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NTFP Project1 “Supporting the sustainable use of Non-Timber Forest Products”

Consultants’ Report 2/96

Socio-Economic Baseline Survey and Evaluation

Methodology

R.J. Fisher

Rachel Dechaineux

Kheung Kham Keonuchan

September 1996

DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY LAO PDR

1 P.O. Box 4340 IUCN, Lao PDR

Vientiane, Lao PDR Tel.: (++ 856. 21) 216 401

Tel. & Fax.: (++ 856. 21) 222 861 Fax.: (++ 856. 21) 216 127

Socio-economic baseline survey and evaluation methodology

CONTENTS PAGE

Introduction 1

Combining Impact Assessment and Evaluation for Project Management 1

Key Themes for Socio-economc Impact Assessment 5

Context of Project Intervention 6

Principles 7

Elements of the Proposed Approach 7

Summary of Recommendations 12

References 13

Appendices

Appendix 1: The Consultancy 14

Appendix 2: Format for Village Profiles With Explanatory Notes 18

Appendix 3: A Sample Village Profile 22

Appendix 4: Land and Tree Tenure 31

Boxes

Box 1: Unintended Consequences 1

Box 2: Two Types of Evaluation 2

Box 3: Philippines-Palawan NTFP Project: A Case Study 4

Box 4: Suggestions for Continuing Observation 9

Box 5: Guidelines for Village Case Studies Methodology 11


1

Introduction

The Annual Plan (1995/96) for the project provided objectives relating to the preparation of

a baseline survey:

“To obtain baseline information from those pilot sites where agreements have been

made and approved.

“To ensure that the methods, information, and solutions used by the Project take

account of equity and gender issues, to the fullest extent possible.”

In order to meet these objectives, the Annual Plan expressed the intention to “collate existing

material and undertake additional baseline surveys... for the purposes of future monitoring

and evaluation”. This includes undertaking surveys of biodiversity to assist in the assessment

of the biophysical impacts of the project in terms of ecological sustainability and separate

socio-economic baseline surveys to assist in the assessment of socio-economic impacts. This

report deals with the development of a methodology for evaluating socio-economic impacts.2

The purposes of this report are to

• outline the rationale adopted for socio-economic evaluation

• outline the recommended approach and

• provide some tools which will assist project field staff in implementation.

Combining Impact Assessment and Evaluation for Project Management

The typical approach to baseline survey is to obtain a set of information on socio-economic

conditions at the commencement of a project and then to measure the same indicators at the

end of the project (or at some specified stage) in order to identify changes including those

arising from the project’s activities. Typically the survey depends on relatively structured

questions and quantitative data. This is essentially a summative approach - one which is

concerned with assessing the final effects of a project. This is useful for donors who wish to

see whether their investment has been worthwhile, and it is also useful as a way of

generating lessons for new projects if cause and effect can be shown between project

intervention and change. However, there are limitations with measuring indicators at the

beginning and at the end of a period in order to identify changes. These include:

2 This is one of two reports required in the TOR (see Appendix 1, Tasks and Outputs, points 1.2 and 2.3). The

second paper ("a review of the literature on customary and official tree and forest tenure and usufruct in Lao

PDR") is under preparation.


2

• Detailed identification of data sets in advance of project activities assumes that all key

issues are anticipated and makes it difficult to account for the unintended consequences of

project activities. [See Box 1]

• End of project surveys do not assist with the early recognition of problems, yet early

recognition would enable a project to vary its approach during implementation in order to

maximise benefits and minimise unintended and negative results.

• Comparison of before and after conditions does not guarantee the identification of causal

linkages between project activities and changes.

BOX 1:

Unintended Consequences

By definition, it is impossible to identify unintended consequences in advance. Nevertheless,

it is very common for development activities to lead to effects which were not foreseen. It is

possible to give examples. Unintended consequences frequently involve worsening of

conditions for a particular group despite a general improvement.

Example 1

Jobs provided by copper mining and a large copper smelter in India significantly improved

the economic status of many tribal people in the area. Nevertheless two groups suffered from

the industry.

• Fishermen living downstream from the smelter suffered noticeably decreased yields as a

result of damage to fish stocks due to pollution (either from the smelter itself, or from

sewerage from the town that grew up around it, or both). This was hardly surprising, but

was certainly not intended.

• The general improvement of the local economy led to higher prices for many necessities.

Those tribal people who were not employed in the copper industry were actually worse

off than before, because the buying power of their limited income declined. This led to

women in some families taking up collection of firewood for sale, involving increased

workloads for only a small increase in income.

Example 2

The Aga Khan Rural Support Programme in Northern Pakistan has been very successful in

improving productivity from livestock and agriculture. An unintended consequence of this is

that women had increased workloads, because the particular activities affected tended to be

associated with their traditional roles. (Interestingly, many women regarded this increase as

an acceptable cost of the overall improvement to the well-being of their families.)


3

An alternative to summative evaluation is formative evaluation, which is concerned with

identifying issues as they emerge and taking corrective or compensatory action. [See Box 2]

Baseline survey information is most useful when it contributes to long term assessment of

project impacts, while, at the same time, providing feedback which enables project

management to amend project activities in order to build on project successes and avoid or

compensate for negative outcomes.

BOX 2

Two Types of Evaluation

Summative evaluation: [final evaluation]

• takes place at the end of a project and sometimes at project mid-term

• aims to determine project success or failure (did the project “pass the test”?)

• was expenditure on the project justified by the results?

• are there any lessons which could be applied to future projects?

Formative evaluation: [continuing evaluation]

• continues throughout a project

• aims to identify issues and problems

• enables corrective action to be implemented quickly if problems (or unintended

consequences) are identified

• enables the project to identify successes which it can build upon

It is difficult to give examples of the role of formative evaluation based on the NTFP Project

in Laos because the project has only just started and has not yet proceeded beyond the stage

of information-gathering. However, NTFP projects have been working in other countries and

there are lessons which can be learned from these. One example is the NTFP project in

Palawan Province in the Philippines. Box 3 describes a situation in which the project

identified problems which were affecting NTFP activities in a pilot project area. The case

study shows how recognition of an emerging problem helped the project to take remedial

action to avoid a worsening situation. Although the policy changes which led to the stress on

the tribal Batak people were not a result of project activities, the case does demonstrate the

value of continual monitoring of socio-economic conditions and processes.


4

BOX 3

Philippines-Palawan NTFP Project: A Case Study

The NTFP project in Palawan (an IUCN project which began in 1994) has two core sites:

• near Calabayog where there is a large settlement of Batak (a tribe traditionally involved in hunting-

gathering). This settlement is relatively isolated and the Batak are culturally and socially peripheral to the

mainstream society and economy. They are usually illiterate and suffer from numerical illiteracy, which

makes them particularly susceptible to exploitation by traders.

