PRESS RELEASE: Three African Organizations Receive Cadasta’s Inaugural Data Accelerator Grants to Advance Land Rights
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 2nd, 2020)—The first round of Cadasta Foundation’s Data Accelerator Grant has been awarded to three African organizations to advance land rights and tenure security for vulnerable populations.
Under Cadasta’s Global Land Rights Challenge Fund, Cadasta launched its Data Accelerator Grant to help partners better leverage Cadasta’s innovative tools and services to document land and resource rights worldwide. The first round of the Data Accelerator Grant is being awarded to the Collaborative Media Advocacy Platform (CMAP) in Nigeria, Spatial Collective based in Nairobi, and Youth Advocates for Change in Zambia.
“Even during these uncertain times, we are thrilled to award three deserving organizations with Cadasta’s inaugural grants to document and advance land, housing and resource rights,” says Cadasta’s CEO Amy Coughenour Betancourt. “Now more than ever, by documenting these rights using Cadasta’s suite of geospatial and survey tools, communities can make data-driven decisions that contribute to more secure, sustainable, and resilient futures.”
With catalytic grants of up to 10,000 USD, the Data Accelerator Grant is designed to help partners overcome challenges and barriers to their local data collection efforts. Cadasta’s Data Accelerator Grants can be used to purchase equipment for data collection and to cover data collection staffing and logistics costs.
“The first three partner organizations selected for the Data Accelerator Grant are from Africa and collectively represent both rural and urban communities on the continent,” said Tony Piaskowy, Global Program Director at Cadasta. “Each of the grants feature a different context and approach to securing land and resources rights—CMAP will inventory and map urban informal settlements, Spatial Collective will digitally collect land and property records in partnership with local government, and Youth Advocates for Change will support land rights training and awareness raising for to rural women and youth.”
Meet the inaugural Data Accelerator Grant recipients:
Collaborative Media Advocacy Platform (CMAP) a community-based media, advocacy, planning and technology organization in Port Harcourt, Nigeria’s fifth largest city. The organization monitors changes to the boundary of a waterfront community, especially expansion of building into the mangroves and occasional overnight demolitions.
Through the grant, CMAP will use drones and Cadasta’s mobile application to capture community boundaries for 100,000 households in 20 settlements and to create a community profiles by surveying 2,500 households across four settlements.
Spatial Collective is a GIS and technology consulting company based in Nairobi, Kenya. Currently they are working with the Zanzibar Government Commission for Land in Zanzibar City to improve the island’s land adjudication process by digitizing data collection of geospatial and property information.
Spatial Collective will use the grant to help the government provide faster and more reliable land and urban services in Zanzibar through more efficient data collection for 5,000 households.
Youth Advocates for Change is a non-profit organization with a mission to use advocacy, research, and training to improve governance in Zambia. It provides education on land administration and rights for women and youth for the Chimese and Chisunka communities in the Mansa District where illegal mining is occuring.
Through the Data Accelerator grant, the project will collect land and resource information from 1,500 households to help the communities—especially women and youth—engage with lawmakers to demand transparency and accountability on land administration.
For more information, including application requirements and selection criteria, visit: cadasta.org/grants or contact: grants@cadasta.org
About Cadasta Foundation:
Founded in 2015, Cadasta Foundation is a Washington, D.C. based nonprofit that develops and promotes the use of simple digital tools and technology to help partners efficiently document, analyze, store, and share critical land and resource rights information. By creating an accessible digital record of land, property, and resource rights, we help empower individuals, communities, organizations, governments, and businesses with the information they need to make data-driven decisions and put vulnerable communities and their needs on the map.
For more information about Cadasta’s work visit: https://cadasta.org/
Notes to Editors:
Cadasta Media Contact: Madaleine Weber, Communications Director, mweber@cadasta.org
