Entitlement matrix template
The table at the centre of every Resettlement Action Plan: who loses what, who is eligible, what they receive, how it was valued and when it arrives. This one covers 15 loss categories with eligibility split by tenure, the valuation basis for each, and the IFC PS-5 and World Bank ESS-5 provision behind every row.
Written against the standards, not a national schedule — reconcile the crop and tree rates against your own gazetted rates before use.
What an entitlement matrix has to contain
A reviewer reads the matrix before anything else in the RAP, because it is the only place eligibility and adequacy can be tested together. Seven columns carry that weight. Matrices are sent back for revision most often because two of them are missing.
| Column | Why it is there |
|---|---|
| Loss / impact category | One row per distinct way the project takes something. Aggregated rows (“loss of property”) cannot be audited. |
| Eligible person | Who receives it — which is not always the landowner. Crops go to whoever cultivates them. |
| Tenure or legal status | The column that decides land compensation, and the only one tenure should affect. |
| Entitlement | What is actually delivered, in kind or in cash, stated precisely enough to be checkable. |
| Basis of valuation | How the number was reached. Omitting this is the most common reason a matrix is returned. |
| Responsible party | Named role, not “the project”. Unassigned entitlements are the ones that go undelivered. |
| Timing | Compensation must be complete before displacement. A matrix with no timing cannot evidence that. |
Eligibility does not depend on title
This is the part of PS-5 most often got wrong, and it is worth stating plainly because it changes who belongs in the matrix. There are three classes of affected person, and all three have entitlements:
- 1
Formal legal rights. Registered title or a recognised leasehold. Compensated for land and everything on it.
- 2
Recognisable claim, no document. Customary occupation, inherited use, or a claim national law would recognise if pursued. Compensated for land, plus help formalising tenure at the replacement site.
- 3
No recognisable claim. Present before the cut-off date with no claim to the land itself. No land compensation — but full replacement cost for structures and improvements, and resettlement assistance sufficient to meet the objectives of the standard.
Tenure changes one thing: whether the land itself is compensated. Structures, crops, trees, businesses and assistance do not turn on it. A matrix that withholds structure compensation from an untitled occupant is not a stricter matrix — it is a non-compliant one.
Five things that get a matrix sent back
Depreciation deducted from structures
Full replacement cost means the cost to rebuild today, with no deduction for the age of what was lost and none for materials the household salvages. Depreciated structure valuations are the single most frequent finding in lender reviews.
Tenants and employees missing entirely
Censuses interview owners, so renters and the people employed by an affected business get missed at source and never reach the matrix. Both have entitlements under PS-5 and both surface later as grievances.
No cut-off date, or one never disclosed
Eligibility hinges on presence before a cut-off date. If the date was never fixed, or was fixed but never publicly disclosed in a form affected people could act on, the eligibility determination behind every row is contestable.
Fixed transitional allowances that expire early
A three-month subsistence allowance meets the letter of the requirement and fails the objective when livelihoods have not recovered by month four. Monitoring data has to be able to extend it.
Vulnerability named but never screened
Matrices routinely include a vulnerable-household row without defining the criteria or evidencing that every household was screened against them. The row then proves nothing at completion audit.
Questions
What is an entitlement matrix?
An entitlement matrix is the table at the centre of a Resettlement Action Plan. It sets out, for every category of loss a project causes, who is eligible, what they receive, how it is valued, who is responsible and when it is delivered. It is the document a lender's safeguards reviewer reads first, because it is where eligibility and adequacy can be checked in one place.
What columns does an entitlement matrix need?
At minimum: loss category, eligible person, tenure or legal status, the entitlement itself, the basis of valuation, the responsible party and the timing. Matrices that omit the valuation basis or the timing are routinely returned for revision, because without them a reviewer cannot test whether compensation reaches full replacement cost or arrives before displacement.
Do people without land title get compensated?
Yes. Under IFC PS-5 and World Bank ESS-5, lack of formal title is not a bar to assistance. People with formal rights, people with recognisable customary or undocumented claims, and people with no recognisable claim who occupied the land before the cut-off date all have entitlements. Only the entitlement to land compensation itself varies by tenure — compensation for structures, crops and resettlement assistance does not.
What is full replacement cost?
The cost of replacing an asset with an equivalent one at current prices, including transaction costs such as transfer fees and titling, with no deduction for depreciation and no deduction for the salvage value of materials the affected person keeps. Deducting depreciation from a structure valuation is the most common finding in lender reviews of a completed RAP.
Is this template specific to a country?
No. It is built against IFC Performance Standard 5 and World Bank ESS-5, which apply wherever those lenders finance a project. National law usually sets gazetted rates for crops and trees and the procedure for land acquisition, so the matrix has to be reconciled against both — where they differ, the standard requiring the higher outcome for the affected person applies.
A spreadsheet is where this starts, not where it should end
The matrix is one table. The audit needs it joined to the PAP register, the valuations behind each figure, the payments actually made against each entitlement, and the grievances raised about them — each change attributed and time-stamped. SmartLARMS holds that whole chain, so a completion audit is evidenced rather than reconstructed.
Questions about the template? olules@smartlarms.com