• near Manggapin where there is a settlement which consists predominantly of Tagbanua (a group of tribal

people who are relatively acculturated, intermarried and often converted to Christianity) mixed with a few

Batak people and some lowland Filipinos (non-tribal people).

In late 1993, the City Mayor imposed ban on kaingin (shifting cultivation) for the city limits of Puerto Princesa

City, which extends through much of the province and covers both project sites. Shifting cultivation was

practiced widely in Palawan by both tribal people (mainly for upland rice, but also for a few tubers and

vegetables) and “lowlanders”(of whom most were immigrants to Palawan). The ban was strictly enforced and

those who tried to practice shifting cultivation were thrown into jail.

By September-October 1994, the effects of the kaingin ban were noticeable in the project pilot sites. The Batak

site, in particular, was suffering greatly: malnutrition increased, deaths from TB and malaria increased -- people

no longer had sufficient means to obtain medicines. Over-harvesting of NTFPs -- through increased bamboo,

rattan and honey collection and almaciga (a high grade resin) tapping -- was occurring. The crisis led the Batak

to become even more dependent on the traders and they went further into debt to them in order to purchase rice.

The increased income from NTFPs was largely used to service this debt, so the increased harvesting did not

lead to increased benefits. The Tagbanua site was less affected by the ban, as they had paddy plots which were

producing good yields and large vegetable plots.

The problem of indebtedness by the Batak was severe and difficult to address directly (as the traders are “part

of the system”, they cannot be eliminated). In late 1994, when it became evident that the Batak site was in a

near crisis state, discussions with the community on their development needs were intensified. The discussions

led to the identification of a few activities to address the acute needs brought on by the ban:

• a controlled burning program for a hybrid system of settled agriculture with some burning (no new land was

used for the plots) for upland rice;

• equipment and technical assistance were brought in for paddy plot establishment;

• a study was undertaken by two Filipino scientists on the issue of over-harvesting of NTFPs (particularly the

resin tapping);

• a grant was requested for funds from the New Zealand Embassy to cover the costs of medical assistance,

including acute care for malaria and TB, distribution of medication and a rotating vaccination program;

• an anthropologist (with many years experience of Batak culture) was brought in to analyse the situation the

Batak were facing;

• The project has provided basic training in numeracy.

Contributed by Jill Blockhus, IUCN Forest Conservation Programme, Gland, Switzerland


5

In consultation with the Project Management Team, we have shifted the emphasis in this

report from developing a baseline study methodology to developing a broader approach to

socio-economic evaluation because we believe that summative evaluation is relatively

unhelpful unless it is combined with continuing formative evaluation. We propose a

combination of summative and formative evaluation. The underlying philosophy is

compatible with the participatory learning and action approach adopted by the project, in

which activities are constantly amended as a result of critical reflection on observed

outcomes (Ingles 1996).

Key Themes for Socio-Economic Impact Assessment

The idea of a baseline survey is to provide information now which will be useful later in

assessing the effects of a project. The first question is not what we need to know now

(project appraisal and RRA/PRA are concerned with that question), but what we would need

to know later in order to assess the impacts of what we have been doing. It is impossible to

predict all the possible outcomes of a project, but we can think of some broad areas that will

reflect on the extent to which we have achieved our broad purpose. The goal of the project

“...is to conserve forest biodiversity by promoting sustainable economic exploitation

of NTFPs at the community and provincial levels.”

Within the context of biodiversity conservation and “sustainability”, the underlying concern,

from the socio-economic point of view, is that “sustainable economic exploitation” improves

or maintains the material well-being and economic security of rural people in the long term .

It is, therefore, reasonable to examine the effects the project has and will have on

• well-being

• equity

• risk.

Well-being has two aspects. On one hand it refers to the quality of life, including such things

as health, education and access to services. On the other hand it refers to those economic

factors which provide access to material goods -- assets, capital, labour availability, credit

and availability of cash. Access to goods may be through barter or other forms of exchange.

It does not necessarily require use of cash.

Equity refers to the extent to which “well-being” is distributed fairly to different individuals

and groups. It is important to stress here that equity involves fairness, not, necessarily

equality. Fairness must, to a large extent, be determined by the people whose lives are

affected. It is possible (indeed, very common) for a project to improve the quality of life for

some people, while others are disadvantaged. For example, village leaders may gain

financially, while poorer people do not, Sometimes there is an overall gain, but at the cost of

greatly increased labour for some people. It is common for projects to improve family

income, but at the cost of increased labour for women. This is a particularly common source

of gender inequity.


6

Risk is an important component of peasant life. People operating close to the minimum

subsistence level are greatly concerned with “subsistence risk”(Scott 1976). In such

circumstances, it is quite rational to avoid potentially profitable changes if these changes

involve risks of complete failure. (For example, a particular NTFP may offer considerable

returns, but, if future prices are uncertain, subsistence farmers would be unlikely to invest

labour and energy in production at the cost of their subsistence crop.) Not only is risk a

factor which is likely to affect the adoption of new activities, but promotion of income from

NTFPs which increases exposure of farmers to risk could be a potentially negative indicator

in a social impact assessment. (Again, whether risk is an acceptable cost of potential benefits

is a matter for the affected people to decide themselves.)

These three broad criteria can be combined. Assessment of risk needs to take account of the

possibility that different groups may be more affected by risk than others as a result of

project inspired change. It is important, therefore, to identify different interest groups or

stakeholders (i.e. those likely to be affected differently by particular changes).

Well-being, equity and risk are broad areas of concern. From the point of view of collecting

baseline data, it is much easier to think in advance of indicators of well-being than it is to

think of indicators of equity and risk. Consequently, we propose to include indicators of

well-being in the baseline data collection, but see the identification of changes to equity and

risk as being likely to emerge from evaluation activities.

One of the difficulties in constructing a baseline survey (either for summative or formative

evaluation) is achieving a balance between the need for a process which is flexible enough to

pick up unintended consequences and the need to identify, in advance, the broad type of

information which may be useful. The experience of many development projects suggests

that unintended consequences often fall into one of these three themes.

Context of Project Intervention

The evaluation of socio-economic data requires conceptual skills and experience in the social

sciences which have not been promoted in Laos. The field staff currently employed by the

NTFP project have skills and experience in areas such as forestry and agriculture, but have

limited skills in the social sciences. The methodology for socio-economic evaluation must

take account of these limitations.


