Author: Neil Sorensen

A President’s Promise

Posted on by Neil Sorensen

By Land and Rural Development Program in Colombia

President Iván Duque signs statement of commitment to deliver land titles following the USAID-supported Massive Land Formalization Pilot.

The Final Step

The President of Colombia, Iván Duque, and Mark Green, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), met and signed a joint statement of support for the Massive Land Formalization Pilot, which is nearing completion in the municipality of Ovejas, Sucre.

The Ovejas Land Formalization and Multipurpose Cadaster Pilot is an unprecedented undertaking in Colombia that reduces the overall costs of land administration by streamlining the collection and processing of land tenure and cadastral information while also providing government land agencies with comprehensive and reliable land data.

“When this government took over, less than 20% of the country had an updated cadaster. With USAID’s support and new public policy, the goal is to update the cadaster for 60% of the country by 2022, and try to reach 100% by 2024. The Ovejas Pilot in Ovejas is proof that land titling, property, financial inclusion and agriculture strengthening programs can be a reality.”

-Iván Duque, President of Colombia

Property Rights

In the signed joint statement, the Government of Colombia commits its support to bring the USAID-supported activity to completion, setting the stage for the government to continuing building on the simplification and expansion of land titling and cadaster to improve land administration in Colombia.

The Ovejas Pilot is facilitating property rights to around 2,900 campesinos, more than half of whom are rural women while simultaneously updating the cadaster information for 5,600 land parcels.

In Ovejas, six out of every 10 parcels lack property titles, creating serious impediments to a thriving environment for sustainable and inclusive rural development. The Ovejas Pilot addresses 100% of the municipality’s land informality, uses conflict resolution mechanisms, and places emphasis on women’s property rights.

“Formalizing land rights will mitigate a key driver of conflict in the countryside, and create new economic opportunity and improve quality of life for the rural population. This is an historic achievement, and I am proud of USAID’s involvement to help pilot the program; one that can be scaled throughout Colombia. It is an example of what we can accomplish together.”

-Mark Green, Administrator of USAID

 

 

What’s in a Title?

Posted on by Neil Sorensen

By Land and Rural Development Program in Colombia

Discussions about land tenure in development aid often end up like this: a question mark whether land titles are enough to alleviate poverty. Property titles—people tend to argue—provide landowners with an asset, which can be used as collateral to access credit and create capital to improve productivity and adopt new technologies. But are they enough to lift families out of poverty?

Experts say land titles strengthen the bond between farmers and land and create incentives to invest more in their patrimony, including their children’s future. Study after study demonstrates improvement in the factors that contribute to poverty, from reduced child labor to higher spending on education and food.

These studies are hard to dismiss, but the road to prosperity has many detours, especially for women.

In rural agriculture, ensuring land tenure for women is of particular relevance, especially where women are the main breadwinners or where antiquated land policies undermine women’s rights. The truth is that without investments in infrastructure, robust policies, and economic opportunities, a land title is little more than a small step up a big mountain.

Colombia is no stranger to the issues of land informality. A five-decade conflict often revolved around access to and the acquisition of land, and six of every 10 land parcels is informally owned. Indeed, the inequity and poverty born from the conflict led to land reform schemes that sought to go beyond “just a land title.”

For example, during several years, Colombia’s former land authority, INCODER, doled out more than 1,000 land tracts— each one known as a parcelación—to some 28,000 families. Each parcelación groups 20-plus families together and requires them to work together through a farmers’ association. The catch: they must manage their land under one land title. As one might expect, the attempt to ensure land tenure and create economic success fell short on both fronts. 

 

 

Transforming Land Rights Management in Tanzania

Posted on by Neil Sorensen

In Tanzania, smallholder land registrations are critical to protecting local land rights. However, since passing the Village Act in 1999 to provide for the management of village lands, the process of registration has moved slowly due to limited operational capacity. To bring the law into full effect, procedures for registration and administration need to be low-cost, simple, and equitable. In addition, the land registration system must support future transactions and allow registers to be maintained at village and district levels.

