Relocation and Resettlement in Ceará - Houston Advanced ...

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FRC, PAGE 19
page should present an integrated and comprehensive view of water management and policy in
Ceará.
There are two opportunities available for funding this project at the present time. Initial seed money
has already been provided through LBJ School funds. These funds should enable INOVA to begin
the construction of the page and put up the resettlement project material. Following this initial
stage, funds must be located from alternative sources.
One of the philosophical objectives of this project is to facilitate stakeholder participation in the
water management process. To this end, we feel that the end users themselves should also be
connected to the web and ultimately are able to provide direct input rather than through
intermediaries as is foreseen in the initial stages. Recognising that access to computers and
Internet connections is not widespread in the interior of Ceará, HARC and its partners will
investigate and pursue opportunities for fundraising and donation of computers, equipment, and
resources to connect to the Internet.
Citizen’s Handbook to Resettlement
The Center for Global Studies is taking the organizational lead in assembling and obtaining funding
for a team of Brazilian and Indian non-governmental and community organizations to prepare a
Citizens Guide to Involuntary Relocation and Resettlement. The Citizens Guide is being prepared
to assist community leaders and members to organize themselves and participate effectively in the
planning and implementation of their resettlement. The Citizens Guide will be a critical resource in
addressing a serious problem associated with development initiatives.
To address these twin issues—educating and training communities and providing them planning
and organizational resources—HARC and its partners in Brazil and India aim to create a
comprehensive, user-friendly resource that will guide community leaders and households through
the process of displacement and resettlement. Based on lessons drawn from the specific
experiences of organizations, groups, and families that have been relocated or that are in the
process of being relocated, the Citizens Guide will provide a first-hand look at problems,
challenges, and potential opportunities. The Citizens Guide will contain detailed descriptions and
recommended actions for all the typical aspects and phases of resettlement operations, from the
initial socio-economic survey performed by project agencies to the process of selecting sites to
resettle the people and from the methods and formulae used to determine compensation to the
creation and implementation of income rehabilitation schemes. The descriptions will be liberally
supplemented with anecdotes from a variety of experiences with resettlement to enliven the text
and crystallize the points being made. Recommendations will be made throughout on how the
community and their leaders can best affect the process at each stage, to ensure that community
needs and requirements are most effectively voiced and taken into consideration in the planning
process. The Citizens Guide will thus synthesise the lessons learned from previous and current
resettlement efforts in an accessible publication that will enable future generations of displaced the
opportunity, the ability, and the will to participate effectively in the planning of their futures.
In addition to lessons and guidelines, the Citizens Guide will also list resources and advisors that
project-affected communities can access for assistance. While initial versions will be published in
English and Portuguese, there will be an ongoing initiative to translate the Citizens Guide in other
languages, so that it may reach the widest possible audience. The Citizens Guide will be available
in hard copy versions as well as on the Water for Ceará web site.
While HARC will develop the skeletal framework of the Citizens Guide, it will be the local
institutions and the project-affected communities and their leaders who will write the principal
portions of the document. HARC staff will then assimilate the various pieces into coherent and