Community Tenure Recording Training Material Introduction to Key Tenure Concepts

FAO Open Tenure Open Source Software 3-0 Introduction to Key Concepts
UN FAO, Land Tenure Team
COMMUNITY TENURE RECORDING
Training Material
3-0 – Introduction to Key Tenure Concepts

FAO Open Tenure Open Source Software Introduction3-0 Introduction to Key Concepts
The focus of the Open Tenure training material
Build a common understanding of the tenure relationships
concepts through the identification of:
• Individuals or groups
• Important tenure rights, restrictions and responsibilities
• Land, forests, fisheries and other resources
• Modes of property transfer between parties

The focus of the Open Tenure training material
Build a common understanding of the tenure relationships
concepts through the identification of:
• Individuals or groups
• Important tenure rights, restrictions and responsibilities
• Land, forests, fisheries and other resources
• Modes of property transfer between parties
These concepts are illustrated through the fictitious village of Gawa

4
Fictitious village of Gawa
YUNA’S STORY

Sketch map of Gawa
LEGEND
State Forest
Communal Forest
Swamp
Orchard
Cultivated Field
Irrigated Land
Lake
Fishery
Savannah
Development Project
Pasture, Pastoral
Cemetery
Market
Village

Yuna’s story
“My name is Yuna and I live in the village of Gawa. The village is now
located along the main road but before, it was located near the sacred
temple. We have two neighboring communities: one on the other side of the
river, the other one adjacent to the farming area.
With my family, we live in a house that my dad built last year; it has a yard
and a storage room. It is next to the barn that we rent for our domestic
animals.
My dad grows some crops on land parcels that he and my mom inherited
from their respective families. My mom takes care of the animals. My oldest
brother works at the communal orchard or at the fish farm. My second
brother is good at hunting and fishing in the river. My two elder sisters sell
our products at the market.

Yuna’s story
Every morning, I go to school. In the afternoon, I help my grandmother and
my sisters at the craft factory. After work, my friends and I go to fetch some
water. Once a week, we go to the temple. Last week I was sick and I had to
be treated at the health center.
At school, my best friend is Sam. His family settled in the middle of the
forest on our community land. They grow crops for themselves and their
cattle as well.
Yesterday, the head of the community said that an agricultural development
project is coming. Some of our land will be needed for the project. My dad
has said we must receive compensation for the land we will lose. Mom is
concerned that run-off from the industrial agricultural activities will pollute
the drinking water or affect the supply of our own water for irrigation Sam’s
parents hope some of us will not be given land somewhere else in
compensation and be forced to move. The head of the community said that
we needed to document our land in order to protect our rights. The
community and Sam’s village agreed.”

Yuna’s story shows that the community:
• Has a history (they are most probably indigenous and they used to live near
the sacred temple),
• Has boundaries (the river, the crops, etc.),
• Is managed by a leader,
• Is organized for living, farming, fishing, making and selling products, etc.
• Has transferred land through inheritance or other means (Sam’s village),
• Protects the land (cautious about potential pollution),
• Expects disputes about the land in the future and recognizes the value of
documenting the current situation.
All these aspects demonstrate that the community:
– considers itself to be the owner of the land
– wants to protect it for future generations
– the land is used, occupied, owned and transferred in different ways by
different people
The next slides illustrate some of these aspects through different examples

Gawa villagers’ perception of tenure rights, restrictions
and responsibilities on their community land
In our community:
– Most of the land belongs to the community. Only the forest reserve
belongs to the government.
– The villagers are mostly farmers or herders. Each farmer owns a few
parcels. Herders use the pastoral land for raising their cattle.
– At the orchard, each family has designated trees for collecting fruits. The
trees belong to the community but each user has to maintain the ones
he/she uses.
– It is allowed to hunt in the forest reserve if the government grants a
permit.
– It is permitted to fish in the river.
– The villagers are allowed to extract stones from the local quarry to build
their houses.
– It is forbidden to do anything on and around the sacred temple; the
community strictly protects it.
– Depending on the season, we use the well or we go to the river to collect
water. We take the trail that passes through the pastoral land to go to
the river and fill up our water tanks

Gawa community rights transfers’ pattern
In our community:
– Inheritance rules are clear and simple; knowledge of property transfers is
an oral record, transmitted by the spoken word from parents to children.
Sons and daughters inherit equally from their parents; women and men
have the same rights in terms of inheritance.
– Each family within the community should have enough land to grow crops
and feed its members. If a family is in need of farm land, the head of the
community and the community council have the right to adapt the rules
and provide a piece of communal land to the family in need.
– The communal land cannot be sold to a particular person even if it is a
community member. The use of the communal land is transferred by
inheritance following the same rules as privately held land.

Gawa community’s settlers and disputes
In our community:
– Settlers are allowed to build a village in our community if they obtain an
agreement from the community and pay rent. If they need farm land,
they can request part of the communal land from the community and pay
rent. If the community cannot provide communal land, they may purchase
land from community members, if available.
– It is possible to buy land from a community member but in this case, a
document has to be drafted between the buyer and the seller and filed
with the head of the community.
– If two of our community members get into an argument about a land
parcel, the head of the community together with the community council
solve the issue. If they can’t solve the issue, the case has to go to court.

