Participatory Land Use Mapping
The Participatory Land Use Mapping Project empowers communities to understand their land and their land rights, understand conservation better, and be a part of national policy and dialogue. Using a community led approach, community members are placed in the driver’s seat on their land management.
Inclusive and Participatory Land Governance
In August 2022, the Sierra Leone government passed The Customary Land Rights Act to address the deep inequalities and manipulation in the ownership and rights of land in rural Sierra Leone.
In Sierra Leone, there are deep historical injustices that led to women being unable to acquire their own land and unable to jointly register land ownership after marriage. Unwritten traditional rules and customs of tribes determine who can hold or use land. Unfortunately, the application of these customary laws negatively affect women disproportionately. With the growing global investment in commercial agriculture, where local communities are increasingly feeling negative impacts usually outweigh the benefits. Negative impacts can include, violation of traditional land rights, rights of local community members not being respected and community lands taken without compensation.
Implementing PLUMP
With funding from the United Nations Development Programme, GEF Small Grants Programme Sierra Leone, OneVillage Partners is partnering with 30 of our current partner communities in rural Sierra Leone on this project to map their town and community, and to do so in an engaging and educating way. The project will also educate communities on the Customary Land Rights Act and provide community leaders with a copy of the Act for their reference.
First, we begin with community focus group discussions and sensitization on the National Land Policy and the Land Reform Program. Community members will work through discussions to understand the benefits of land conservation and planning, using simple and gender sensitive discussion points.
An important step is the participatory mapping of the actual community, surrounding land and a list of natural resources and social assets. This step brings to light any conflicts and resolutions over land boundaries or rights. Once they have reached a consensus of what the community looks like on the map, the community is better able to make informed decisions on how certain lands can be used, and which should be preserved.
Finally, communities conduct a visioning and “future mapping” development action plan to zone their lands for uses and for conservation. Local land users are educated on how to form functional community land management committees to provide land oversight and advocate for effective use and protection of their land.
How we use Participatory Land Use Mapping all depends on the communities as each community has their own social, cultural and economic value of land and land planning.
Recognizing Community Rights
By ensuring that participatory land use mapping is community centered and driven by community members’ interests and visions, this program approaches the issue of mapping and land rights in an innovative way that enhances a community’s knowledge, and, as most of the community members rely on farming, this improved understanding could improve food security and incomes from agribusiness.
At OneVillage Partners we believe that as we recognize the rights of local communities and provide the right tools to protect their land and their rights, it empowers them to govern their lands in a practical way that collectively enhances the wellbeing of the entire community