Malindi Rights Forum (MRF)

Country

Organization

Malindi Rights Forum (MRF)

MRF is a grassroots natural resource rights organization working in rural areas near the town of Malindi in the coast province of Kenya. In this region, large-scale salt mining companies have bought huge parcels of land in opaque deals with corrupt government officials, displacing local communities from their most productive land. Without their land, community members have few livelihood options besides working as casual laborers at the salt mines, where they earn less than two dollars per day. When communities have demonstrated against the companies in the past, they have been brutally repressed, beaten and shot at by police officers who had been paid by the companies. MRF is working to empower the local community to address these rights violations.

Project

Advocating for Land Rights and Accountability

To create community awareness about the natural resource rights guaranteed under Kenya’s new constitution, revive several stalled court cases against the salt mining companies and network with other organizations working on resource rights issues. This grant will also enable MRF to rehabilitate a large parcel of land that the community won in a previous legal action so that it can be used for sustainable livelihood activities. The organization’s long-term goal is to force the salt mining companies to rehabilitate and return illegally acquired land to the community.