Document Type: Briefs

Historically in Burma, limited communication has occured between community members and local land administration authorities. This has fostered distrust by citizens and a lack of responsiveness from local land authorities. USAID works with both groups as part of participatory mapping activities in the Yway Gone Village Tract to demonstrate models for resolving land disputes and promoting coordination in sustainable land management.

After several months of community engagement, USAID’s local partner facilitated a stakeholder meeting, representing the first time that local residents and government officials have been able to meet collectively to discuss land resource management and tenure issues.

The community used the products of participatory mapping exercises to voice their land resource concerns to local government. The forum also allowed local authorities to explain their role in land management. The newly elected Member of Parliament for Minhla Township, Mr. U Aung Aung, pledged his long-term support in resolving land resource issues faced by community members as a result of land leasing under the Vacant, Fallow and Virgin Land Law, but added that community members themselves must also be involved.

Speaking to meeting attendees, Mr. U Aung Aung said, “In the past, local land authorities have acted without considering the interests of all the community members. This must end if land conflicts are to be avoided in the future. Meetings like this are an important opportunity for all parties to discuss these sensitive issues in a safe environment and will result in improved transparency between citizens and government departments.”

The successful stakeholders meeting also stimulated community members to request additional support to better understand existing land legislation and the relevant provisions in the new National Land Use Policy on community land and resource rights.

In Zambia’s Chipata District, USAID has been supporting a local organization, the Chipata District Land Alliance (CDLA), to work with chiefs, village headpersons, and local communities to document village boundaries, community resources, and household land rights. As the current phase of work, which allows for preliminary parcel boundaries to be reviewed and agreed by community members before the issuance of land certificates, comes to an end, headpersons and community members have expressed their support for the work carried out thus far.

One such community member is Mr. Stephen Mbewe, a visually impaired resident of Mgombe village in Mshawa Chiefdom. Mr. Mbewe explained that his land was originally allocated to his parents by the village headperson; once his parents died and he married, the land passed to him. He said, “There has always been issues concerning boundaries since my neighbors thought I would not be able to tell exactly where the boundary was passing through the two fields… Each time there was a conflict I would appeal to the headperson who was always there to resolve the issue at hand.”

When asked whether the customary land certification work had made any difference to the situation, Mr Mbewe stated, “Firstly, the demarcation exercise sealed off any future dispute on field boundaries… Secondly, with the issuance of certificates by the chief, my wife and children will be secure until the next generation to come. I am so happy that CDLA came to our village at the right time and I am looking forward to the day when I and the family will receive the certificate.”

Many civil society organizations (CSOs) in Burma are actively working with communities to document land resources, but have limited exposure to community-led participatory mapping tools and methods. USAID Burma Land Tenure Project (LTP) has supported local CSOs with thematic training that supports their work with rural smallholders on securing tenure.  USAID’s support to CSOs leads to more equitable agricultural and economic development throughout the country.

The National Land Use Policy, recently endorsed by the government, acknowledges the importance and recognition of community or customary rights to land, though at present, these rights are frequently not recognized by local authorities. CSOs are critical to bridging the gap between communities and local authorities, meaning that building their mapping and spatial data capacity is a priority.

The rise in the use of GPS-enabled mobile devices has led to an ever increasing array of applications for users to rapidly locate themselves and then collect spatial data. While these present huge opportunities, clarity as to which applications are most suitable is lacking for CSOs. To address this issue, the USAID Burma LTP provided a technology-focused training program to 25 CSO representatives.

Participants conducted practical exercises with handheld GPS devices, tablet-based data collection, and mapping applications, and were able to work with an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).

Theingi May Soe, the Community Engagement Officer for the USAID Burma LTP, said, “The training on such tools is especially important for local CSOs. Their strong knowledge on the legal side of land tenure is let down by a lack of basic mapping skills needed to document community resource information. Improving CSO capacity in this area will greatly strengthen community tenure in many areas of the country beyond the current scope of our project.”

The training was the first in a series of USAID-supported institutional capacity development activities that will include additional training and financial support for CSOs to execute participatory mapping methods throughout Burma.

Civil society and implementing partners in Zambia are increasingly interested in applying inclusive and sustainable customary rights recognition processes piloted by USAID partner, Chipata District Land Alliance. In October 2015, more than 20 civil society leaders and USAID implementing partners from across Zambia visited Chipata District to learn about the community engagement, computer-based mapping, and political processes associated with CDLA’s customary land mapping in Zambia. The participants were encouraged to critique the approach and consider whether it is applicable to other contexts.