7

Principles

The following key principles underlie the development of the baseline survey methodology

proposed in this report:

• The methodology should be useful both for summative and formative evaluation.

• The need to integrate the baseline survey as far as possible with continuing and routine

evaluation of project activities means that activities should be carried out as far as

possible by project field staff as part of their normal activities. (This does not preclude

use of specialists or outsiders for specific tasks.)

• The gathering of data for the baseline survey should use data already being collected

(through RRA and PRA), supplementing this where necessary. (Collection of additional

data should be limited to what is reasonably necessary.)

• Field staff should be involved as far as possible in identifying and developing indicators

of change which are relevant to project activities and about which information can be

collected practically in village conditions.

• While the broad dimensions (well-being, equity and risk) can be explored as part of the

processes of impact assessment and evaluation, assessment of the meaning or significance

of changes along these dimensions must be made by the villagers and the evaluation of

social impact must be participatory. For example, it is possible to identify inequitable

changes to women’s workload arising from collection of an NTFP (such as women

working two extra hours a day for six weeks during the harvesting period collecting a

product), but the women themselves need to decide whether this is acceptable, perhaps as

a trade-off for improved conditions.

Elements of the Proposed Approach

The proposed approach to social impact assessment involves four main types of activities:

• Collection of information for the Baseline Study by the Field Team

• Continuing Observation of Social Impact by Field Teams

• Village Case Studies

• External Review.


8

Collection of information for the Baseline Study by the Field Team.

We propose that a Village Profile be prepared for each selected pilot site once it has been

identified and an agreement has been made with villagers. This document could be

substantially completed from information collected during RRA and PRA as part of the

process of identifying suitable pilot villages and participatory planning for pilot projects. It

may also be necessary to collect some additional information in a separate visit. The Village

Profile should be completed by the Field Team. Appendix 2 is the pro forma for Village

Profiles which we are recommending for the documentation of baseline information.

Explanatory notes about the information required are included in the Appendix.

The Village Profile format follows a list of topic headings. It is not a questionnaire, but

rather a checklist of the minimum information needed. Teams should feel quite free to

include additional types of information and the format provides scope for inclusion of

opinions about issues (and potential emergent issues) as well as factual information. A

sample of a completed Village Profile is at Appendix 3

The Village Profile is a written document, not a computer data base. The document should

be kept on a file on which field reports on village visits should also be kept. Duplicates of all

Village Profiles and visit reports should be kept on files in the Field Office and in the

Vientiane office.

Continuing Observation of Social Impact by Field Teams

In addition to collecting information for the Village Profile, the Field Team members should

make observation of socio-economic changes and documentation of observations a routine

part of all field work. Through this process they will be contributing to a developing

understanding of emerging issues and will be preparing the ground for more formal case

studies. It would be advantageous if the project could provide training and ongoing support

to assist staff to develop their skills and conceptual understanding during this process. The

continuing observation process should be carried out using methods similar to those which

will be used in the case studies. Box 4 provides some advice to field staff about field

observations.


9

BOX 4

Suggestions for Continuing Observation

• Information gathered through casual conversations (while walking through a village,

while preparing or sharing a meal etc.) is quite legitimate and often very useful. In fact,

casual conversations are often the best way to understand the concerns of villagers --

central to understanding project impacts.

• A limitation of RRA methodology is that it tends to depend on a few informants to

provide information and often these are village elite. It is essential to understand the

concerns of all interest groups, including both poorer and wealthier people (who may be

particularly involved with or dependent on NTFPs). Informal conversations are an ideal

way to communicate with these people. The wealth ranking activity is a useful way of

identifying the poor in the first place.

• Discussion of economic activities (including those associated with agriculture and

NTFPs) leads to the development of individual and family histories and case studies. It is

through this type of discussion that recognition of unintended consequences and the

relationship between project activities and changes can become evident.

• Important points from informal discussions should be documented and included on the

village file. This will be useful later for Village Case Studies and External Review.

Village Case Studies

While we have attempted to maximise the role of the Field Team in all aspects of impact

assessment, monitoring and evaluation, we recognise that the Field Teams do not have

training or expertise in sociological or anthropological research. Understanding the subtleties

of equity, risk, exchange relationships and their interactions requires a great deal of specialist

experience. We therefore propose that there is a role for a suitably trained and experienced

person outside the Field Teams to carry out village level case studies to explore socio-

economic changes in greater depth. Members of the Field Teams expressed, during this

study, the view that there is a need for someone outside the teams to evaluate activities. This

is specifically the summative aspect of social impact assessment.

These case studies could occur on an ad hoc basis where specific issues have been identified

for further exploration and they could also occur on a scheduled basis. It would be

particularly useful for case studies to be carried out prior to formal external evaluations

(mid-term or otherwise).


10

RECOMMENDATION

We recommend a minimum of six Village Case Studies during the life of the project.

This would involve three (one from each project province) leading up to the mid-

term review and another three (one from each province) leading up to the end of

project review. This is the essential minimum to achieve effective summative

evaluation. It would be desirable to do at least six Village Case Studies per year for

the remaining life of the project (i.e. after pilot sites are selected). At this level of

activity the case studies would be of greater use for formative evaluation.

In addition to the summative role of Village Case Studies, there is also a formative aspect.

The case studies should be carried out in close consultation with the Field Team and should

contribute to the development of staff skills and conceptual abilities.

RECOMMENDATION

We would recommend that the project consider employing a person (to be stationed

in the Vientiane office) to carry out these studies along with an ongoing mentoring

role, which would involve routine support for project staff in socio-economic

matters. We do not propose to make recommendations on the modality of

employment. This could involve full-time employment, regular part-time

employment or periodic consultancies. Project management will need to assess the

alternatives. We would, however, stress the need for continuity rather than use of a

number of separate individual consultants.

We do not wish to prescribe a detailed methodology for the Village Case Studies, because

we believe that the person who carries out the case studies ought to have substantial

experience in field research in rural areas and would therefore be able to produce their own

strategy appropriate to each situation. However, the methodology would be broadly based on

anthropological methods (essentially participant observation) and some general guidelines

are provided in Box 5.

RECOMMENDATION

The Village Case Studies should be carried out by a person with the following

qualifications and expertise:

• a degree in an appropriate social science (anthropology or rural sociology)

• field experience in S.E. Asia, preferably in Laos

• good knowledge of spoken Lao.


11

BOX 5

Guidelines for Village Case Studies Methodology

Each case study should involve approximately one week of village field work. This should

be treated flexibly and fieldwork could be split over shorter visits.

The underlying approach will consist of participant observation and informal interviews.

