Author: Amrit Bhandari
Kenya Justice Project Featured Twice in Blogosphere
On June 20th, the One Campaign posted a blog about USAID’s Kenya Justice Project. The TrustLaw blog of Thompson Reuters also picked up the story.
This innovative project works with local traditional authorities to increase understanding of the contributions women make to their community. This awareness effort is combined with discussions of the gender equality provisions of the Kenyan Constitution. Under the new (2010) Constitution elders and local leaders have increased responsibility for protecting and enforcing constitutional rights, including women’s rights to use and control property – something that customary legal systems do not always do. As a result of these conversations and, no doubt, other factors, elders in Ol Posimoru Kenya have drafted a new local constitution (a “katiba’) that agrees to protect women’s property rights. This is a small step forward but may set the stage for further improvements for women in Kenya.
Addressing Tenure Issues at Rio+20
The heads of four Rome-based agencies write about the opportunities to align food security initiatives and sustainable development as part of the Rio+20 agenda in a recent post to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs blog, Global Food For Thought. The article mentions the importance of strong tenure systems and notes that countries can use the Voluntary Guidelines for reference in drafting land and other resource administration laws.
NYT Op-ed Cites Land Rights As a Key Element to Growth in Myanmar
In a recent New York Times op-ed Roy Prosterman and Darryl Vhugen of the U.S. NGO Landesa highlight some of what Myanmar’s government will need to do to promote sustainable growth in the country. It certainly needs to attract investment and at first blush things look very encouraging: a variety of investors are interested in a number of projects – particularly building out infrastructure. But the article points out that other infrastructure – the intangible, institutional infrastructure that supports a rule of law and protects rights, including property rights and rights to trade – also needs attending to.
Specifically, they point to the need to secure land rights for Myanmar’s people to protect against uncompensated takings and to encourage investment. As we’ve learned around the world, secure land rights create positive incentives to invest capital and labor in land and so help improve productivity while also encouraging the kind of “alertness” to profitable opportunities that motivates entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, as Prosterman and Vhugen point out, the current legal and policy environment is already falling short and proposed new laws threaten to make the situation even worse.
Weak rights may create short-term gains for some, but recognizing and formalizing the land rights of Myanmar’s women and men will help build the kind of institutional infrastructure that sustains growth over the long-term.
USAID and State Department shine spotlight on development to prevent ‘conflict diamonds’
Last week, the United States hosted the 2012 Intercessional meetings of the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS). The KPCS is a voluntary process that diamond producing and diamond buying countries agree to, in order to prevent ‘conflict diamonds’ from entering the market. Ambassador Milovanovic and the State Department serve as the chair for activities this year; however, USAID is playing a role due to the increasing emphasis on development as a critical component to successful implementation of the KPCS.
Through implementation of the Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD) Project, USAID has found that one of the most effective ways to address mineral conflict is to support economic development in the communities where these diamonds are produced, thereby reducing the dependence on small-scale mining and the potential for diamonds being used to purchase weapons. Despite clear linkages, such as those demonstrated by PRADD, development has not been at the forefront of efforts to support countries with their implementation of the Kimberley Process.
For this reason, USAID, the World Bank and the Diamond Development Initiative (an international NGO) convened a conference titled, Enhancing the Development Potential of Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining. Hosting this conference immediately after official Kimberley Process meetings allowed government officials from diamond-producing countries, diamond industry companies, non-governmental organizations, and donor agencies the opportunity to discuss development models for addressing challenges facing artisanal miners.
USAID Bureau of Economic Growth, Education and the Environment Assistant Administrator Eric Postel opened the conference with these remarks, “USAID hopes this conference can further demonstrate the need to integrate development efforts within the Kimberley Process framework. Without improved governance and economic development, miners have limited incentive to operate within the rules of the Kimberley Process.”
Artisanal miners are the poorest of the poor, even though they produce some of the finest diamonds sold in the developed world. An estimated 20 million people rely on this work for their livelihoods with an additional 100 million reliant upon related services, yet artisanal and small-scale mining communities have little or no access to quality health care, basic education, and credit and financing. Conference sessions and many of the hallway conversations centered on the lessons learned and best practices to these socioeconomic issues, along with environmental concerns.
Sharing conference participants’ understanding of the wide range of challenges and possible solutions was the goal of the conference. Postel summed this up by commenting, “USAID hopes these lessons learned and best practices are shared and can serve as a basis for enhanced development of the artisanal mining sector and compliance with the Kimberley Process.”
Voluntary Guidelines
The Voluntary Guidelines for the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security is an internationally negotiated document by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) under the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO). The negotiations, chaired by the United States, occurred over a nine month period and involved 96 member countries and over 30 civil society organizations. The document was adopted by the CFS in May 2012; attention will now shift to implementation of the guidelines.
National policies and customs on tenure vary widely from country to country, even between countries in the same region. The Voluntary Guidelines provide a framework for countries to use in the establishment of laws and policies, strategies, and programs which clarify and secure tenure rights. It accommodates for many differing viewpoints on ‘Best Practices’ and introduces a broad range of structures that can be relevant in all parts of the world.
