Handbook on Community Engagement

By: South Sudan Law Society

This handbook provides a ‘good practice’ guide to negotiating lease agreements with landowning communities in South Sudan.

The purpose of this handbook is to promote the fair and efficient use of community-owned land and natural resources in a manner that is responsive to community needs.

The handbook has five strategic objectives:

1. Foster an understanding among potential investors about their legal obligation to negotiate and secure lease agreements directly with community landowners or their legally authorized representatives.
2. Support constructive relationships between communities, companies, and government institutions involved with large-scale land investments.
3. Promote operational excellence for companies doing business in South Sudan.
4. Identify, prevent, and mitigate negative impacts that can undermine livelihoods and threaten project viability.
5. Promote the equitable distribution of investment benefits between companies, communities, and government institutions, as well as within communities themselves.

The handbook provides guidance on how to structure internal engagement processes within companies and communities, as well as external engagement processes between companies, communities, and government institutions. It is not intended as a detailed guide for large and complex projects. Rather, it is meant to provide field level guidance and practical tips tailored to address the unique challenges that investors and host communities confront in the fragile post-conflict setting of South Sudan.

The handbook is most directly applicable to large-scale land-based investments in rural areas, whether they are located on community-owned land or public land.