How SmartLARMS works

SmartLARMS is resettlement action plan software for land acquisition teams working to IFC PS-5 and World Bank ESS-5. This is the full operating picture: two applications, fourteen roles, an eight-stage workflow and five approval gates — documented as the system actually implements them.

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Two applications, one record

Field capture and office review have different users, different constraints and different software. A census happens where there is no network; a valuation review happens at a desk with three windows open.

Field app · Android & iOS

Offline PAP census

Enumerators register PAPs and capture assets — crops, land parcels, structures, trees, cultural assets — with no connectivity. GPS, ID scans and photographs attach to the record on the spot. Grievances can be logged at the point they are raised. Everything carries a sync state and uploads when a network returns.

Web dashboard

Review, valuation, evidence

QA verification, valuation and rate management, entitlements, geospatial reconciliation, gates, payments, grievance tracking and reporting — with role-scoped views for the client, the lender, the regulator and the independent monitor.

The workflow, stage by stage

Eight stages from enumeration to lender sign-off. Each hands work to the next, and the approval gates sit across the chain as checkpoints that cannot be skipped.

01
Enumeration
Data collectorField app
PAP census and asset inventory captured offline — identity, household, GPS, ID scan, photographs, crops, land, structures, trees.
Read: Getting the baseline right
02
Quality assurance
QA officerDashboard
Completeness and consistency checks, duplicate resolution, reference-format enforcement. Records are queried back or approved.
↳ Gate 1 — Post-Data Validation
03
Specialist review
Valuer · Sociologist · EnvironmentalBoth
Valuation at full replacement cost, socio-economic survey, vulnerability screening, consent verification, environmental baseline.
↳ Gate 2 — Specialist Analysis
Read: The valuation rule projects get wrong most often
04
Spatial reconciliation
GIS analystDashboard
Survey ingest, feature-to-PAP matching, discrepancy resolution against captured GPS, PAP polygons with revision history, strip maps.
↳ Gate 2 — Specialist Analysis
05
ESIA / RAP authoring
ESIA / RAP analystDashboard
Specialist outputs consolidated into the draft ESIA and RAP, with traceability links across screenings, commitments, engagements and payments.
↳ Gates 3–4
Read: Sequencing ESIA and RAP
06
Project management
Project managerDashboard
Gate progression, team assignment, entitlements, payment batches, tranche readiness, conflict arbitration.
↳ Gates 1–4
Read: The payment evidence gap
07
Monitoring & evaluation
M&E specialistDashboard
KPI tracking, data validation, annual monitoring report, socio-economic reporting, RAP closure.
Read: Indicators that survive audit
08
Client & oversight
Client · Lender · Regulator · Independent monitorDashboard
External review and final approval. Tranche readiness gates disbursement; the regulator tracks No-Objection readiness.
↳ Gate 5 — Final Approval
Read: Evidencing compliance you cannot reconstruct

The five approval gates

Created automatically for every project. Each gate names who approves it and what must be evidenced before it passes — so "we completed the specialist analysis" is a checklist with names against it, not a claim in a status report.

GATE 1

Post-Data Validation

Confirm data quality and completeness after field collection and QA.

Approvers: QA Officer · Project Manager

Clean validated dataset
Verified PAP database
Geospatial data confirmed
Error logs reviewed
QA report issued

GATE 2

Specialist Analysis

Validate social, environmental, GIS and valuation outputs.

Approvers: Project Manager · Sociologist · Environmental Specialist · Valuer · GIS Analyst

Social Baseline Report
Environmental Baseline Report
Impact Assessment Matrix
Strip Maps (GIS)
Asset Register

GATE 3

Pre-ESIA Draft

Ensure all datasets are complete and aligned before report preparation.

Approvers: Project Manager · ESIA/RAP Analyst

Consolidated datasets finalized
Report-ready data confirmed
All specialist inputs received

GATE 4

Pre-Final Submission

Confirm technical quality and compliance of draft reports.

Approvers: Project Manager · ESIA/RAP Analyst

Draft ESIA completed
Draft RAP completed
Internal review sign-off
Compliance checklist passed

GATE 5

Final Approval

External review for compliance with donor and regulatory standards.

Approvers: Client · Financier

Final ESIA Report approved
Final RAP Report approved
Regulatory approval number issued
Conditions / feedback addressed

What the system covers

Each module exists to evidence a specific requirement. The standard it answers to is named against it, because at completion audit that is the question being asked.

