Protecting Forests & Indigenous Rights in Myanmar

Accountability Counsel acts on the conviction that drives our work: communities must be at the forefront of the decisions impacting ther lives, livelihoods, and environment. Recently, our team has engaged in thoughtful leadership sharing expertise on what community-centered strategies look like in action.

In a recent guest blog for the Movement on Community-Led Development, our Research Director Samer Araabi shared guiding principles Accountability Counsel has developed over our decade of work: "When harm occurs, communities must be genuine participants in the design of solutions. Access to remedy is a critical component of accountability, but the form that remedy takes often falls victim to the same lack of community consultation that created the harm in the first place. Community members themselves are best situated to understand the solutions to the problems they face. Engaging with communities in these processes requires a radical rethinking of the ways that data is collected, programs are structured, and decisions are made, putting consultation and collaboration at the core of any remedial action plan. Community visions, such as the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent protocol issued by Indigenous communities in Nepal and their partners, and the Landscape of Life conservation plan of Karen Indigenous communities issued by Conservation Alliance Tanawthari in Myanmar, must be the starting point for those conversations. Too often, communities continue to be excluded from the development of action plans or other measures to remedy the harms they are experiencing. This must change, urgently." Read the full article here. 

Links:

• Accountability in Action: Three Lessons in Centering Communities
• Decolonizing Development Requires a Commitment to Accountability