The final (adopted) draft of the Voluntary Guidelines is now available from the FAO website in the following languages:
Released May 2012: Voluntary Guidelines At A Glance (PDF, 234kb)
Diamants, Développement et Droits de Propriété (24 Minute Video, French)
En dépit de la valeur des minéraux qu’ils collectent, les artisans miniers (du diamant) et leurs communautés vivent dans une pauvreté accablante. Le projet Droits de Propriété et Développement du Diamant Artisanal (DPDDA) est un projet-pilote financé par l’USAID destiné à améliorer le niveau de vie des artisans miniers et de leurs communautés en développant des méthodes assurant un droit à la terre et aux ressources clair, sécurisé et publiquement reconnu. La méthodologie développée par le projet DPDDA aide les artisans miniers à affirmer leurs droits de propriété coutumiers, en leur fournissant des mesures de protection jusque-là inexistantes. Elle leur permet par ailleurs de se conformer au processus de Kimberley, traité visant à tracer l’origine du diamant pour s’assurer qu’il n’a pas servi à financer la violence. Diamants, Développement et Droits de Propriété décrit les problêmes rencontrés par les mineurs de diamants exploitant les diamants alluviaux en République Centrafricaine, ainsi que les obstacles à l’affirmation des droits de proprété au niveau populaire. La Vidéo guide le spectateur à travers les étapes développées par DPDDA pour traduire les droits coutumiers en droits statutaires en République Centrafricaine. Le processus allie des techniques de développement pour identifier, organiser et motiver les mineurs, aux appareils GPS permettant de localiser précisement les déclarations minières.
Plus Qu’une Feuille De Papier (31 Minute Video, French)
En dépit de la valeur des minéraux qu’ils collectent, les artisans miniers (du diamant) et leurs communautés vivent dans une pauvreté accablante.
Le projet Droits de Propriété et Développement du Diamant Artisanal (DPDDA) est un projet-pilote financé par l’USAID destiné à améliorer le niveau de vie des artisans miniers et de leurs communautés en développant des méthodes assurant un droit à la terre et aux ressources clair, sécurisé et publiquement reconnu. La méthodologie développée par le projet DPDDA aide les artisans miniers à affirmer leurs droits de propriété coutumiers, en leur fournissant des mesures de protection jusque-là inexistantes. Elle leur permet par ailleurs de se conformer au processus de Kimberley, traité visant à tracer l’origine du diamant pour s’assurer qu’il n’a pas servi à financer la violence.
Plus Qu’une Feuille de Papier décrit dans le détail les 8 étapes du processus DPDDA visant à faire valoir les droits de propriété coutumiers au sein des lois statutaires nationales. Le processus DPDDA aide les artisans miniers à revendiquer leur droits de propriété coutumiers, afin qu’ils soient un jour légalisés par le gouvernement, facilitant ainsi la traçabilité des diamants en conformité avec le processus de Kimberley.
Diamonds, Development, and Property Rights (24 minute video)
This video details the problems faced by diamond miners working with alluvial diamonds in the Central African Republic, and the challenges of affirming property rights at the grass roots level. The video briefly summarizes the 8-step process PRADD developed to translate customary rights into statutory rights. The process combines community development techniques to identify, organize, and motivate miners with GPS devices to precisely locate the mining claims.
About This Video
The Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development Project (PRADD) is a USAID-funded pilot program designed to improve the lives of diamond miners and their communities by developing methods to achieve clear, secure, and publicly acknowledged rights to land and resources. The methodology developed by PRADD helps miners to affirm their customary property rights claims, providing them a measure of protection they never had before. It also offers a way to improve compliance with the Kimberley Process, which was developed to trace a diamond’s origin to ensure that it was not used to fund violence. Two videos were made to show government officials, professionals working with the Kimberley Process and others involved in Land Tenure and Property Rights how the process works.
For further information, contact Gregory Myers or Michael Roth at ARD
The U.S. Remains Committed to Protecting the Land Rights of People Around the World
PRESS RELEASE, October 19, 2011
ROME – The United States government commends the United Nations Committee on Food Security (CFS) for the extraordinary work that it has done on the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Lands, Fisheries and Forests, achieving consensus on approximately seventy percent of the document during the July and October negotiations.
The U.S. government has dedicated substantial resources to the negotiation process and remains committed to completing Guidelines that will provide safeguards that protect the property rights of the vulnerable and marginalized, including indigenous people and women. The United States has been pleased to Chair these CFS-led Intergovernmental negotiations.
These Guidelines will establish an international framework to improve land governance, which will strengthen property rights, support transparent procedures for land allocation, and promote accessibility and accountability of land administration agencies.
Recent reports like the World Bank’s Rising Global Interest in Farmland, and Oxfam’s Land and Power, and stories in the press shed light on the phenomenon of large-scale land acquisitions, which are sometimes referred to as ‘land grabbing’, particularly in Africa. We recognize the concerns with some of the land investments that have taken place in recent years.
“We believe that weak land governance is at the heart of the ‘land grabbing’ phenomenon and that improving land governance is central to addressing it,” said Ertharin Cousin, the United States Representative to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organizations in Rome.
The U.S. government recognizes the need to ensure that safeguards are in place as investment in agriculture is necessarily expanded in order to meet the Millennium Development Goals and increase food security. These Guidelines will help governments attract responsible investment and put in place strong governance systems to prevent ‘land grabbing’. The Guidelines create a framework that will encourage small-holders to invest in their own farms and move towards food security.
Around the world, the U.S. government is actively supporting improvements in land governance that strengthen the property rights of local people and communities, and improve the capacity of land administration agencies to provide necessary services.
The U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has committed over $250m in funding for land governance projects in 11 partner countries, and USAID in the past three years has funded $200m in land tenure programming in 30 countries around the world. Both anticipate making increased investments in this area over the coming years.
These programs are already working on the ground to put in place the principles of responsible land governance that are at the heart of the Voluntary Guidelines.
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Contact:
Michelle Los Banos-Jardina, Public Affairs Officer
Tel: +39-06-4674-3521, Cell: +39-335-549-1567
E-mail: losbanos-jardinamg@state.gov
Ann Wise, Public Affairs Program Assistant
Tel: +39-06-4674-3538, Cell: +39-334-654-6387
E-mail: wiseag@state.gov