MEDIA ADVISORY: Cadasta Foundation to Expand Partnership with PRADAN to Document and Secure Forest Rights in Odisha and Jharkhand

WHO: Product Manager Asaf Even-Paz and Communications & Design Specialist Sydney McKenney 

WHAT: Training and Site Visit to Baliguda Block, Kandhamal District 

WHEN: November 25 – December 1, 2019 

WHERE: Baliguda Block, Kandhamal District

In the Indian states of Odisha and Jharkhand, Cadasta Foundation is working in partnership with the local non-profit organization Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) to strengthen the livelihoods of marginalized forest-dwelling communities. 

Through the Recognition of Forest Rights Act of 2006 and the Community Forest Resources Rights (CFRR), PRADAN works with eligible local communities to apply for government recognition of rights to forest reserves. PRADAN began working with Cadasta in 2017 to map and demarcate agreed-upon forest boundaries to develop a system of protection for the community forest areas. 

Using the data collected with Cadasta’s tools, two communities have received government recognized Community Forest Rights, allowing these communities to develop their own land use and management plans, governance processes, and mechanism for forest protection. Furthermore, over 700 individuals have now received government recognized Individual Forest Rights (IFRs).

Cadasta has been selected as a recipient of the United Nations International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) Innovation Grant Program to provide services for mapping indigenous people and local communities’ land in Jharkhand and Odisha States with PRADAN. 

With the IFAD grant, Cadasta staff will be working with PRADAN in Baliguda Block, Kandhamal District to provide training and data collection support. Cadasta and PRADAN plan to extend its work to the state of Jharkhand to increase the number of communities targeted for intervention to 1,400 people, as well as the number of individuals trained in collecting land use data in vulnerable communities. 

Project staff are available to arrange press site visits to the three communities in the Baliguda Block of Kandhamal District on November 25  through December 1. Cadasta and PRADAN staff are also available for press interviews to discuss the process, results, and intended impact of the project. 

To schedule a site visit or press interview, please contact:

Sydney McKenney, Cadasta Communications & Design Specialist, +1 804-240-7291, smckenney@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/

About PRADAN: 

Professional Assistance for Development Action’s (PRADAN) mission is to enable the most marginalized people, especially rural women, to earn a decent living and take charge of their own lives. PRADAN works with forest dwelling communities, women collectives and women self help groups for ensuring secure land rights to promote livelihood security, self dignity, and social security for women and communities.For more information about PRADAN’s work visit: http://www.pradan.net/