Case studies should involve participation by

• villagers, whose assessment of the significance/acceptability of changes will be actively

sought;

• field staff. The research process and results should be actively discussed by the evaluator

with field team members, both to incorporate their knowledge and insights in the case

study and to enable them to develop their skills. (However, the evaluation is to be the

responsibility of the evaluator and field team members will not be members of the case

study team. The case studies are external” evaluations.)

The general focus of attention in the case studies will be changes to well-being, equity and

exposure to risk.

The case studies will pay particular attention to

• exploring the differing impacts of project activities on all stakeholder groups;

• changes in gender roles and workloads;

• changes in tenure and exchange relations especially between traders (within village and

external) and collectors.

The case study report will make recommendations to the project on changes to activities as a

response to undesirable project impacts.

External Review

Under the Project Document and IUCN practices, the project will undergo an annual

evaluation by IUCN and formal mid-term and end of project reviews. The proposed process

would provide all baseline data (Village Profiles and field reports) to the various review

teams and would also provide Village Case Studies as detailed analyses of socio-economic

impacts.


12

Summary of Recommendations

(1) We recommend the establishment of a baseline survey and evaluation system with the

following elements:

• Collection of information for the Baseline Study by the Field Team.

• Continuing Observation of Social Impact by Field Teams

• Village Case Studies

• External Review.

(2) We recommend a minimum of six Village Case Studies during the life of the project.

This would involve three (one from each project province) leading up to the mid-term

review and another three (one from each province) leading up to the end of project

review. This is the essential minimum to achieve effective summative evaluation. It

would be desirable to do at least six Village Case Studies per year for the remaining

life of the project (i.e. after pilot sites are selected). At this level of activity the case

studies would be of greater use for formative evaluation.

(3) We would recommend that the project consider employing a person (to be stationed

in the Vientiane office) to carry out these studies along with an ongoing mentoring

role, which would involve routine support for project staff in socio-economic matters.

We do not propose to make recommendations on the modality of employment. This

could involve full-time employment, regular part-time employment or periodic

consultancies. Project management will need to assess the alternatives. We would,

however, stress the need for continuity rather than use of a number of separate

individual consultants.

(4) The Village Case Studies should be carried out by a person with the following

qualifications and expertise:

• a degree in an appropriate social science (anthropology or rural sociology)

• field experience in S.E. Asia, preferably in Laos

• good knowledge of spoken Lao.


13

References

Bruce, J.W. (1989)

Village Forestry: Rapid Appraisal of Tree and Land Tenure. Village Forestry Note 5. Rome:

FAO.

Ingles, A.W. (1996)

The Role of Participatory Learning and Action Approaches in Integrated Conservation and

Development Projects. Project Methodology Paper No 1. NTFP Project: Department of

Forestry, Lao PDR and IUCN The World Conservation Union.

Scott, James (1976)

The Moral Economy of the Peasant. New Haven: Yale University Press.


14

Appendix 1: The Consultancy

CONSULTANT TEAM

The consultancy was carried out in July 1996 by a team consisting of:

Dr R. Fisher

School of Agriculture and Rural Development

University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury

Burke Street, Richmond, NSW 2753

Australia

Ms Rachel Dechaineux

Research Assistant/Translator (Rural Development Specialist)

P.O. Box 5512

Vientiane, Lao PDR

Kheung Kham Keonuchan, PhD student

School of Agriculture and Rural Development

University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury

Bourke Street, Richmond, NSW 2753, Australia

Dr Fisher is engaged in a research project on social, economic and environmental research

funded by the Australian Research Council. His role in the consultancy took the form of a

collaborative research activity involving the NTFP Project and the research project and

contributing to the goals of each.

Itinerary:

1-6 July Vientiane. Preliminary discussions/planning

7 July Travel to Pakse.

8 -9 July Consultations with Field Team. Village fieldwork (overnight in village).

10 July Conclusion. Travel to Salavan. Consultations with Field Team

11-12 July Village fieldwork (overnight in village). Conclusions

13 July Travel Pakse-Vientiane.

16 July Travel to Oudomxai. Consultations with Field Team.

17-18 July Village fieldwork (overnight in village). Conclusions.

19 July Travel Oudomxai-Vientiane


15

List of People Consulted:

NTFP Project Head Office Staff

NTFP Field Team, Salavan

NTFP Field Team, Champasak

NTFP Field Team, Oudomxai

Mr Chantaviphone Inthavong

Director, National Office for Nature Conservation and Watershed Management

Forestry Department, Lao PDR

Dr Jim Chamberlain

Consultant Anthropologist

Mr Stuart Chape

IUCN Representative, Lao PDR

Dr Clive Marsh

IUCN

Mr Gary Oughton

Agronomist/consultant


16

TERMS OF REFERENCE (Extract)

Objectives of the Consultancy

The objectives of this consultancy are to:

1. Provide background information and commentary on the nature of customary and

official tree and forest tenure and usufruct. In this case, forests are taken to include

areas of fallow swidden and trees include those growing on both private and common

lands. This will include an identification of the key tenure and usufruct issues that

should be considered by the Project in monitoring and evaluation.

2. Advise the Project on the information that is essential and desirable for assessing any

changes to the wealth, security and equity (including gender equity) of the Project’s

target groups resulting from Project interventions.

3. Provide advice, guidelines and recommendations for undertaking socio-economic

baseline surveys at the Project’s pilot sites to provide the information identified in

objective two above and to support Project management generally.

Tasks and Outputs

In order to achieve these objectives, it is envisaged that the consultant will:

• Study Project documents and discuss the Project’s strategy, objectives and activities with

Project staff.

• Obtain information and become familiar with the types of social and physical

environments in which the Project is working. This will include at least one visit to a

Project field site.

• Consult and discuss issues related to this consultancy with Project staff, DoF officials and

other organisations and people as appropriate.

In particular, in order to achieve objective 1, it is envisaged that the consultant will:

1.1 Undertake a review of the literature on customary and official tree and forest tenure

and usufruct in Lao PDR.

1.2 Prepare a paper which presents the outcome of this review and identifies the key

tenure and usufruct issues that should be considered by the Project in monitoring and

evaluation. The paper should be in a form suitable for publication as a Project

Technical Report.

In addition, in order to achieve objective 2, it is envisaged that the consultant will:

2.1 Undertake consultations with local people at Project sites, Project staff and others as

appropriate and collect relevant information, opinion and literature to support the

preparation of the advice required, in a participatory and systematic way.

2.2 Undertake a workshop with key Project staff to present information and provisional

advice, obtain feedback and further engage the Project staff in the development of a

baseline survey methodology.

