Strengthening communities to claim community forest rights in Chhattisgarh
Oxfam India is part of a global movement working to fight poverty, injustice and inequality. In India, it works in six states. Oxfam India’s programme on Fair Sharing of Natural Resources is aimed at marginalised communities to realise their rights through rightful access, control and sustainable management of natural resources, thereby giving them voice and agency to transform power structures and reduce inequality and injustice. In Chhattisgarh, Oxfam India is working with KHOJ Evam Jan Jagriti Samiti (KHOJ), in Gariyaband and Dhamtari district since 2015, and with Gram Mitra Samaj Sevi Sansthan since 2014 in Korba and Rajnandgaon districts. The focus of the work has been to secure access and entitlements of marginalised communities, especially women and Adivasis, to forest and its resources, and their management through the implementation of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dweller’s (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006, also known as the Forest Rights Act (FRA). These access and entitlements are critical to the well-being and livelihoods of the forest communities.