12
KEY CONCEPTS

Tenure relationships acknowledges that “parties can have
rights, restrictions and responsibilities over properties ”
• Ownership
• Lease
• Passage
• Etc.
• Owner
• User
• Claimant
• Representative
• Etc.
• Description
• Map
• Parcel
• Construction
• Etc.

Parties
• Owner
• User
• Claimant
• Representative
• Etc.
• Individuals:
– Woman
– Man
– Adult
– Child
• Groups:
– Association of community members
– Government
– Company
– Religious organization
– Etc.

Rights, Restrictions and Responsibilities
• Property ownership described as a bundle of rights
associated with or constraints by a series of:
– Rights: right to own, right to crop, right to log, right to
access
– Restrictions: developing land requires permits, certain
activities may be allowed or prohibited, land parcels may
be taken for public purposes
– Responsibilities: leave a path for the cattle to access the
river, maintain the integrity of a spiritual place, allocate
user rights within a community
• Ownership
• Lease
• Passage
• Etc.

Properties
• Resource such as land, fisheries or forests
• Particular area defined by boundaries
• Granted with assets such as building, garden, crop, trees,
minerals, pond, pontoon, nets, etc.
• Impacted by inconveniences such as regular floods, user
rights such as water access paths and/or restrictions such
as prohibition to build, etc.
• Description
• Map
• Parcel
• Construction
• Etc.

Inheritance
• Communities transfer tenure rights by inheritance
to protect the community’s resources and family
interests
• Transfers between family members are normally:
– very simple
– following well-established traditions
– well known within the community
– not written down
• Dispute generally solved by the head of the
community, together with the family and the
community council

Transactions
• With growing population and development worldwide,
people’s mobility has intensified and interests on land
have increased:
– Government interests such as infrastructure development or
nature protection
– Private investments such as industrial farming, housing or
industry
• Need for clear knowledge about property rights to be
transferred, property value and government
regulations
• Need for documentation to decrease disputes and
support grievance mechanisms

Role of Open Tenure
Open Tenure supports communities to document and archive their
perception of tenure relationships within their communities
Parties
Rights
Restrictions
Responsibilities
Properties
Documents
• Scans of paper documents
• Photographs of properties
• Videos of testimony

How tenure relationships look like in Open Tenure?
Parties
Rights
Property
Screen shot of a claim on a Open Tenure Community Server
Existing
documentation
Restrictions
Responsibilities

How the documentation looks in Open Tenure?
22/07/2015 19:26Claim #15070130
Page 2 sur 2https://ccougks.org/claim/ClaimPrint.xhtml?id=d3a5019c-3994-43a1-9b01-9879b41607e5
Additional information
Parcel
Area
11635 m
Right type
Customary Right
Land use
Agriculture
Occupied since
03/02/2010
North adjacency
Gabriel, Bihamba
South adjacency
Kapere Mukili
East adjacency
Kithakena stream
West adjacency
Bwambale Tom
Signature ______________________ Date ______________________
2
Imagerie ©2015 DigitalGlobe
(11635 m2)(11635 m2)
Signaler une erreur cartographique (https://www.google.com/maps/@0.3290065,30.0854589,18z/data=!3m1!1e3!10m1!1e1!12b1?source=apiv3&rapsrc=apiv3)(https://maps.google.com/maps?ll=0.329006,30.085459&z=18&t=k&hl=fr-FR&gl=US&mapclient=apiv3)
22/07/2015 19:26Claim #15070130
Page 1 sur 2https://ccougks.org/claim/ClaimPrint.xhtml?id=d3a5019c-3994-43a1-9b01-9879b41607e5
Claim #15070130
generated on:
23/07/2015 00:26
Claimant
Name
Steven Masereka Rujumba
Date of birth
28/04/1969
ID type
National ID
ID number
00058602
Address
Owners
Share 100%
Name
Steven
Establishment date
28/04/1969
ID type
National ID
Registration number
00058602
Address
Documents
Type Reference # Document date Description
01- Application Form 1
Cadastral Map Map
Person photo person photo
09- Public Notice - Form 9
23- Demarcation Form 23
24- Inspection Form
31- File Flyer
45- Application Receipt

Open Tenure claims’ validation process
Level 1 – RECORDER
(Create, Submit  For Review)
Level 2 – REVIEWER
(Assign, Review  For Moderation)
Level 3 – MODERATOR
(Assign, Approve)
Community
Server
1- Field Work 2- Office Work 3- Validation

How the validation process looks like in Open Tenure?
2- Office Work 3- Validation1- Field Work

24
You are ready to go to the next module
USING OPEN TENURE
MODULE 4-0

Community Tenure Recording Training Material Introduction to Key Tenure Concepts

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Community Tenure Recording Training Material Introduction to Key Tenure Concepts

Similar to Community Tenure Recording Training Material Introduction to Key Tenure Concepts (20)

More from FAO

More from FAO (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Community Tenure Recording Training Material Introduction to Key Tenure Concepts