2.3 Incorporate the findings and advice required for this objective into the written report

described in 3.2 below.

In addition, in order to achieve objective 3, it is envisaged that the consultant will:


17

3.1 Develop a baseline survey methodology, taking account of the Project’s context and

findings of tasks described above.

3.2 Prepare a draft report in English, which describes the proposed baseline survey

methodology including:

• information sets to be collected;

• the approach, activities, tools and methods involved;

• the rationale for the methodology as a whole and for each information set, including

assumptions made; and

• recommendations for implementing baseline surveys, including personnel, timing

and resources required.

3.3 Prepare and submit a final plan and any accompanying documents which takes

account of the feedback from the Project.

Timetable

The consultant will commence work no later than 8 July 1996 and provide complete drafts of

the paper and draft report required by this TOR to the Project Advisor by 5 August 1996.

Final versions of the paper and report will be provided to the Project no later than 21 days

after the Project has provided comments and feedback on each.


18

Appendix 2: Format for Village Profiles with Explanatory Notes

• A Village Profile should be prepared for each selected pilot site once it has been

identified and an agreement has been made with villagers. This document could be

substantially completed from information collected during RRA and PRA as part of the

process of identifying suitable pilot villages and participatory planning for pilot projects.

It may also be necessary to collect some additional information in a separate visit. The

Village Profile should be completed by the Field Team.

• The Village Profile format follows a list of topic headings. It is not a questionnaire, but

rather a checklist of the minimum information needed. Teams should add any additional

information they feel is relevant. They should include opinions about issues (and potential

emergent issues) as well as factual information.

• The contents of the Village Profile, especially comments about emergent issues, should

be discussed by Field Team during preparation.

• The Village Profile is a written document, not a computer data base. The document

should be kept on a file on which field reports on village visits should also be kept.

Duplicates of all Village Profiles and visit reports should be kept on files in the Field

Office and in the Vientiane office.

VILLAGE PROFILE

Authors and Date of Completion of Village Profile

Village Name and Location

Photographs, sketches or diagrams are also useful for later evaluation of changes.

General Description

Dates and reasons for establishment of the present village; access, political boundaries,

distances to towns/villages; landforms and elevation; village maps (including field team’s

sketch map and participatory mapping); land use maps.

Infrastructure and development projects

Existing infrastructure and services (roads, lavatories, irrigation) villagers’ expressed needs.

Other development projects or assistance; implementing agencies


19

Demography

Population; number of households; names of resident ethnic groups; languages spoken;

breakdown of population by gender/age. Any indications of the population trends and

significant in or out migration.

Health

Hygiene, sanitation practices, status of nutrition, common illnesses (e.g. malaria). Access to

health services.

Education

Access to education, distance to schools, grades available, numbers of students

(female/male), number of teachers. Any other informal education activities.

Village Organisation

Village organisation and leadership (including elected/appointed officials and other

influential people). The process of decision making for village rules regulations and

activities.

Economic Activities

• Livestock

Types and numbers of village livestock, comments on management, marketing and

consumption.

• Agriculture

Types of crops, types and areas of land under cultivation, crop deficit or surpluses for sale.

• Wage labour

Inside village, outside village.


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• NTFPs

Types of NTFPs, priority ranking for various stakeholders, including gender differences; use

of NTFPs for subsistence or sale; proximity to forest; commercial or domestic collection.

Labour

Availability of labour, major labour requirements. division of labour (note gender

differences especially), seasonal calendar; labour exchange relationships. (Do some people

repay loans by performing labour?)

Division of labour: Understanding the division of labour, particularly as applied to various

aspects of NTFPs (collection, processing and delivery to market), is a key to identifying

equity impacts, especially in terms of gender.

Wealth Ranking

Record results of wealth ranking exercises, including criteria used. Record results of separate

wealth ranking exercises by women and men. Note who participated in ranking (village

leaders, wealthier people, poor people).

Marketing Systems, Traders and Exchange Relationships

Who are the traders who obtain various NTFPs from village collectors? Are they insiders or

outsiders? Do they advance payment? Do they give loans?

Marketing and Exchange Systems It is important to identify who traders are, where they

come from, how they pay for the product and what other relationships they have with the

collectors (patron-client ties, loan relationships etc.). Understanding the processes and steps

involved in marketing is crucial in order to identify future positive or negative changes to the

conditions under which collectors operate. Prices are a part of this analysis, but it is the steps

and conditions of exchange that are most important.

The process of marketing NTFPs may involve quite different types of exchange

relationships. Sometimes the process is a relatively simple one involving cash payments

from traders in exchange for products. Sometimes the traders may also provide loans to

farmers and this may lead to farmers becoming trapped into the forced sale of products at

poor prices. The case of the Palawan project (Box 3) is an excellent example of NTFP

collectors falling into debt and being unable to benefit from increased collection of NTFPs.

Land, Tree and Forest Tenure


21

What arrangements exist to regulate access to agricultural land (paddy and swidden), and

various forest products?

Tree and forest tenure are crucial from the point of view of social impact assessment,

because access to trees and forests underpin the livelihoods of rural people. Changes in

access to resources may result from project actions and reduced access would be an

important issue of concern in assessing impacts.

It is frequently assumed that farmers, especially those involved in shifting cultivation, have

no arrangements to regulate access to and/or use of trees and forests. Experience from other

countries and material gathered during the field trips undertaken for this study make it clear

that local (village-level) arrangements governing access to and distribution of tree and forest

resources do, indeed, exist. It needs to be stressed that arrangements may vary greatly, even

between adjacent villages. It also needs to be remembered that a single village may have

quite different arrangements for different NTFPs. For example, individual bamboo clumps in

“common” forest may be the individual property of the people who planted them, while

cardamom in the same forest may common property.

Appendix 4 provides notes on tree and forest tenure and includes advice on the collection of

tenure information.

Reasons for Selecting the village

An explicit statement of reasons for selecting village as pilot village.

Target Groups

Specify particular target groups for people to be involved in project activities.

Threats to Socio-Economic Success

Are there any potential factors identified in field visits which are likely to lead to undesirable

impacts on villagers or sub-groups of villagers in terms of well-being, equity and exposure to

risk?


22

Appendix 3: A Sample Village Profile

[Prepared by Rachel Dechaineux]

Note: Some Tables have not been completed in this sample Village Profile. These tables

should be completed in the standard format for data collected through PRA.

VILLAGE PROFILE

Authors: Ms. Nok Luang and Mr. Lam Pai ( in collaboration with Sing Thong Field

Team).

