Maps are critical tools that assist communities in securing formal legal recognition of their rights to customary land and supporting local land governance. However, the map-making support Namati could provide to communities in Africa and Asia was, until recently, limited to hand-drawn sketches. GPS and satellite technologies were too costly and technically complex.
In 2016, Namati partnered with the Cadasta Foundation to pilot GPS technologies with partner organizations in Kenya and Zambia to explore how independent map-making could support land documentation.
Marena Brinkhurst, a program officer with Namati’s Community Land Protection Program, discusses the empowering benefits and logistical challenges of these new mapping technologies in a new article for LEGEND.
Read the full article in the LEGEND Land Policy Bulletin by clicking here.