Community Tenure Recording Training Material Establish the Community Protocol

FAO Open Tenure Open Source Software 5-0 Community Protocol
UN FAO, Land Tenure Team
COMMUNITY TENURE RECORDING
Technical Training
5-0 – Establish the Community Protocol

How is your community so special?
• Each community is unique because each has its unique history
and culture, because it has its own tenure issues and concerns
• Recording tenure relationship is dependent on the willingness of
a community to participate
• There may be a specific reason why a community is interested
in recording tenure relationship (e.g. a large area exploited by
local farmers, a community forest to be protected from
deforestation, irrigated land along a river, fisheries on a lake to
be protected from pollution)
5-0 Community Protocol

Objective of this module
• Open Tenure has been designed so that it can record additional
details of specific interest to a community
• The facilitator will help the community to:
– Assess the benefits and community responsibilities of recording the
tenure relationships
– Identify the local tenure details that the community wishes to
record
– Anticipate the difficulties that the recording team may face with
the community as a whole to record, display and validate tenure
relationships
– Prepare a Community Protocol (recording community consensus
on tenure relationship recording) so Open Tenure can be
appropriately configured and tenure relationship recording can
proceed
FAO has published a Technical Guide addressing Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC)
in the framework of the VGGT which refers to the rights of local communities to
participate in decision making about issues impacting them. The drafting of the
Community Protocol should incorporate FPIC concepts and principles .

Audience
Community Members including :
– Community leaders
– Representation of different segments of the community (women,
farmers, youth, etc.)
– any member interested in being involved in tenure relationships
recording work
Facilitated discussions should include all these community
members to ensure a common consensus and consistent
understandings across the community
Prior to the start of these facilitated discussions, make sure the key concepts are understood
KEY CONCEPTS
Module 3.0

Organization of the module
1. Brainstorming Exercises
– Participants form groups of 4 or 5 people to work on each exercise
separately
– Each group designates a speaker
– Each group discusses one exercise for 10 minutes
– At the end of each exercise each speaker relates the discussion to others
– The facilitator summarizes each exercise on the whiteboard
2. Consensus
– Assess the benefits and disadvantages of recording the tenure
relationships
– Identify the additional tenure details that the community wants to
record
– Anticipate the difficulties that the recording team may face with the
community as a whole to record, display and validate tenure
relationships
– Establish the Community Protocol necessary to move forward with
configuring Open Tenure and to begin tenure recording

Necessary equipment
Pens and blank paper sheets to distribute to each team
Whiteboard to write down the results of each exercise
A satellite image or a map of the community if available

1- Brainstorming exercises
Organization
– Participants form groups of 4 or 5 people to work on each exercise separately
– Each group designates a speaker
– Each group discusses one exercise for 10 minutes
– At the end of each exercise each speaker present the results of the discussion
– The facilitators write down the results on the whiteboard
Through the set of exercises, the participants will be able to:
A. Write a story about the community
B. Define the boundaries of the community and/or the area of interest
C. Name the categories of parties having property rights within the community
D. Identify the major tenure rights and the main modes of property transfer
E. Describe the families’ relationships and the inheritance pattern
F. Describe the dispute resolution process

Exercise A: Describe your community
Tell us what is special about it and tell us its short story:
– When was this community first established?
– Where did the original community members come from ?
– Do you consider yourself to be indigenous to this area ?
– How long has the community been settled in this location?
– Today, how many villages compose the community?
– Who is the head of the community ?
– Are there new settlers living with the community area ? Have
they established new villages ?
– What are the main roles of community members or a family
within the community (on a daily or weekly basis) ?

Exercise B: Define the boundaries of the community
If a satellite image or a map is available, try to identify the boundaries of
the communities, villages, general characteristics, etc. If no satellite
image or map is available, try to sketch.
– Which district/province/region does it belong to?
– Is the community in possession of a map of its area?
– Describe the geography of the community (mountains, plains, forests, river,
main roads, etc.)?
– Who are the neighboring communities? Which natural or non-natural
features separate the community from its neighbors’? (River, trail,
settlements, forest, etc.)
– Has the community encountered issues regarding the boundaries of the
community? If so, what type of issues?
– Is there a particular area which the community would like to have
recognition for? Describe this/these area(s) and try to identify it on the
satellite image or sketch it.

Exercise C: Name the key parties having property rights
within the community
• Group the key parties of your community by categories, for
example:
– Villagers, settlers, farmers, herders,
– Government (village chief, community council, local government,
police, etc.)
– NGOs,
– Commercial/industrial companies,
– Religious entities,
– Others (specify)
• Is there a particular group of people that the community is
interested in protecting the tenure relationships?