Date of Completion: 31 July 1996

Village Name and Location

Paa Dip Village is located in the deepest valley, approximately 600m above sea level, in the

north of Sing Thong Province, 65km northeast of Ling Lom District, Lingus country.

Mountain peaks to the east (1200m ) demarcate the border of Ling Lom District and Ton

Khiaw Province. To the west a mountain terrain separates the village and its district town,

about 18-20 hours overnight by foot for the villagers.

General Description

The village was established in 1969 when the whole village apparently migrated from the

eastern mountains of Ton Khiaw Province. A village elder gave an account of rising disputes

over land for shifting cultivation due to migrations of other peoples to that area, encroaching

upon fallow lands and clearing of primary forest areas. It appears that the people of Paa Dip

chose to move to its present area on approval from the Ling Lom district authorities. Other

villages in closest proximity were consulted with at the time to demarcate land use borders.

Since the villagers migrated they have become primarily wet-rice agriculturists with an

expanse of fertile soils for cultivation, (however susceptible to floods).

The village can be accessed by car (only during 7 months of the dry season) or by small boat

throughout the year. The road begins 1km out of the village, south 22km meeting the Lom-

Pe highway, then 16km north-west to Ling Lom district town centre. From the junction

south 72km to Nam Pe District town.

Huay Dip River entwines the valley, passes the village and allows for river transport via the

neighbouring village, Huay Dip( proximity of 4km), then continues 65km south to the mouth

of the tributary at Nam Pe District town. Here the river flows into the Se Nam Pe tributary to

the Nam Pe River. There are approximately 5 villages until reaching Nam Pe district town

the largest in Sing Thong Province.

Attachment: Area map reproduced by the field teams from the villagers’ interpretation.


23

The layout of the village centres around the central communal house. This is a well

structured large building built of strong timbers and decorated with birds nests and wild

pig’s tusks, symbolic to the villagers relationship with the forest. The communal house is

used for all village meetings and accommodating guests. From this point there are four paths

leading out of the village in the direction of cardinal points, passing the villagers houses

which are smaller versions of the communal house. The path east leads approximately 50

metres to the edge of the forest; the western path meets the beginning of the road at about

200 metres and the two paths north and south go to the fields and the river.

Infrastructure and development projects

The access road was built with district funding and labour from Paa Dip and Huay Dip

villages. Condition of the road is poor and there is talk amongst the Paa Dip village

committee to propose to the district for an upgrading project. It may be an advantage that the

son of the village chief works in the District Sector for Communications and Transport.

Other paths, walkways and small bridge crossings have all been designed and built by the

villagers themselves with collective input of labour and skills. Recently the village has built

a jetty landing on the river from bamboo and twine. All materials used in construction are

from the forest with no sign of any plastics, tin, metal or steel.

Water supply to the village is very substantial coming from the continuous flow of streams

of the mountain source. The non-government organisation Aid4U funded and provided

technical assistance installing six washing areas with water outlets/taps inside the village. All

labour and most materials such as bamboo for pipes was supplied by the villagers. Only

cement, taps, and 60 plastic buckets were donated by the project (a Sanitation and Hygiene

Awareness Program implemented in 6 villages in the district). There are plans for more than

25 lavatories to be installed by the same donor before December 1996.

The mountain streams provide natural irrigation to the paddy fields yet the streams cannot

maintain a natural run-off system during heavy rains and has caused floods destroying

approximately 85% of the villages wet-rice fields in the past two consecutive years.

Villagers expressed the need for assistance to implement a water diversion system and to

adopt activities reducing the soil erosion.

Demography

The people call themselves the Muu-dii-yin people, which is one of 7 ethnic groups in the

district. They speak a common dialect of forest dwellers found throughout the region. The

villagers who have (had) the opportunity to attend school; or who have spent some time out

of the village can speak the national language, Lingo. A village estimate of 65% of women

cannot speak Lingo.

The village population is 198 people, 109 are female. A total of 57 children under the age of

15 of which 32 are girls. The total of 36 families in 22 households. There are 9 households

run by women without husbands, (four of which have older sons left the village to find work

to support the family) the remaining households are represented by men aged between

approximately 35 to 50 years.


24

It is evident that there are more women that men in the village. In casual conversation three

elder women indicated that mortality rates at birth for boys is quite high (e.g. one women

lost 2 boys at birth, and one under six months old out of 4 boys born), and a village

approximate of 45% survival rate of children under six months. The past two generations of

men have been leaving the village to become soldiers and more recently to become labourers

in Nam Pe town.

Health

General health problems that women find common are fevers (including malaria) with

chronic diarrhea amongst their children during the wet season. There have been several cases

of malaria this year, already one male-child has died and four children aged between 4-11

have suffered from the symptoms. During conversations the villagers showed little

knowledge of the names of various illnesses, they could only describe the general symptoms.

There has been a series of workshops organised by Aid4U organisation on nutrition, health

and hygiene. The program has introduced clean cooking, the basic five food groups needed

to maintain good health and prevent sickness and small home garden plots.

The nutrition levels in this village can depend on the beliefs and taboos of consuming certain

foods. A belief amongst the people is to not feed the children anything that comes from the

forest until they are over 3 years old. This includes wild fruits and berries and in particular,

pork which is not prepared for the children as the pigs forage in the forest and the children

will be susceptible to be lost or taken away by forest spirits or animals that are symbolically

attached to the product. Symptoms observed in children were jaundice and swollen

stomachs, which may be the result of parasites, lack of protein or vitamins and minerals

found in other forest foods.

There is little understanding of the traditional healers and their methods of practice in the

village. Indications are that these specialists are amongst the women’s group of about 4-5

people. These women practice healing rituals within small huts designated for the sick. They

use herbs and certain forest products to cure the patient and appease the forest spirits.

Formal medical services are easily available to the villagers. A district doctor makes

sporadic visits to the village every 2-3 months. Vaccination is available for children under 2

years if affordable. Purchase of medicines is rarely affordable. On occasions a family

member traveling to Ling Lom District, or to Se Nam town may bring a small supply back to

the village for personal use (not for sale).

The closest hospital is at Se Nam District and, as is known, only one women

(hemorrhaging) has received treatment at this hospital and she died. This event has incurred

a belief in other villagers that the hospital is a place to go to die.

Education

The closest primary school is at Huay Dip village, 4km down river or 6.5km along the road.

This school has 1-6 grades with 3 teachers, 2 females from that village and 1 male from Ling

Lom District. A total of 92 students attend the school, 63 children from Huay Dip (of the


25

total population 240); and 29 from Paa Dip village of which are 11 girls, 6 girls and 8 boys

below grade 3, and 2 girls and 5 boys in their final year.

