Cadasta Foundation

About us

Cadasta is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to advance land, resource, and property rights for the over 1 billion people living in vulnerable communities who have been left out of formal land systems. “Cadasta” is derived from the term “cadastre” which is defined by the International Federation of Surveyors as “a parcel based, and up-to-date land information system containing a record of interests in land (e.g. rights, restrictions and responsibilities).”
Land rights are the foundation of stability and prosperity and lie at the heart of addressing two existential crises facing our world: climate change and inequality.
Founded in 2015, Cadasta develops and promotes the use of simple digital tools and technology to help partners efficiently document, analyze, store, and share critical land and resource rights information. By creating an accessible digital record of land, property, and resource rights, we help empower individuals, communities, organizations, governments, and businesses with the information they need to make data-driven decisions and put vulnerable communities and their needs on the map.

Our Vision is to build a world where even the most marginalized individuals and communities can benefit from the opportunities afforded by secure land and resource rights.

Our Mission is to be the leading provider of technical tools and services to support the documentation of land and resource rights to build stronger, more sustainable communities.

How we work
Cadasta uses innovative technology, services, and advocacy to advance global land and resource rights. We target the world’s tenure-insecure people in rural, urban, and peri-urban areas left out of top-down government land registry systems. Recognizing that every partner is unique, our tools and services can accommodate a wide range of technical capabilities and resources and can be applied to various sectors.
• Governments: For government partners, Cadasta offers affordable tools and training to collect, analyze, store, and share critical land and property data. Our fit-for-purpose tools and data models comply with national and international standards and make it easy to incorporate community-based data into national-level systems.
• NGOs: With Cadasta’s tools and training, NGO partners are equipped to design effective data collection approaches to secure the land, property, and housing rights of vulnerable communities. Our tools and training also support NGOs in managing their data easily and monitoring the effectiveness of their work.
• Communities: Communities that partner with Cadasta are supported in their efforts to collect and leverage their data to claim their rights to land, property, and housing. Using Cadasta’s tools for data collection and analysis, communities can better advocate for, manage, and monitor land and forest use, as well as connect their data to government systems.

Rudo Kemper is the Chief Program Officer of Cadasta

For other net participants we can offer an expert guidance through trained staff, give an expert opinion, procure expert information in the field of our work. Cadasta’s offers participatory, demand-driven, and tailored services to empower partners and beneficiaries. As land, development, GIS, and data professionals, we support partners as they design gender-sensitive approaches, identify and mitigate conflict, and build local knowledge of land administration systems to advance tenure security. We are open to taking a call with anyone in the network to figure out if we can support their work, or point them towards other solutions that may work for them.