Under the Land Tenure Assistance (LTA) activity, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), DAI is modifying an existing tool for mapping smallholdings and detailing ownership claims—the Mobile Application to Secure Tenure (MAST)—which USAID first piloted in Tanzania. This tool will be linked to a low-cost land registry tool, the Technical Register Under Social Tenure (TRUST), which DAI is developing at the district level and plans to scale up to other areas of the country. The outcome is a low-cost, participatory land registration process that is transforming the way land rights are managed in Tanzania, with the potential for adaptation elsewhere.

Read the full story

 

What’s new with MAST?

Posted on by Neil Sorensen

USAID’s Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST) initiative started small. Launched in 2014 in three pilot villages, the initial goal was to test a simple but powerful idea: with some training and support, could underserved communities use mobile phone mapping technology and participatory approaches to document and secure their land rights? Five years and four countries later, that initial idea has grown into a powerful suite of tools and programs that are achieving remarkable results, from women’s economic empowerment in Tanzania to forest conservation in Liberia.

Here are the latest updates on MAST from around the globe.

Land Certification and Access to Credit in Tanzania

In Tanzania, USAID’s Land Tenure Assistance (LTA) program has now used MAST to map and document almost 63,000 land parcels. With their property rights secure, people – particularly women – are more empowered in the economy.  “The certificates issued by LTA have paved the way for rural Tanzanians to improve their farms and start small businesses by leveraging their land to access credit. The project is working with local banks to encourage the acceptance of certificates as collateral and with villages to raise awareness of the new loan opportunities. Farmers have already begun using their land-backed loans to purchase fertilizer, high-quality seeds, tractors, and other agricultural inputs to raise their productivity and their incomes.” LEARN MORE.

Supporting Community Forest Management in Liberia

Liberia depends on its forests. The forestry sector contributes 10 percent of the country’s GDP. One in three rural Liberians (1.5 million people) live in forested areas and rely on forests for a significant source of their livelihoods. Under a new pilot program, USAID/Liberia is using MAST to help communities define, map, record, and document their resources to enhance biodiversity conservation while improving community forest management. MAST provides a participatory framework and flexible tools that empower citizens in the process of documenting and managing their forest resources. The end result is clearer, stronger rights and greater incentives to invest and conserve resources.

New Results and Data Visualizations

As MAST’s implementation has grown in scale, so has the volume of data amount its impacts. Check out the latest data visualizations on key findings related to reductions in the time and cost to register land, as well as improvements in women’s economic empowerment. For example, MAST allows citizens to map and document their land and resources in less time than traditional land administration methods. MAST leverages innovative methods and tools to engage citizens in inclusive approaches that increase efficiencies over time. In Zambia, the time from land demarcation to certification decreased from 550 to 100 days during the course of MAST implementation. In Tanzania, MAST reduced the cost of registering land from $40 per parcels to under $8 dollars. LEARN MORE.

Want to learn more about MAST? Visit the MAST Learning Platform at:
www.Land-Links.org/MAST.

Titling Priorities

Posted on by Neil Sorensen

By Land and Rural Development Program in Colombia

Maritza Losada moved to Puerto Guadalupe, Meta five years ago when her husband found a job with a large biomass energy company that grows sugar cane. She and her husband purchased a lot in the town’s poorest neighborhood, Barrio Nuevo. The district remains today much like it was in 1995 when the government created the housing project for future agro-laborers: no roads, no sewage, no gutters.

The town sits on banks of the Meta River, which flows into the Orinoco River, and allows farmers and agro-industrialists to transport their goods over hundreds of miles across the eastern plains of Colombia. Nevertheless, this river and the rainy season turn Maritza’s neighborhood into a muddy bog. Every year, the neighbors lay down stones and boards to build walkways to maneuver about their homes.

