Montrose was contracted to develop a set of guidance documents to govern future land acquisition and resettlement activities that will precede the development phase of oil and gas production in the Albertine Graben in Western Uganda.
Previously the partners involved in oil and gas exploration activities in Uganda had conducted their land access and acquisition activities on their own without a uniform approach and with limited joint coordination.
The various obstacles the partners faced during their land access and compensation processes prompted the development of guidance documents to govern and streamline future land acquisition and resettlement activities across the partners’ licence areas and to ensure compliance with Ugandan law and the IFC Performance Standards on resettlement.
The work included the development of a Land Acquisition and Resettlement Strategy (LARS) as well as a Land Acquisition and Resettlement Framework (LARF) that outlined the partners’ policies for future resettlement work.
In addition to these two high level policy and planning documents, one partner requested the development of a Guide to Land Acquisition and Compensation (GLAC) and a Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) for project management purposes.
Solution
Montrose developed and presented a number of land acquisition and resettlement guidance documents for the clients, including:
An Inception Report: This followed a series of consultative meetings at a national and local level on the management of resettlement projects in Uganda, and provided guidance on how to tackle key issues in the management of large scale resettlement.
A Land Acquisition and Resettlement Strategy (LARS)
A Land Acquisition and Resettlement Framework (LARF)
Development of a GLAC and SEP for one partner’s internal use
Impact
The LARS outlined key steps and studies to be undertaken internally by the partners prior to the implementation of land acquisition and resettlement activities.
The LARF outlined key components of the land acquisition and resettlement process and how these could be further developed or integrated into existing internal partner structures and government systems.
It also recommended ways in which resettlement and relocation activities could be made compliant with required national and international best practice in resettlement.
