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Pamoja Trust

Promoting access to land, shelter and basic services for the urban poor.

Contact Info

Action Research

METHODOLOGY & APPROACH

Techniques, Tools & Principles

Co-producing community data to empower grassroots action and influence urban policy.

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Knowledge Co-Production
Research undertaken by the department is conducted through a mode of co-production. Pamoja Trust deliberately endeavors to co-produce knowledge with those who find themselves in situations of marginalization.
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Enumeration & Spatial Mapping
A community-centered process structured on organizing communities using their own data and spatial information. People act as active agents of change leading data collection and mapping.
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Guiding Action Principles
Interventions are guided by explicit principles of organized communities, community negotiation power, and adaptation as key responses to emerging realities.
CORE VALUES

Principles Guiding ART

Explicit principles on collective power, negotiation, and resilience in urban planning.

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Organized Communities
Pamoja Trust's enumeration processes provide a seamless framework in which communities organize around their own issues using their own data, building collective power and ownership.
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Community Negotiation Power
Enumeration outputs project settlement development aspirations into settlement plans. These serve as practical tools for negotiating inclusion into municipal planning regimes.
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Community Adaptation
Infusing community adaptation measures into the planning process in response to emerging realities and threats, ensuring long-term resilience and responsiveness.
PROPRIETARY & OPEN TECH

Key Tools & Technical Platforms

Deploying spatial, GIS, and tenure security documentation tools.

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Social Tenure Domain Model
Global Land Tool Network (UN-HABITAT)
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ArcGIS Platform
Geographic Information System
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Cadasta Platform
Digital Land & Resource Rights
GLOBAL PARTNERSHIPS

Featured Projects & Collaborations

Collaborating with international networks to advance tenure security and land rights.

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Promoting Improvement of Tenure SecurityGLTN • UN-Habitat
Pamoja Trust is in its third phase of collaboration with GLTN on STDM to give informal settlement communities the opportunity to advance towards tenure regularization and enhanced access to basic services.
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Monitoring Working GroupESCR-NET
PT serves on the ESCR-NET Steering Committee Monitoring Working Group, promoting a human-rights based approach to data to address power imbalances and center policymaking on lived experiences.
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Pro-Poor Policies for Urban DevelopmentMisereor
Collaboration on "Pro-Poor Policies for Inclusive Urban Development in Five Counties in Kenya", establishing community planning action groups and strategic settlement plans.
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Digital Documentation PartnershipCadasta
Partnered with Cadasta to leverage simple digital technology for documenting, analyzing, and storing land rights information, modernizing data collection and resource rights management.
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Women and ESCRHIC & Mazingira Institute
Collaboration within Habitat International Coalition focusing on Women and ESCR, researching dispossession of women through infrastructural expansion and traditional cultural practices.
5+
Global Research Partners
5
Counties Covered
3
Digital Mapping Platforms
1999
Founded — Serving Communities
🔬 Programme Impact
Through the Action Research Department, Pamoja Trust reverses the traditional "rule of experts" by placing communities directly at the center of knowledge production. By employing participatory tools like STDM, ArcGIS, and Cadasta, the programme empowers communities to generate their own data, map their own realities, and negotiate for inclusion in planning regimes.
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Reverses "Rule of Experts"
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Community-Led Data Production
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Municipal Planning Inclusion
Partner With Our Action Research Team
Collaborate with Pamoja Trust to advance community-led data collection, spatial mapping, and evidence-informed urban advocacy.
📧 Contact Research Team 📍 Explore Partner Opportunities