Over time, they have erected makeshift electric posts and wires to gain access to light and electricity. Maritza’s house too has slowly evolved, from a canvassed shack to a more durable, yet uninsulated, structure with a zinc roof and walls. Inside, there are no dividing walls or rooms; in one corner sleeps her two children, in the other she and her husband. She is currently expecting her fourth child.

With a reliable income and work benefits, under the law, her husband could access money deposited in his retirement pension for certain objectives, including for home improvements. There is only one problem the couple never processed the paperwork for a registered land title for their property. With no registered property title, Maritza and her family cannot access this nor any other government subsidy.

 

 

Romancing the Cacao

Posted on by Neil Sorensen

By Land and Rural Development Program in Colombia

When Colombia held Chocoshow, its first national cacao trade show, at the end of 2018, growers readied their finest cacaos to compete for recognition and fame on the nation’s stage. A victory for any lot of high-grade cacao would be a welcome boost to a sector constantly struggling with price fluctuations.

Meta-based cacao growers’ association Asopcari was prepared. After two years of fundamental changes in how its producers harvest and process cacao, the association came to Chocoshow with high hopes. In the end, it walked away with one gold and one silver medal, a triumphant showing for a group of 90-plus growers scattered about the Ariari river valley.

The growers have not always been great at production, Lopez admits, but it is not for lack of trying. The history of cacao in Meta is one of success and tragedy. By the mid-eighties, cacao was a cash crop for thousands of farmers, and annual production peaked at 5,000 tons. By 2000, illicit crops had essentially gutted Meta’s cacao future, destroying more than 7.5 million trees and leaving families in a far more vulnerable state.

In 2000, Asopcari was created and started with 300 hectares of quality cacao clones. In 2004, Meta cacaoteros produced a meager 400 tons of cacao. For Asopcari and others, it was going to be an uphill battle. Since then, the efforts to recuperate cacao cultivation in Meta have been slow. For more than a decade, much of Meta was off limits due to conflict, the drug trade, and an overwhelming distrust of anyone and everyone, making it especially difficult to establish sustainable marketing channels.

To make matters worse, the government delivered little necessary technical assistance to improve growing and harvesting techniques. Farmers soon lost track of which trees were improved varieties and bundled all cacao together, regardless of origin or type.

 

 

Her Land Rights

Posted on by Neil Sorensen

By USAID PUBLICATIONS

How documented property rights gave a Tanzanian widow financial stability

Asiah Samila is a farmer with five children. She lives in Mlanda, a village located outside Iringa in central Tanzania.

When Asiah’s husband died, their youngest child was just a newborn. He left her with their house and farmland in Mlanda village. However, she did not have a title deed for the property, putting her in a difficult position.

In rural villages like Mlanda, women typically are not involved in family decisions. A woman is seen as a caregiver to children, a homemaker, and someone who is responsible for taking care of the needs of the husband. Few women own land.

Lacking Land Rights

Widowed women face many challenges when they don’t have official paperwork proving ownership of their land. In some cases, a widow’s in-laws may forcefully claim the land, displacing her.

Without documented property rights, widows can’t buy or sell their land, nor can they obtain access to bank loans.

In Asiah’s case, the neighboring school claimed that she was occupying part of their land, and Asiah was unable to show the paperwork needed to defend herself and her right to the property.

But with USAID’s help, Asiah was able to find a solution to the conflict.

Through the Lens

Read the full story

 

 

Promoting Land Tenure and Property Rights in Zambia

Posted on by Neil Sorensen

The majority of land in developing countries is not documented, impacting the ability of millions of households to make long-term investments in their property. Countries where property rights are perceived as insecure are also less attractive for investors and more reliant on donor funding. USAID recognizes that strengthening rights to land and natural resources is central to achieving a broad range of development goals on the journey to self-reliance. Through the Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) program, USAID provides both short  and long term assistance across a range of land and property rights issues including natural resource management, inclusive economic growth, agricultural productivity, and women’s economic empowerment.