PAP register

PS-5 / ESS-5

The central record. Individuals or organisations — SACCOs, cooperatives, churches, schools — run the identical valuation and payment pipeline. Seven lifecycle states, two independent review tracks (social and valuation) so a record can clear one and be queried on the other.

Read: What a RAP is

Valuation & rates

PS-5 §27

Versioned rates for crops, structures, land and district overrides, with a decision log behind every change. Assets without rates surface as a queue rather than a silent gap. Market rate references and a publication gate before disclosure.

Read: Full replacement cost

Entitlement matrix

PS-5 / ESS-5

Rule-driven mapping of loss type and tenure to compensation package, so eligibility is applied consistently instead of case by case. Disbursement contributors handle split entitlements.

Read: Eligibility and entitlements

Grievance redress

ESS-10 / OP 4.12

Four-level committee escalation — village, sub-county, district, national. Thirteen categories with GBV/SEA/VAC first-class and its own confidentiality handling. Seven intake channels including the mobile app. Acknowledgement runs against a 72-hour SLA that raises an alert and generates a task on breach.

Read: A GRM a lender will accept

Stakeholder engagement

ESS-10

Engagement log, SEP plans through a draft → review → active lifecycle, disclosure register and stakeholder map. The disclosure register is the evidence trail auditors ask for first.

Read: Disclosing the cut-off date

Livelihood restoration

PS-5 §28

Livelihood plans, activities and monitoring surveys — the part of a RAP that runs long after the payment clears, and the part completion audits most often find undocumented.

Read: The part that outlives the payment

Cultural heritage

PS-8 / ESS-8

Cultural asset register and a chance-find procedure that can be triggered from the field app at the moment of discovery, with a Cultural Heritage Management Plan among the ten safeguard plans.

Read: Graves, shrines and chance finds

Payments & tranches

PS-5

Entitlement to payment reconciliation with bank and mobile-money destinations recorded for the disbursement audit trail. Tranche readiness is what a lender checks before releasing the next disbursement.

Read: Reconciling payments

Geospatial

PS-5

Survey upload, feature matching, discrepancy resolution against field GPS, and PAP polygons with full revision history — so a boundary that changed can be shown to have changed, by whom and when.

Read: Linear project resettlement

Monitoring & audit

ESS-5 external monitoring

Internal M&E plus a distinct independent monitor role, as ESS-5 requires on major RAPs. The audit log is readable by lender, government and independent monitor — reviewers spot-check who approved what before signing off.

Read: The completion audit

Common questions

Does SmartLARMS work offline?

Yes. Field capture runs on a dedicated Android and iOS app with a local database, so enumerators register PAPs, record assets, capture GPS and photographs, and log grievances with no connectivity at all. Records carry a sync state and upload when the device is back on a network. A census in an area without coverage is the normal case, not an edge case.

Which standards does it support?

The information architecture is organised around the standards rather than internal modules: IFC Performance Standard 5 and World Bank ESS-5 for land acquisition and resettlement, ESS-10 for stakeholder engagement and grievance redress, ESS-8 and PS-8 for cultural heritage, and ESS-3/6 for environmental management. The grievance model is built to World Bank OP 4.12 and ESS-10. For Uganda it also covers the Land Acquisition Act and Chief Government Valuer review toward No-Objection.

What are the approval gates?

Five sequential gates are created automatically for every project: Post-Data Validation, Specialist Analysis, Pre-ESIA Draft, Pre-Final Submission and Final Approval. Each names its approver roles and the outputs that must be evidenced before it passes. The final gate is approved by the client and the financier, so the lender's sign-off is part of the record rather than an email thread.

Can a lender or regulator have their own access?

Yes. Client, financier, government agency and independent monitor are distinct roles with their own views — published reports, tranche readiness, compliance status, No-Objection readiness and the audit log. External reviewers see evidence without being given operational access to the register.

How are grievances handled?

Grievances are logged from seven channels including the field app, classified across thirteen categories, and escalated through a four-level committee structure from village to national. GBV/SEA/VAC is a first-class category with separate confidentiality handling. Acknowledgement is tracked against a 72-hour SLA, and a breach raises an alert and generates a task automatically.

Is it suitable for linear projects like transmission lines and roads?

Yes. Geospatial ingest, PAP polygons with revision history and strip-map export are built for corridor projects where the affected population is spread across many districts with different rate schedules. District rate overrides exist for exactly this case.