The Land Access Movement of South Africa (LAMOSA) is an independent Community Based organization (CBO) advocating for land and agrarian rights, and substantive democracy through facilitating Sustainable development. LAMOSA was established in 1991 to mobilize disposed communities to collectively fight discriminatory colonial and apartheid land laws, racial and gender discrimination and poverty. LAMASO in partnership with the government and Civil Society Organization (CSO) work in four provinces- Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northwest and Gauteng provinces.

LAMOSA was formed by 48 dispossessed communities in 1991, to mobilize and empower its affiliates to collectively fight discriminatory colonial and apartheid forced removals, racial and gender discrimination, and to play an active role in contributing towards the redress, dismantling and eradicating apartheid poverty and its manifestations. LAMOSA was formally registered as Non-profit organisation in 2001. LAMOSA is an innovative advocacy, transformational and progressive development facilitation agency that has creatively applied Rights Sustainable Livelihoods (RSL) tools of analysis and People Centered and Development (PCD) approaches to understand the challenges of every phase of dispossessed and landless rural people struggles. It is this dynamic calibre that has seen it through many difficult periods.

Throughout its existence LAMOSA has consistently fought for human rights and eradication of apartheid poverty, supported by progressive national and international Civil Society organizations (CSOs), LAMOSA affiliates had stood together and in solidarity with other organs of civil society in the liberation struggles and in hard times, fought with the apathies regime and its organs of oppression and persecution – the south African Defense Force, South African Police, its surrogate Bantustan Governments and the racists AWB army, LAMOSA members have endured the worst forms of repression during past decades. In 1991 most of the LAMOSA affiliates who were forcefully removed from their ancestral lands returned to their lands in defiance of, and to challenge the might of the apartheid regimes repression, prepared to fight and die for restoration of their land.

Up to until 1999 LAMOSA did not have its own offices and resources and depended on other CSO’s to support its programs. The dependency on other CSO for development recourses and capacity building at times had negative impact on the program of LAMOSA. In 1999 LAMOSA secured its own development recourses, established offices and managed to craft a program that meets and is driven by the needs of its affiliates. In May 2002 LAMOSA through advocacy training, Situational Analysis and Participatory Strategic Planning (PSP) processes that resulted in the business of its 2002 Annual General Meeting (AGM), LAMOSA was transformed into a Land Rights and Sustainable Livelihoods advocacy movement and development Facilitating Agency (DFA).LAMOSA and its affiliates have being involved in facilitating community development projects since 1995.

Recognizing that oppression of the rural poor all over the world is perpetuated through a framework of legislation, policies and programs, the LAMOSA 2002 AGM resolved that LAMOSA should find ways and means to educate and train its membership in policy development and governance. The policy dialogues workshops is effort aimed at creating an enabling a experimental learning environment for LAMOSA affiliates to engage policy makers and implementers in dialogues and debates on policy matters, and to enable policy makers and implementers to listen and accommodate the voice of disposed people and allow the people to play an active role in contributing towards accomplishing the vision of South Africa. The overall vision of LAMOSA is to create, “Sustainable Community members, families, organizations, institutes and/ or enterprises are engaged in and are in control of sustainable collective social, economic and political actions”. LAMOSA defines its mission as one that entails the need to, “To combat poverty, inequalities and p through People Centered Development (PCD) advocacy for access to land that was brutally and forcefully taken from our ancestors, substantive democracy, profound social, economic and political structural transformation, and facilitation of Sustainable Development for prosperity”. The vision and mission of the organisation is underpinned by the following set of values the organisation has embraced: accountability, promotion of indigenous cultures science and technology, replicable programmes, participation, transparency, voluntarism, Botho/ Ubuntu, gender equity and collectivity”. The overall activities of LAMOSA are located within six broad work streams namely:

1. Organization and leadership Development (OLD)
a. Institutional strengthening and development
b. Women Leadership Movement
c. Youth Leadership Movementjjuku
d. Children Movement
e. Bagolo Movement ( Elderly Persons)
f. Community Development Foundation (CDF)

2. Land Rights and Access (LRA)
a. Restitution
b. Redistribution
c. Land Tenure
d. Post settlement support (livelihoods)

3. Policy Research, Dialogues and Advocacy (PRDA)
a. Policy Research and Development
b. Advocacy Training
c. Policy Dialogues and Advocacy
d. Communality mobilization and information dissemination

4. Capacity Building
a. Community Leadership
b. Governance and/ or Board Training
c. Project management
d. Financial management
e. Adult Basic Education and Training

5. Information and Resources Centre (IRC)
a. Press cutting services
b. Newsletters
c. Library
d. Local Business Services Center
e. Farmers support Center
f. Communication- Internet – Photocopying & Printing etc.
g. Paralegal Services

6. Women, Land HIV and AIDS
a. Households, crèche and school food gardens
b. Feeding schemes for children, widows and / widowers, and elderly people
c. Small Economic Activities Development
d. Nutrition and Poverty Diseases (NPD)
e. Sanitation, Water and Hygiene (WASH)
f. HIV, aids Sexually Transmitted diseases and TB (HAST)
g. Sustainable Building and Energy Technologies (SBET)
h. Rural and Urban Environment Awareness campaign (RUEAC)

Through the six work streams that define LAMOSA primary work activities, the envisaged set of results from these projects are geared towards the following outcomes:

• Have influence on policy that will benefit member communities, assist disposed communities to have swift land restoration,

• assist landless people to have access to land through land redistribution programme,

• Help member communities to have access to land user rights and control of natural resources,assist member communities to engage in viable and sustainable local economic activities and

• Offer member communities institutional support and management skills required.

These outcomes are to be achieved through a committed effort of building and facilitating the formation of regional and provincial structures under the auspices of LAMOSA with the aim of embarking on collective campaigns that would culminate in one big national campaign geared towards agrarian change for dispossessed black communities in South Africa. Among other things LAMOSA committed itself to pay special attention to the needs of the most vulnerable members of society – women.