The Lower Secondary school is in Ling Lom district where one girl and 5 boys attend from

Paa Dip village. They board at the school and return home once or twice a month. The

number of girls is considerably low as it is more preferable for boys to gain an education and

that it is seen to be too far for the girls to be away from home.

There is one 18 year old, sons of Mr. Phet, who is attending teacher training school in Sing

Thong Provincial town. This is funded by the provincial teachers scholarship program. Three

boys have joined the soldiers training school in Se Nam District, one of which has recently

married within the village and will be returning to reside in the village. He will take a role in

upholding village security.

Village Organisation

The village committee comprises of five men, a village chief; two deputy chiefs; a finance

accountant; and leader of the National Development party, who appears to coordinate all

official correspondence between the district and the villagers. The village committee appears

to have good relations amongst their people. Regular gatherings are held weekly and on all

culturally significant days and when any particular event or occurrence arises in the village.

The villagers are encouraged and motivated to speak out , ask questions and raise matters

needed to be addressed by all members of the community under the guidance of their

leaders. It is understood that those who hold positions in the village committee are well

respected for their good communication skills, education and ability to build rapport with all.

The village committee recognises the women’s group having a separate organisation

attending and participating in all regular meetings. There are six women’s union members

and the director is the village chief’s wife. She is very competent, talkative, and seems to

play an important role in assisting her husband with hosting guests and giving opinions

about issues regarding the villagers' welfare during village committee meetings.

The representative for the National Development Party is a village elder, Mr. Phet, a very

dynamic character who leads the discussions at village meetings, reiterates the topic and

opinions to the group and appears to be and advisor, able to manipulate the final decisions

made by the village chief. Mr Phet can speak reasonable English having worked alongside

American fighter pilots. He carries a transistor radio (10 band frequency) to be updated on

the world news which he frequently reiterates stories to joke and enlighten the group of their

advantageous living conditions close to nature. He is also the owner of the only rice mill

within the village.

The youth union comprises of 3 boys and 9 girls. The leader is the 19 year daughter of Mr.

Phet. The youth union roles involve 'watching out' for their younger peers in daily life

activities, coordinating singing and dancing concerts at the times of village festivals and

conveying information from the school to the villagers (there is no teacher/parent

communication).

Economic Activities


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• Livestock

The village statistics provided by the village committee revealed that there are 19 buffalo in

the village, 12 cows, 32 breeding pigs and an average of 8 poultry per household.

The buffalo are highly valued, used for agriculture work, and are rented out to villagers

inside and /or from Huay Dip village ( at 15000 kip per season of work). Buffalo are rarely

for sale unless the family has a rice deficit with more than one buffalo or a rice surplus and 2

or more buffalo. This would be discussed together husband and wife with the husband

making the transaction if with a man and the wife if a female buyer.

Usually the young boys and few girls look after the buffalo in daily life, tethering during no

work days, providing extra fodder in the evenings after bringing them back to the household

garden fence.

Cows were introduced to the village in 1993 when five females were bought from Ling Lom

District by a trader in exchange for trees existing on the private rice field of 2 families. This

was a private exchange and hasn't been repeated since. The present 12 cows are owned by 6

families, either breeding for sale or consumption at times of festival. The cows are tethered

similar to the buffalo in the garden areas and around the rice paddies during wet season, free

roaming after harvest and kept under the houses overnight. There has been accounts of eye

disease amongst the young calves over the past two years (reason unknown).

Poultry is mainly for household consumption. Ducks are more or less kept with in the fenced

gardens and chickens left to roam around the village where each household has built small

hatches for their nesting.

• Agriculture

Total area of wet-rice agriculture land is 19.6 ha. A good harvest produces approximately

980 kilos of rice. A surplus average of 80 kilos for those wealthy families and

approximately 2 month shortage for those poorer families.

Two consecutive years 1994-1995, Paa Dip village wet rice production has suffered from

floods. A total of 185 kilos of rice was harvested. Rice banks were set up by a the district

authorities with the assistance from Aid4U organisation. Both years the village received

12kg of rice for each household member/one month for 5 months of the year. The rice was

delivered from Nam Pe district town by boat. The natural disaster has made the villagers

more dependent on the forest resources to not only meet food requirements and basic needs,

also as a source of income to compensate for their loss of main subsistence benefits.

• Wage labour

Various types of wage labour are sought outside the village. Young men are recruited for

labouring in construction and road building within the district. They usually earn between

600-900kip/day. Three men aged 17-23 years, worked in Ton Khiaw Province with a

logging team, felling trees and sawing timber on designated government land.


27

• NTFPs

Table A

General results of the opinion of ranking NTFPs and cash income sources by women and

men of the wealthier groups. It must be recognised that there are differences between the two

groups in their measurements.

NTFP Resources Women Men

Collected from the Forest Collect for

use

Income no. of

stones

Collect for

use

Income no. of

stones

Wild Vegetables ***** 3 5% *** -

Medicinal plants **** - - -

Insects ** - *** -

Cardomon - 7 15% * 9 18%

Small berries *** -

Wild fruits **** 4 7% **** -

Bamboo shoots **** 4 7% * -

Rattan * 2 3% ***** 5 9%

Honey ** 5 10% **** 2 5%

Fibres ** - **** 4 7%

Mushrooms ***** - *** -

Deer - - ***** 5 10%

Birds - - **** 4 5%

Wild pigs - - ****** 10 25%

Small monkeys - - ** 3 6%

Squirrels - - *** 2 5%

Lizards ** - *** -

The resources of highest value for the women is honey yet they collect more mushrooms and

wild vegetables. The women extract the honey and sell it at the market in the neighbouring

village. Medicinal plants can only be collected by women specialists, those who are

culturally recognised as healers within the community. Even so the women’s group indicated

that the women healer must be aged between 25-45 enabling her to collect these plants and

preserve their properties foe effective use.

For the men wild pigs and cardomon have a high value. The men hunt wild pigs regularly as

the meat is valued, used as offerings to the forest spirits for cultural festivals. This belief and

ritual practice assists in the conservation of the forests as the pigs are destructive to other

resources that the village collects such as wild vegetables. The meat is sold within the


28

village. A lot of rattan is collected for building materials and only just began to export it out

of the village.

Forest birds are caught by young school boys and taken to Huay Dip village to sell at the

small village market for 400-600kip per bird.

Products sent down to Se Nam District by boat usually rented boats within the village. The

trader comes to the village and travels with the produce.

