This report introduces and provides instructions for using 17 participatory and spatial tools developed and adopted by the Private Forestry Programme (PFP) to inform its village land use planning practice.
The newly developed tools and practices included in this report were designed to address several common challenges to the planning process. First, participatory mapping with freely available high-resolution satellite or aerial images was developed to enable villagers to collect, analyse, and discuss location-based information even from areas that are inaccessible to field tracking with the global positioning system (GPS). Second, the use of satellite image was opted to create more detailed, accurate and standardised VLUP maps without increasing the costs of the VLUP process. Third, spatial data produced using satellite images can reliably be matched with other spatial data, such as data on vegetation and soils. Fourth, the mapping and group-work tools developed were designed to increase the active participation of villagers, especially women and other disadvantaged groups, and to encourage them to share their views and to discuss and learn about their village land and its resources. Finally, the participatory tools were designed to address the villagers’ lack of commitment toward implementing the VLUP by enhancing their sense of self-efficacy and ownership.
The development of the improved tools and practices described in this report was a joint effort by the PFP and the Tanzania research team of the University of Turku (UTU) in Finland. This team specialises in applied research on affordable bottom-up spatial tools for informed decision-making. An Iringa-based NGO, RLabs Iringa, joined the team, bringing with it its extensive experience in community facilitation, in order to innovate on ways to raise awareness and promote active villager participation.
After gaining experience on the use of the tools, the National Land Use Planning Commission (NLUPC) became interested in the tools’ potential. In May 2017 a stakeholder workshop was organised by the PFP, the UTU and the NLUPC to demonstrate the use of satellite imagery in the VLUP process. Experience is accumulating, and the practice is evolving as more and more actors in Tanzania become aware of participatory spatial tools and practices developed by PFP. Later in 2018, the NLUPC will publish a national practitioners’ manual on VLUP which features these tools and practices.
