Project Overview
Despite over 30 years of struggle and the 2015 Caribbean Court of Justice’s Consent Order that affirmed the land rights of the Maya People, the Maya communities of southern Belize still do not have the full, legal recognition of their right to own, manage and develop their traditional land and resources according to their own customs and institutions.
The Maya People are land-based people; land is intrinsically linked to their survival, identity, spirituality, customs, leadership and ways of knowing and being. It is this fundamental way of life that is understood in the notion of Ralcho’och (Children of the Earth). Currently, Maya People are facing illegitimate appropriation and exploitation of their community lands. This is posing an imminent threat to their very existence and ways of life. Thus, the longer it takes to achieve these titles, the frailer the Maya communities will become to defend and sustain their tenure rights.
In late 2019 the JCS, TAA and MLA, funded by Tenure Facility, launched the project Securing and protecting tenure rights of the Maya People of southern Belize, that aimed to guarantee and enhance land tenure and associated rights for Indigenous Peoples of southern Belize like the Q’eqchi’ and Mopan People. The project helped 25 communities achieve significant progress in auto-delimitation and boundary harmonisation processes to secure their lands. These project results generated knowledge and momentum to continue supporting tenure rights in these communities and enabled the possibility to expand support to 10 additional villages in following project phases.
Building on the 2020-2023 project’s achievements, JCS TAA and MLA are launching a new project phase. The geographic context and overarching aim of this new phase are the same as the first one. However, the theory of change and the main lines of action of this new project are slightly different as they incorporate the lessons learned and working approaches tested and validated during the first phase.
In this new project phase efforts to secure tenure rights of the Maya People of southern Belize will be made by expanding actions that promote land delimitation and boundaries harmonisation, the strengthening of communities’ land governance institutions, enhancing coordination between indigenous organisations and other civil and governmental organisations. Additionally, the project will focus on supporting Maya women’s role in tenure processes and gender inclusiveness, to make community land institutions more equitable, accountable and sustainable. Through this multifaceted work approach, the project will put to test the lessons learnt in the previous phase and expand the project’s initial expected impact.
Upon completion, this project aims to advance the security and enhancement of land tenure and associated rights for the 35 Maya communities targeted in the project.