Learn more about USAID’s ILRG program in Zambia in the series of short videos below:

Partnerships
Women’s Empowerment
Through partnerships, USAID is building self-sufficient and sustainable organizations to achieve key development goals in Zambia such as food security, conflict mitigation, and improved governance.

“The support that has come from USAID is very critical because it helps COMACO [Community Markets for Conservation] to drive these programs to the communities.”

Women with strong inheritance rights and land in their own name are likely to be more prosperous and have healthier families. In eastern Zambia, USAID is working with traditional leaders and local partners to put women at the center of the land certification process.

“I can plant anything I want to put on my land. I am free because I am confident it is really mine.”

Land and Agriculture
Tradition and Tenure
Without access to recognized and secure property rights, farmers in Zambia face barriers to long term investments in their land. USAID is working with farmers to document their land through low-cost, locally available tools, as well as teaching techniques to improve agricultural productivity.

Customary land tenure traditions in Zambia are not locked in time. Rather, they are adapting to new needs and finding new technologies to help communities. USAID is supporting tradition leaders with low cost processes to document land rights of their people. USAID and its partners have already helped traditional leaders generate more than 15,000 customary land certificates.

 

“Everyone is treated equally because those who plant a half hectare today may be planting 300 tomorrow.”

Posted on by Neil Sorensen

Q&A with Alejandro Zuluaga, executive manager of Almidones de Sucre

By Land and Rural Development Program in Colombia

In 2008, the government created the company Almidones de Sucre in order to stimulate rural development in the Montes de María region and to provide added value to the cassava value chain. For several years, the company worked to build a business culture with cassava growers and increase production. In 2017, with the arrival of USAID support, Almidones benefited from the consolidation of a public-private partnership, which generated the synergy needed in the sector. The commercial manager of Almidones de Sucre, Alejandro Zuluaga, talks about this partnership and the evolution of the industrial cassava sector in Colombia.

 

 

USAID’s MAST Mobile Tech Programs Promote Women’s Empowerment in Tanzania and Zambia

Posted on by Neil Sorensen

By Deborah Espinosa and Patrick Gallagher, USAID’s Land Technology Solutions Program

Persistent and pervasive gender inequality is a global development challenge that constrains economic growth, educational opportunities, and health outcomes. It jeopardizes food security and undermines poverty reduction strategies. The world over, some formal and many informal laws and customs operate to hinder women’s empowerment and thus their full potential as agents of economic and social change.

A woman holding her land certificate in rural Zambia. Photo: Jeremy Green/USAID.

Arguably, in no sector are gender disparities so prevalent and disempowering to women as in the land and property rights sector. For women, documented land rights can confer direct economic benefits and lead to greater autonomy, increased bargaining power within their communities and households, and enhanced resilience. Worldwide evidence suggests that when women enjoy secure rights to land, their control over household income increases.[1]

In much of the world, however, the ownership and control of land is a source of power, prestige, and profit. Not surprisingly then, women’s ownership and control over land is almost always constrained by entrenched traditions and practices that limit women’s participation in public life, even if formal laws recognizing women’s land rights are in place.

Importantly, USAID’s new and innovative tool for documenting land rights has proved impactful in reversing these trends. USAID’s Mobile Application to Secure Tenure (MAST) has worked to reduce gender equality and promote women’s empowerment in communities where it has been implemented. MAST is a suite of easy-to-use tools and methods that help communities efficiently, transparently and affordably map and document their land and resource rights. MAST combines a mobile application with a robust data management platform to capture and manage land information, including names and photographs of people using and occupying land, details about land used, and information regarding an occupant’s claim to the land.

Working with local governments, customary leaders, and civil society organizations, USAID is leveraging MAST to recognize and record both women and men’s rights to rural land, with positive women’s empowerment outcomes in Tanzania and Zambia.