Labour

Table B

Women’s Labour Schedule

Tasks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Table C

Men’s Labour Schedule

Tasks 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Wealth Ranking

The wealth ranking exercise was only performed with one group during RRA on the second

visit to the village. For an understanding of wealth indicators across the village the exercise

will need to be done with at least two more groups of both genders.

The women’s group comprised of four representatives from the women’s union and one

daughter of the leader of the National Development Party, Mr. Phet. The exercise took place

on the verandah of the central communal house. The women showed a lot of interest in the

exercise and all contributed their opinions about the ranking of each household. There

appeared to be expressions of sympathy and pride for those households run by women.

Table D

Women’s Household Wealth Ranking & Criteria

Table E

Men’s Household Wealth Ranking & Criteria

Marketing Systems, Traders and Exchange Relationships


29

There appears to be one outside trader who comes to the village regularly to visit Mr Phet

(an old friend). He orders rattan to be cut and sent by the village transport boat, usually Mr

Phet's son delivers this. This trader does not pay money in advance to Mr Pet but relies on

him to organise the order. Mr Phet speaks to those villagers who are capable of harvesting

the rattan and those interested all go together to the forest to collect the required amount.

While in the forest they discuss together which rattan is suitable for harvesting and they

perform the task together. Each person is paid a percentage of the sale leaving a remaining

10% for the village committee.

Land, Tree and Forest Tenure

The area demarcated for paddy rice was established on agreement with the district

authorities in 1969. It is difficult to piece together an accurate picture of how this land was

originally distributed amongst the villagers. Discussions primarily with the village

committee present land allocation process as an egalitarian system where each family was

given an equivalent of 1 to 1.5 ha. of land according to their subsistence requirements based

on the number of household members. The growing village population of new families

establishing themselves find a shortage of land for wet-rice agriculture and are either taking

up abandoned areas of fallow to begin their cycle of maintaining a subsistence or usually the

youngest daughter inherits the land from her mother.

As newcomers the village was able to take up rights of unclaimed areas of forests in close

proximity to the village as common land. This was done by first seeking permission from

their neighbouring village chief and then pursuing increased protection of interests over

forest resources. The rights are recognised through their residence in the areas and there are

families with tenure rights over certain resource plots gained by vested activities and

interests such as natural bee hives, certain bamboo plantations managed and harvested by the

owners, and trees for extracting benzoin (Styrax tonkinesis). There are few restrictions over

other activities which can be carried out by others such as harvesting vegetables,

mushrooms, bamboo, and building poles. It is understood that the forest plots are handled

and managed by the males in the family and handed appropriately to the son or son-in-law

who has assisted in the resource maintenance and takes interest in further production of the

resource.

There is an increasing population pressure on the forests and available resources in the

forests and this is a growing concern of the villagers themselves as they place such strong

cultural values on their appears

Reasons for Selecting the village

Paa Dip village is currently being exposed to major changes influencing the decisions of

household activities for a future existence. These changes stem from environmental

conditions, growing regional market systems, labour migration patterns and pose questions

of social and economic security. For instance, the natural flooding disasters of the past two

consecutive years, causing detrimental soil erosion calls for attention as the villagers are

aware of becoming increasingly more dependent on forest resources with rice deficits rising


30

and a growing commercial value of NTFPs revealing new opportunities to exploit available

resources and generate profitable income.

Under these circumstances and with the enthusiasm of the villagers to develop sustainable

production of NTFP resources the Project field team has chosen Paa Dip village as a pilot

village site to practice and participate in activities in conservation and forests land

management, improve production and harvesting techniques and seek to join evolving

market systems for the betterment of their well-being.

Target Groups

With representatives participating from all groups of the village it has been mutually

recognised and understood by the Project that those poorer families including those most

reliant on NTFP resources will be targeted for involvement in project activities. These

groups include those with little or no rice field; some with a high deficit of rice and accruing

debts; individuals seeking wage labour activities outside the village are also those attached to

households expending more labour input and time in collection of forest products for family

subsistence, all of which are evidently more reliant on the forest products for future

sustainable income. Besides those target groups the Project will allow open opportunities

for other groups to be involved in the learning processes and activities to be implemented,

monitored for equitable participation.

Threats to Socio-Economic Success

The success of families economic growth and well-being will also depend greatly on the

cooperation and solidarity within the village and the distribution of tenurial usufruct rights.

Already it is recognised that the villagers are tending to more privatised land management

practices as opposed to village collectivised management of certain NTFP products for

example individually owned plots of bamboo in the forest. At present most of these plots are

owned by the less wealthier groups in the village but there have been two cases as mentioned

of the sale of these plots to those more wealthy as their value increases and debts need to be

repaid.


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Appendix 4: Land and Tree Tenure

Tree and land tenure refers to the 'rights' which various people hold in relation to land and

trees. Bruce (1989) defines tenure as

'...the set of rights which a person or some private or public entity holds in land or

trees. A "tenure" is a "bundle of rights". Particular combinations or "bundles" of

rights in resources are recognised by law and custom in particular societies.'

In western capitalist countries, tenure is often thought of as ownership, in which something

is the property of a person or group. But even in these countries, ownership is rarely

exclusive, and the rights of the owner are usually limited in some respects. For example,

ownership may not prevent other persons from entering land to extract minerals located

under the land.

Asking about Tenure

(Adapted from Bruce 1989)

• Do not start with “Who owns the land?” or “Can land be sold?”

• Begin with questions about people’s use of trees or land, working from behaviour to

rules. In other words, understand what people have rights to use through learning

what they do use.

• Cross check by interviewing different people separately.

• Remember that the bundle of rights may be different for women and men.

Possible sequence of tenure questions-NTFP collected from trees

• Where are the trees from which you collected this product?

• Is there more than one tree from which you can collect?

• Are all the trees from which you can collect near each other?


32

• Are the trees on the land where you grow rice this year or on which you grew rice in

previous years?

• Can other people from the village collect from these trees?

• Can you cut these trees down?

• Can other people cut these trees down? Who?

• Did you plant these trees?

• Who decided who can collect from these trees?

• If someone collected from these trees who should not do so, what would you do or

say?

• Would the other people in the village do or say anything?

Possible sequence of questions about land allocation for shifting cultivation.

• Which land will you grow upland rice on this year?

• Was the land farmed last year? By whom?

• Was the land fallow? How many years?

• Who farmed the land last time?

• Did you have to clear forest to make a new field?

• Why did you choose this land?

• Could you use other land of you wished? Where?

• Can you use any uncleared land you wished for farming?


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• Can you use any fallow land you wish for farming?

• Do you have to ask permission from any person or group before you clear land or use

a particular plot?

• From whom?

• If two people want to farm the same land, what would happen?

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