EWMI NEWS:
DECEMBER 2009
EWMI SUPPORTS PILOT COMMUNITY LAND DOCUMENTATION PROGRAMS
IN CAMBODIA

The uncertainty that has historically surrounded land issues in Cambodia is exacerbated by the lack of documentation of government land distributions and other land transactions that has left citizens with little or no official proof that they are in lawful possession of their land. As part of its Safeguarding Cambodians’ Land Rights project, EWMI is supporting two model community land documentation programs to help communities in Pursat and Kompong Thom provinces document and preserve their land use and occupation history. Implemented by local NGO partners – Alliance Association for Rural Restoration (AARR) and Buddhism for Development Kampong Thom (BFDK), the projects are expected to improve citizens’ prospects of gaining title to their land when the ongoing government land registration process is implemented in their community.

The land documentation programs were initiated through planning meetings with local authorities and community meetings to inform local residents about the project and provide them with basic land law information. As part of this information campaign, EWMI and its local partners held movie nights in the target villages in which “Our Land,” a film focusing on peaceful dispute resolution, was shown. The movie nights also included puppet shows, quiz contests and other public awareness activities.

The pilot programs in both communities have been progressing extremely well. In Doung Chrom village, Pursat, the AARR-EWMI project staff acquired two existing maps from the provincial planning department and land management department, which were used as the foundation for drawing a new village sketch map. With the assistance of 20 village members possessing special knowledge of village geography, the staff was able to quickly draw a new village wide sketch map that included locations of village resources and households. The sketch map provided the project staff with the opportunity to take an inventory of all the households in the village and assign each household a reference number. The assignment of these numbers will simplify future identification and documentation of their local land use and occupation. In December, village-wide meetings were held to announce the result of the documentation activities and in which residents were given the opportunity to review the information on the map and check for accuracy or any discrepancies of their own household land related data and photos of their documents as well as to ask any further questions related to land rights, land disputes resolution and the Land Law.

When completed, EWMI hopes that the pilot land documentation programs will be replicated extensively and thousands of Cambodians will be able to preserve the documentation necessary to prove their rights to own the land they lawfully possessed as well as to prepare for registration of their land in the future.

Villagers and project staff begin their mapping activity by a map drawn on the ground before working with a smaller paper version

Selected members of the village assisted in developing the village map, including the 4 trained volunteers, a commune councilor, the village chief, 5 village elders and 6 other villagers