Communities First
A small business working in the area of international development consulting, Communities First provides technical program and advisory services to private foundations and civil society organizations on human rights and environmental justice related to materials for a just transition and climate justice.
In recognition of the gross asymmetry in access to information and power by affected communities and civil society organizations in these contexts, our name “communities first” draws attention to the significant investment of time and resources first needed to help level the playing field, and so support more inclusive development outcomes.
Founder & Principal
Lien De Brouckere is the founder and principal of Communities First. She is a US-qualified lawyer fluent in English, French, German and Dutch.
Her experience includes advising on human rights, corporate accountability and natural resource governance in Sub-Saharan Africa and Afghanistan to a number of organizations, including the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI), the 11th Hour Project of the Schmidt Family Foundation, the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW), the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU), and the One Earth Future Foundation.
Lien also has management experience as Deputy Director of the Africa Program at the Rights and Resources Initiative advancing recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ and local community land rights, and as the Director of the Natural Resources & Human Rights program with Global Rights: Partners for Justice. Prior to that, she supported a global initiative furthering access to non-judicial remedy with members of Prof. John Ruggie’s UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights mandate team. A lawyer admitted to the New York bar, she practiced international investment and competition law in New York, Hamburg and Brussels with a global law firm for a number of years.
You can find her on LinkedIn.