In Tanzania, for example, although Tanzanian women comprise 50 percent of the population and provide 80 percent of total agricultural labor (a sector which employs 77 percent of Tanzanians), country data indicates that only 27 percent of women are landowners.[2] The country ranks 119th (out of 189) on the UNDP’s 2013 Gender Inequality Index. In 2018, Tanzania’s ranking has even fallen since its 2013 ranking of 130th. [3] [4]A key reason cited for Tanzania’s drop in the rankings is the persistence of gender inequalities in access to and control over land and other financial resources, and the additional burden that poverty places on Tanzanian women.[5] Another gender disparity in Tanzania is the low proportion of women in decision-making positions at regional and local government levels.[6]

Figure 1. Gender of MAST beneficiaries by location. In Iringa, Tanzania and Zambia, approximately 45% of MAST beneficiaries are female.

And yet, four years into USAID’s MAST-based Land Tenure Assistance (LTA) Program, almost 45 percent of project beneficiaries receiving land certificates are women (see Figure 1). Similarly, under USAID’s Tenure and Global Climate Change program in Zambia, two civil society organizations, Chipata District Land Alliance (CPLA) and Petauke District Land Alliance (PDLA), used MAST to also register about 45 percent of customary land in the names of women in a country with similar traditional constraints on women.

In both of these countries, MAST’s approach has been critical in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in the land sector. MAST includes on-the-ground trainings, using inclusive and participatory approaches to build capacity of communities to document, manage information about, and understand their land and resource rights. The MAST approach operates transparently, encourages full participation of community members, and increases the understanding of land rights of all beneficiaries, particularly women’s rights.

To hear directly from Zambian women on their experiences obtaining land certificates, see the USAID video, In My Own Name, Empowering Women Through Secure Land Rights.

What Does the Data Say?

Figure 2. Gender of MAST-assisted landowners by their occupancy type and location. Percentages are calculated within each site, and Tanzania data is representative of Iringa region only. Though men dominate the single occupant/landholder types, women are equally represented in the co-occupancy/joint types.

A gender analysis of data on individual versus collective landholdings provides further insight useful for future programming. In both Tanzania, and Zambia, more men hold land individually, while more women hold land jointly or in co-tenancy arrangements. This finding is backed by research indicating that female ownership of land is generally held together with husbands, whereas men are more likely to be sole owners of land.[7]

Despite that, men currently represent a higher proportion of individual landowners, the implementation of MAST has proven effective in promoting gender equality and empowering women by providing a technology coupled with an inclusive approach for recognizing and documenting land rights. In Zambia, land documentation had positive impact on household perceptions of improved tenure security,[8] and in Tanzania, there was an11% increase in respondents who felt that disputes over land will improve in the next year.[9]

Under USAID’s Tenure and Global Climate Change program, about 45% of all customary land certificates have been issued to women using Mobile Applications for Secure Tenure (MAST). Photo: USAID.

 

To learn more about MAST, visit USAID’s MAST Learning Platform at:
www.Land-Links.org/MAST or contact Ioana Bouvier (ibouvier@usaid.gov).

[1] Meinzin-Dick, et al. 2017. “Women’s Land Rights As A Pathway to Poverty Reduction: Framework and Review of Available Evidence, in Agricultural Systems, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308521X1730505X.
[2] FAO. 2014. Gender Inequalities in Rural Employment in Tanzania Mainland An Overview.
[3] UNDP. 2018. Human Development Report.
[4] UNDP. 2018. Human Development Report.
[5] UNDP. 2018. Tanzanian Human Development Report 2017: Social Policy in the Context of Economic Transformation. Tanzanian women spend 13.6 percent of their time per day on unpaid care work compared to 3.6 percent for their male counterparts. Id. As a consequence, women’s availability for income-generating activities is reduced, to the detriment of themselves and the household and local economies.
[6] Id.
[7] Land Alliance and ODI. (2017). “Prindex Analytical Report.”
[8] USAID. 2018. USAID Tenure and Global Climate Change Evaluation Report.
[9] USAID. 2017. Baseline Report: Impact Evaluation of the Feed the Future Tanzania Land Tenure Assistance Activity.