Exercise D: Identify the bundle of rights that exists in
your community applied to land, fisheries and forests
• Describe the bundle of rights:
– What are the different types of land within your community:
agricultural, pastoral, residential, industrial, commercial, community
forest, etc.
– How are those lands owned (communal land, government land, private
land, etc.)?
– For each type of land, describe the related rights that may be held by
individuals or by the community as a whole: own, lease, graze
livestock, grow crops, extract water or minerals, access, etc.
– Describe the restrictions and responsibilities such as permits required,
certain activities prohibited, sharecropping, easements, protected
land, tax payment, etc.
• Organize them into a table
Type Ownership Rights Restrictions Responsibilities

Exercise E: Describe the families’ relationships and the
inheritance practices
The definition of marriage varies according to different
cultures. Certain societies allow polygamy, divorce,
remarriage or cancellation, while others do not. Describe
how marriages are recognized in your community:
• Marriage and family relationships
– Are all marriages formally recognized ? Does polygamy occur ? Do divorces
occur ? Does re-marriage occur after the death of a spouse or after
divorce? Where do a couple live after marriage ?
• Land ownership
– Who and how is land normally “owned” ? Are there any particular privileges?
• Land transfers
– If both parents die, who will inherit and how is this decided ?
– If a spouse inherits land, does thisland belong to the heir only or their spouse as
well ?
– Is it possible for a spouse to make a will in favor of one of the children or
anyone else ?
– If someone takes responsibility for elderly parents , does this affect inheritance
?
– Describe other important family relationships and inheritance practices ?
– Are property transfers recorded ?

Exercise F: Describe the land dispute resolution process
Disputes can be of two types:
– Land is claimed by two or more different parties
– Two neighbors disagree on common boundaries to land
In each case, describe the land dispute resolution process
when:
– It involves two members of the same family
– It involves two members of the community
– It involves a member of the community and an external person
– There is a dispute with the neighboring community

Conclusion of the exercises
What did you learn during those exercises?
Is there any topic you wish to review?

2- Consensus
• Your community has decide to record tenure relationship in a
specific area, to record particular tenure relationships for a
particular reason(s)
• Prior to the recording exercise, it is important to get the consent
of the community as a whole in order to facilitate the process and
ensure community support for the recording process
• Organization
– Participants may form groups of 4 or 5 people
– The facilitators summarizes the findings on the whiteboard
– Outcome: an agreed Community Protocol that allows Open
Tenure to be appropriately configured and for tenure
relationship recording to proceed

Exercise G: Identify the benefits for recording tenure
relationships covering land, fisheries, and forests
The brainstorming exercises have helped you understand tenure
relationship key concepts and identify what is so special about
your community
• How would recording tenure relationships help your
community ?
• Identify at least 3 benefits: e.g.
– Clarify the tenure relationships of all community members with
an interest in a property
– Greater protection of both communal and individual community
member’s property interests
– Clearer boundaries between properties
– Any others ?

Exercise H: Identify the difficulties the recording team may
face to record, display and validate tenure relationship
Recording land is a very sensitive process as people are
emotionally attached to land
Disagreements can occur on the boundaries to land, the general
location of the land , and the nature of the tenure relationship
(tenants versus owner, heir versus steward.)
Some community members may not want to record their tenure
relationships. Describe:
• the impact on the tenure relationship process of some land
not being recorded
• how any negative impact of non-recording could be
minimized

Establish the Community Protocol
You have identified the benefits of tenure relationships recording
and the difficulties that the recording team may encounter in
the field
You now need the consent of the community as a whole to start
the tenure recording exercise:
• How has your community made similar collective decisions in the
past ?
• What is the best strategy to inform the community members about
the tenure relationship recording exercise ?
• Do you need to produce any hand-out material on tenure recording
for community members ?
• What needs to be done to ensure general acceptance of the
Community Protocol ?
• Do you need to repeat these facilitated discussions for other groups
of community members ?

What the Community Protocol may mention
• Who are the best people to hold the roles of Recorder(s),
Secretary, Technologist, and Moderator
• What are the benefits are tenure relationship recording?
• What are the types of rights that need to be recorded?
• How shall the community members get prepared for the
recording exercise?
• When should the exercise occur in the field?
• How should tenure relationship details be made available to
community members ?
• How long should the public display be? (Generally 30 days)
• How to inform the community members about competing claims
and dispute resolution ?
• How will the Moderator will deal with disputes arising ?
• How will community recognition will be made and recorded ?
• How to keep tenure relationship records up-to-date ?

20
RISKS, BENEFITS AND CONSENT MODULE 6.0
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Community Tenure Recording Training Material Establish the Community Protocol

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