Gilbert Mwale of Frankfurt Zoological Society said, “The land demarcation process would help local communities in the Game Management Areas around North Luangwa National Park reduce land disputes, develop land use plans to increase investment partnerships around tourism development, and empower communities to negotiate concession terms with the Zambia Wildlife Authority.”

“Mapping and resource inventories have been on the Mwembezyi Natural Conservation Society’s (MNCS) road map long before we found out about USAID’s work. Your study tour to Eastern Province has given us an idea how to do this,” noted Rolf Shenton. Since the study tour, the Senior Chief and the District Development Committee in Mwembezyi area have adopted a plan to begin customary resource mapping in 2016.

Further technical trainings are being planned to build on this momentum and to help civil society organizations, USAID partners, and government further pilot the USAID-supported methodologies. These trainings will deepen the capacities for participatory mapping and land use planning that links local communities and chiefs with formally recognized government processes.

In Burma, weak land tenure security and unsustainable land use management are issues faced by many rural communities.  Reasons for this include a poor understanding of existing land legislation, the involvement of multiple government departments in land administration, and a failure to recognize community-based land rights.  The issues are particularly acute for landless citizens in these communities.

Daw Thin Yee, a resident of Yway Kone village, said, “Since landless members of our community like me have lost access to communal lands, we have a big problem grazing cattle and collecting thatch for our homes.” Such situations may lead to future land disputes and conflict, as well as inhibit smallholder agricultural development.

To address this situation, the Land Tenure Project (LTP) has brought together relevant stakeholders, including local authorities, community members, and civil society groups, at the Yway Kone Village Tract pilot site to document the perceived land rights of communities.  Project staff have provided educational materials and technical support through a process that begins with community sensitization to land issues and continues with participatory mapping activities undertaken at a series of community events.

Nicholas Thomas, Country Coordinator for the project, stated, “The information gathered with the support of all stakeholders will serve communities well in communications with local authorities and private companies in the event of access and land use disputes.”

Community members appreciate the outputs of the work to date and understand how they will support their land rights in the future.    As work continues into 2016, community boundary information will be supplemented by community-level land use inventory data that can then be used for sustainable land use planning.

USAID’s support has resulted in information products, including map data that, for the first time, accurately describe the perspectives of community members and can be used by them when discussing land resource issues with local authorities.  Community empowerment through information generation and exchange as witnessed by LTP actions provides others interested in community land tenure in Burma with a framework for work in additional areas throughout the country.

Clear and enforceable rights are central to farmers’ decisions to invest time, labor, and money in sustainable land use. In Zambia, the rights of smallholder farmers and communities are undocumented for the majority of the country. USAID is supporting local traditional leaders and government to pilot low-cost approaches that systematically document, and ultimately protect, the land rights of rural communities.

One of the main challenges of documenting large areas of land at once, is ensuring that all stakeholders, even those outside the community, know that their land will be surveyed. USAID’s partner, Chipata District Land Alliance (CDLA), has deployed a robust communications campaign including community theater performances and cartoons, as well as community meetings.

The message reached Ephraim Kamoto Phiri of Chipata Town, who has family land in rural Kasinzina Village. Mr. Phiri noted: “When I heard that there are people in the village who are demarcating potions of land, I did not at first fully understand why they were there and so my first reaction was to rush to the village and defend my land. But upon reaching the village, the community explained everything and I was happy that my field too would be demarcated and protected from future grabbers of land. I further appreciate the work that CDLA is doing in making our communities aware of their land rights.”

The importance of communication and outreach does not end at the field demarcation stage. After initial maps are created CDLA will deploy a corrections period to publically vet village maps, increasing transparency and conflict resolution before the local chiefs deliver customary land certificates.

Across Chipata District and with the growing threat of commercialization of traditionally held land, rural farmers are beginning to demand documentation of their rights. USAID’s work is providing sustainable models to help government and civil society meet these needs.

Zambia’s chiefs are the official custodians of vast areas of rural agricultural land that provides livelihoods for millions of rural farmers, as well as the game management areas that are home to forests and habitats for Zambia’s renowned wildlife. Chiefs have enormous powers to allocate land and, with their headpersons and advisors (indunas), to define what practices are permitted and by whom. Yet each chief has his or her own customs to follow and may have little knowledge of the decisions of their predecessors, as customary decisions are rarely recorded.

