Why does a cut-off date need its own register, separate from the census?

Because eligibility disputes are almost never won or lost on whether a cut-off date existed. They turn on whether the project can prove a specific household knew about it, through a specific channel, on a specific date. The census records who was found; this register records what was disclosed, to whom, how and when — the evidence a later dispute actually tests.

Can one project have more than one cut-off date?

Yes, and pretending otherwise is a common design error. A corridor project surveyed over months needs a cut-off per section, tied to when that section was actually surveyed. A project that adds scope later — an interchange, a realignment — needs a second cut-off for the population the original one never covered, because those households could not have appeared in a census taken before their land was included.

What makes a cut-off date defensible in a dispute?

Three records: the decision itself, dated and attributable; the disclosure record showing what channel, language and audience were used; and the enumeration record showing who was captured before the date, with enough identifying detail that a later claimant can be tested against it. Where those exist, an exclusion decision can be explained to a complainant and evidenced to an auditor. Where they do not, the project's position is an assertion.

Is a signed community attestation stronger evidence than a project notice?

Generally yes. A cut-off attested only by the project is evidence that the project announced something. A cut-off validated and signed by the affected community itself — village leadership, a resettlement committee, the affected people — means a later claimant is arguing against their own neighbours' record, not only against the project's. Rusumo Falls' resettlement plan used exactly this design: the cut-off was the date of each community's own validation meeting, signed by the people present.

What happens if disclosure is proven inadequate?

Where a project cannot evidence that notice reached a household, its position in refusing that household's later claim is weak, and the standard's own guidance treats the equitable answer as usually being to compensate. This is why the register exists before the dispute, not as a reconstruction exercise after one arises.

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Cut-off Date Disclosure Register Template — IFC PS-5 / ESS-5

A free register template for evidencing a resettlement cut-off date — 13 fields covering the method, channel, language, attestation and re-disclosure that eligibility disputes actually turn on.

13 fields · response type · why it matters at audit

The register that decides most disputes before they're filed

Almost every eligibility dispute in this field reduces to the same question: can the project prove what the cut-off date was, and prove the affected person knew it? A claim about a wayleave in Uganda's Court of Appeal turned on exactly that question and was lost because the underlying record could not answer it — not because the cut-off itself was wrong, but because nobody could evidence that a specific claimant had been told.

This is not a documentation nicety. It is the difference between an exclusion decision that survives a grievance and one that does not, and it is one of the cheapest controls available on a resettlement programme relative to what a contested cut-off costs to unwind later.

Attribute it to the community, not just the project

The strongest version of this register does not merely record that the project announced a date. It records who else attests to it. Where a cut-off is fixed at the date of a community self-validation meeting, and the resulting list is signed by village leadership and the resettlement committee alongside the affected people themselves, a later claimant is arguing against a document their own neighbours signed — which is a materially harder claim to run than one made against a project's own paperwork, and a fairer one to test.

Staggered dates are a feature, not an error

A corridor project surveyed section by section over months does not have one true cut-off date — it has one per section, and treating them as a single project-wide constant will silently misapply the wrong date to at least one group. The same applies where a design change adds scope after the original survey: the new population needs its own cut-off, tied to the notice that actually covers them, not folded into a date that predates their inclusion in the project at all. This register is built to hold as many rows as the project has sections and revisions — one register, many dates, each one dated, sourced and attested on its own terms.

Questions

Why does a cut-off date need its own register, separate from the census?: Because eligibility disputes are almost never won or lost on whether a cut-off date existed. They turn on whether the project can prove a specific household knew about it, through a specific channel, on a specific date. The census records who was found; this register records what was disclosed, to whom, how and when — the evidence a later dispute actually tests.
Can one project have more than one cut-off date?: Yes, and pretending otherwise is a common design error. A corridor project surveyed over months needs a cut-off per section, tied to when that section was actually surveyed. A project that adds scope later — an interchange, a realignment — needs a second cut-off for the population the original one never covered, because those households could not have appeared in a census taken before their land was included.
What makes a cut-off date defensible in a dispute?: Three records: the decision itself, dated and attributable; the disclosure record showing what channel, language and audience were used; and the enumeration record showing who was captured before the date, with enough identifying detail that a later claimant can be tested against it. Where those exist, an exclusion decision can be explained to a complainant and evidenced to an auditor. Where they do not, the project's position is an assertion.
Is a signed community attestation stronger evidence than a project notice?: Generally yes. A cut-off attested only by the project is evidence that the project announced something. A cut-off validated and signed by the affected community itself — village leadership, a resettlement committee, the affected people — means a later claimant is arguing against their own neighbours' record, not only against the project's. Rusumo Falls' resettlement plan used exactly this design: the cut-off was the date of each community's own validation meeting, signed by the people present.
What happens if disclosure is proven inadequate?: Where a project cannot evidence that notice reached a household, its position in refusing that household's later claim is weak, and the standard's own guidance treats the equitable answer as usually being to compensate. This is why the register exists before the dispute, not as a reconstruction exercise after one arises.

Read before you use it

Practical guides

Technical research

Cut-off dates and opportunistic in-migration: eligibility, disclosure and defensibility

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The software behind this

SmartLARMS keeps this as a live record, not a spreadsheet

A template is a starting point. The version that survives a completion audit is one where every change is attributed to a person and a date, and where the numbers reconcile to what was actually paid.

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