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Recording Land Ownership Claims and Land Use Rights information can strengthen land tenure rights, increase land productivity, and prevent future land disputes.
Against this background, Sierra Leone’s National Land Policy (NLP) strives to map the land tenure rights of all citizens by 2030. Achieving this objective will require the systematic implementation of land tenure assessments across the country. As this has the potential of triggering major land-related conflicts, such assessments must be participatory and go hand in hand with a sound planning process at the community level. Since the formal endorsement of the NLP by the President of Sierra Leone in May 2017, there has been a growing demand by civil society, government, especially the Ministry of Lands, Country Planning and the Environment (MLCPE) and NGO’s, as well as the international donor community, for a new, adapted methodology. Under the SPIRAL Project (the "Project").
Deutsche Welthungerhilfe e. V. (WHH), in partnership with One Village Partners (OVP) and Lizard Earth Limited, strove to develop and test a reliable, integrated methodology for a Land Tenure Assessment (LTA) and Participatory Land Use Planning (PLUP) process which government agencies and partners can scale-up and replicate in their endeavor to meet the provisions of the NLP. As part of these efforts, WHH has:
- Created and validated a reliable, integrated methodological approach for the implementation of LTAs and PLUPs in investment contexts and complex family land holding structures
- Documented and geo-referenced municipal boundaries in three Target Villages across Kailahun District in Eastern Sierra Leone
- Sketched Land Ownership Claims and Land Use Rights in participatory mapping exercises and developed an approach to the geo-referencing and mapping of such claims / rights on the basis of prior assessments, as well as regional and sector expertise2
- Documented and geo-referenced Permanent Land Use Rights of 49 community members in the Target Village of Pewama in Kailahun District in Eastern Sierra Leone
- Initiated and contributed to wider community development through a participatory Land Use Planning process
The purpose of this publication is to document the applied methodology (see Chapter 2), present the key findings (see Chapter 3), capture relevant learnings and make recommendations (see Chapter 4). It also intends to serve as a comprehensive guide for Implementors who wish to conduct Land Tenure Assessments and Land Use Planning exercises (see Chapter 5).
As customary land tenure systems exist throughout Sierra Leone and in many areas around the world, the guide may act as a tool to understand land tenure systems and stakeholders, document community boundaries and land tenure rights, and to empower communities in leading their own development projects in and beyond Sierra Leone