As pressure for land increases and as city dwellers, investors, and even local governments search for virgin land to build on or develop, local farmers are at a disadvantage in protecting their existing rights to land. As a result, USAID is supporting chiefs and villages to systematically document boundaries and engage in participatory land use planning to protect communal resources like grazing areas and forests. USAID and its local partners are subsequently helping individual households to register household land with chiefs and village headperson.

“Having a map and register will help me manage my chiefdom,” said Chief Mnukwa. “Now when new settlers come, I can allocate land without the disputes that used to emerge.”

“I have a small chiefdom,” said Chieftainess Mkanda. “We have many conflicts with our neighboring chiefs. I believe these maps can be used to bring peace to the chiefdom.”

In addition to improving tenure security in chiefdoms, USAID has been supporting dialogue between chiefs and local government. Local government has welcomed the chiefdom mapping work. “We used to help investors convert land from traditional use to leasehold, with only the signature of the chief. Now, we have more tools to ensure we do not convert land that is another family’s,” highlighted a local council secretary.

Across Burma there is limited access to information on local populations’ legal and customary rights to own, use, and manage land and natural resources. This lack of information presents a challenge to civil society organizations (CSOs) and village communities that need a clear picture of the land and resource tenure situation to contribute to sustainable land use planning.

Working in close coordination with the Land Core Group (LCG), Burma’s leading CSO focusing on land issues, USAID is supporting capacity-building activities for civil society organizations to implement land tenure assessments.   Importantly, the assessment methodology seeks to increase interaction between local government officials and community members, thereby reducing distrust between these parties.

Based upon participatory rural appraisal techniques, the training allows CSOs to identify key land resource issues faced by a communities.  These standardized outputs can then be used to guide future efforts for tenure recognition and dispute resolution.

Representing the Public Network CSO of Thayarwaddy District, North of Yangon, U Win Htut believes that the delivery of such training clearly supports rural development objectives.  “Training youth-based CSOs, like ours, means that information on this subject can be given to residents to create opportunities to improve community welfare.”

The answers to the assessment questions, allow CSOs to generate findings that can be compared between different locations, are used to formulate broader community education efforts associated with land rights and ultimately support regional or national land administration efforts to protect rural community and customary tenure arrangements.

To support the government of Burma to increase land access for the rural poor—including women and minority groups—the USAID Land Tenure Project worked with government stakeholders to draft the country’s first-ever National Land Use Policy (NLUP). The policy was adopted by the government in 2015, after a two-year participatory, inclusive public consultation process that was funded and designed by the Land Tenure Project to ensure the needs of landless and vulnerable groups were represented. Approximately 67% of Burma’s population lives in rural areas, and the majority depend on the agricultural land to earn a living. Yet up to 50% of rural households in Burma are landless, and poverty in rural areas is high. The new policy will increase access to land for this population.

In November 2015, elections brought new leadership to the country of Burma. The NLUP was seen by some as a policy associated with the outgoing administration. Through extensive outreach with the new administration, the Land Tenure Project was able to effectively articulate the importance of the NLUP and was ultimately able to usher this policy through two administrations successfully.

In August 2016, the Land Tenure Project supported a meeting in Naypyitaw in which 200 stakeholders from Parliament, farmers’ associations, and civil society, along with international experts, shared and learned methods for increasing tenure security for smallholder farmers. The meeting was opened by Dr. Tun Win, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, who reinforced the importance of an equitable land resource management approach, while reminding attendees that while the NLUP has been endorsed, work remains to be done on formulating new land-related legislation, and updating existing laws in line with the articles of the NLUP.

In his closing remarks, Dr. Tun Win confirmed that the new administration has fully adopted the NLUP and considers it the official land use policy of Burma—the first time the policy was officially recognized by the government, and signaling an incredibly successful outcome for the program.

Deyis Carmona Tejeda is not an actress. She acted for the first time when she was 43, inspired by displaced women who also suffered the ravages of war.

Behind the microphones, she had to let go of her own story for a moment in order to get into “Somebody Else’s Body”—as the play is called—and give life to Juana, the protagonist of a real-life story that recounts how she was displaced from her land by violent groups, how her son disappeared and was murdered, and how she lived under constant threat in addition to suffering abuse by her husband.

