-Wounaan Territory.” This is part of the InfoSegura Regional Project between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which focuses on the formulation and implementation of public policies on citizen security and justice in Central America and the Dominican Republic.
If you would like to read the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent Guide, you can access it through this link: Guía de Consentimiento libre, previo e informado | Programa De Las Naciones Unidas Para El Desarrollo.