Start of Community Land Mapping in Tana River: Forum

This is a follow up on the previous post.

We began our field work on mapping community land by holding a large forum with the representatives of Chana and Handaraku communities, the two communities in Tana River County targeted in this mapping exercise. Community Land Rights Mobilizers and other selected community representatives were invited to participate in the forum to receive updates on the activities completed by Kenya Land Alliance thus far, learn about the GPS and mapping technology and how it relates to land rights, and help us with logistics of subsequent field work.

After introductions and updates we used sketch maps that were drawn by the community members to help us plan the mapping activities in the two communities. These maps helped us select areas and points of interest which were to be mapped such as roads, rivers, forests, grazing fields, catchment areas, water sources, schools, administrative infrastructure, cultural monuments, and any other areas with which the communities identify with.

After the workshop we walked away with a detailed plan of mapping activities for the next two days. More photographs of the forum can be found below.