The play is one of the 12 radio dramas from the series Land Rights: Stories Made by Women for Women, directed by Colombian actor Daniel Rocha. The radio dramas are meant to disseminate information about land-related services available to women and victims of the conflict. The strategy is part of a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) program that has been working with the Colombian government since 2014, especially with the entities involved with land administration, like the Superintendence of Notary and Registry, the National Land Agency, and the Land Restitution Unit.

Women and War

Through female voices, these radio dramas guide other women in Colombia on how to formalize their property, file land restitution claims, and acquire funding and technical assistance for agricultural projects.

More than 70 women—including farmers, Afro-descendants, and members of indigenous communities—from 18 municipalities in Cesar, Sucre, Bolívar, Cauca, Meta, and Tolima were part of creating the scripts and storylines. The stories have been broadcast on 36 radio stations in these departments.

“We received training, and our work with USAID strengthened those skills. We think this is important because those same land institutions are being strengthened through this program, and by working with us, the program scored a goal by working with the victims in rural areas,” noted Deyis.

Many of the women who participated in the radio series have been or are currently involved in the land restitution process. Since their release, the radio dramas have reached more than six million listeners in 96 municipalities. In addition to airing on radio stations, the dramas have been disseminated via CD.

Listen to a radio theater show here: https://soundcloud.com/usaidlrdp

War in the Flesh

The drama starring Deyis is not much different from her real-life story. In 1996, when she was just 18 years old, she fled her home in rural El Copey to urban Valledupar out of fear for her life. She had begun to stand out as a leader in the community, and that was dangerous. Deyis returned, but was once again displaced in 2000 by threats from the paramilitaries. In 1998, her mother was kidnapped by guerrillas, and their house in El Copey was burned down.

For 15 years, she lived in Valledupar, where she managed to finish a technical course to become a clerk. “The only good thing about it was that I was able to train and get a proper education,” she said.

Despite personal progress, her experiences with violence and intimidation continued. In 2000, she returned to her plot and found that other family members had also been displaced, including her younger sister, who subsequently disappeared at the hands of paramilitaries. Deyis later learned that her sister’s remains had been buried in a mass grave along with those of 21 others.

“From the moment that she disappeared, I made a point of seeing her disappearance as something that would give rise to constructive behavior and not just painful memories,” says Deyis.

Supporting Other Victims

Displaced women face disproportionate difficulties in proving that they own their land, because women are usually excluded from property titles. For a woman to demonstrate that she is an owner, she must initiate a judicial process in which, if she had been in a civil union, she is forced to provide testimony and witnesses who can prove her relationship with her spouse—and therefore, with the property.

“It is easier for men to prove they are owners of land. In order to claim their rights, they only need to show the records,” said Deyis.

Nowadays, Deyis acts as spokesperson of the El Copey Village Victims Association, an organization that she created five years ago when she realized that nearly the entire village had been a victim of land dispossession. The group, which is made up of 60 families, works to address forced displacement, disappearance, and land dispossession.

“With the radio dramas, we are instruments that help the institutions reach and help women victims. We are very lucky because we have enjoyed the support of other institutions, but there are women who still don’t know that options exist,” asserted Deyis.

One of the objectives of Colombia’s Victims Law is to make women more visible in terms of land administration and the impacts of the conflict, according to Jorge Chávez, territorial director of the Land Restitution Unit in Cesar and Guajira. USAID’s radio dramas contribute to these goals by giving women a roadmap for compensation. Today, 35 out of every 100 requests for land restitution in Cesar are made by women.

“For the LRU, this support is very important. Land informality and the separation of women from their land ends up being a major difficulty in terms of the land restitution process,” explains Chávez. “Together with USAID, we’ve been able to show that not just women but other diverse sectors of society have been uniquely affected by the armed conflict.”

“Many women are not aware of their rights. And despite our work as an association, there are still things that we need to learn. The social approach of creating radio dramas has given us an amazing experience,” says Sintya Bedón Murillo, a member of the Esfuérzate Association in Montes de María and one of the participants of the radio drama entitled “The Aroma of Land in a Bowl of Sancocho.”

“I will exercise my rights, and this experience has given me the strength to demand them, even if my name does not appear on the land documents.”
—Deyis Carmona Tejeda.