Indigenous People Integrated Community Development Project

General

This project aims to empower the poorest and the most vulnerable indigenous communities in 18 villages of Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri province to pursue claiming their rights to control their land and manage their natural resources (forestry and fishery) which are primary for their livelihoods development. The target communities have been affected by land grabbing from private companies limiting their agriculture production and depleting their local natural resources. However, their understanding about legal framework and procedures to claim their rights and filing complaint remains very limited. In this project, the partner will be replicating people-led development approach in order to strengthen capacity of community committees to be able to take leadership to respond to emerging issues. The partner will be working closely with community committees to develop their understanding on legal framework, their roles and responsibilities, and government mechanisms that they can use to solve land disputes and issues of natural resources management. The communities will also be facilitated to complete legal procedures to register their land and their community forestry and fishery so that they will be protected by law. To respond to immediate needs of the poor, community people will also be supported to practice climate-friendly and diversified agriculture. Farmers will form themselves into groups and learn to collectively sell their products for better profits. The partner will help coordinate the farmer groups to develop capacity to run agriculture cooperative and legally register so that they can claim more support from the government ministry. It is expected that the indigenous communities will understand about their rights, and make more engagement with existing legal framework, procedures, and mechanisms that enable them to claim their rights to control and protect their land and natural resources. With clear community structure and legal recognition, the communities will be able to influence government and private sector to ensure that they comply with the laws and respect indigenous people rights. The community people will also be able to develop diversified and sustainable livelihoods through farming on their protected land, and benefiting from forestry and fishery resources.