Document Type: Progress Reports

The purpose of LMA is to facilitate effective and inclusive management of communal land through land tenure processes. Its aim is to support Liberian communities in obtaining deeds to their customary land in accordance with the 2018 Land Rights Act (LRA) and to support the improved use of customary land for sustainable, equitable economic benefit.

Issues of land ownership are central to two Development Objectives of USAID/Liberia’s 2019–2024 Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), which LMA objectives and results will support: (1) market driven, inclusive economic growth supporting increased job creation; and (2) effective and inclusive governance catalyzed through reform and greater accountability. The LRA presents a natural opportunity to advance these objectives, especially as the Act demonstrates a commitment to invest authority in local communities to govern the use of their own land through Community Land Development and Management Committees (CLDMCs). By focusing on CLDMC development, USAID will be investing in the Liberian government’s vision of local governance while giving communities tools to serve their own interests. LMA presents an opportunity to build on past USAID investments to assist Liberian communities to achieve effective and inclusive governance of their land and resources, with a focus on the following four objectives:

1. Communities obtain deeds to their communal land;
2. Communities plan and manage communal land for productive use;
3. Women, youth, and other marginalized groups participate in and benefit from communal land management; and
4. Communities utilize Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to resolve land disputes and grievances.

The LRA outlines a six-step process for formalizing community land rights (Figure 1), resulting in a deed being issued to the communities, who have gained a better understanding of their land rights, how they are shared among all community members, and who in the community works to effectively and equitably govern and manage their land. The LRA also includes provisions for establishing CLDMCs, inclusive governance bodies charged with making communal land decisions and developing sustainable Land Use Plans (LUPs).

1. Community Self-Identification
2. Governance By-laws and Structures
3. Community Land Identification and Mapping
4. Boundary Harmonization
5. LLA Confirmatory Survey
6. Deed Issuance and Registration

The CLRF process is lengthy and complex, and few communities can navigate it alone. With the support of international donors, Liberian civil society organizations (CSOs) have worked to help communities through the process and meet requirements associated with each step to ultimately secure land deeds.

The purpose of LMA is to facilitate effective and inclusive management of communal land through land tenure processes. Its aim is to support Liberian communities in obtaining deeds to their customary land in accordance with the 2018 Land Rights Act (LRA) and to support the improved use of customary land for sustainable, equitable economic benefit.

Issues of land ownership are central to two Development Objectives of USAID/Liberia’s 2019–2024 Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), which LMA objectives and results will support: (1) market driven, inclusive economic growth supporting increased job creation; and (2) effective and inclusive governance catalyzed through reform and greater accountability. The LRA presents a natural opportunity to advance these objectives, especially as the Act demonstrates a commitment to invest authority in local communities to govern the use of their own land through Community Land Development and Management Committees (CLDMCs). By focusing on CLDMC development, USAID will be investing in the Liberian government’s vision of local governance while giving communities tools to serve their own interests. LMA presents an opportunity to build on past USAID investments to assist Liberian communities to achieve effective and inclusive governance of their land and resources, with a focus on the following four objectives:

1. Communities obtain deeds to their communal land;
2. Communities plan and manage communal land for productive use;
3. Women, youth, and other marginalized groups participate in and benefit from communal land management; and
4. Communities utilize Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to resolve land disputes and grievances.

The LRA outlines a six-step process for formalizing community land rights (Figure 1), resulting in a deed being issued to the communities, who have gained a better understanding of their land rights, how they are shared among all community members, and who in the community works to effectively and equitably govern and manage their land. The LRA also includes provisions for establishing CLDMCs, inclusive governance bodies charged with making communal land decisions and developing sustainable Land Use Plans (LUPs).

1. Community Self-Identification
2. Governance By-laws and Structures
3. Community Land Identification and Mapping
4. Boundary Harmonization
5. LLA Confirmatory Survey
6. Deed Issuance and Registration

The CLRF process is lengthy and complex, and few communities can navigate it alone. With the support of international donors, Liberian civil society organizations (CSOs) have worked to help communities through the process and meet requirements associated with each step to ultimately secure land deeds.

The purpose of LMA is to facilitate effective and inclusive management of communal land through land tenure processes. Its aim is to support Liberian communities in obtaining deeds to their customary land in accordance with the 2018 Land Rights Act (LRA) and to support the improved use of customary land for sustainable, equitable economic benefit.

Issues of land ownership are central to two Development Objectives of USAID/Liberia’s 2019–2024 Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS), which LMA objectives and results will support: (1) market driven, inclusive economic growth supporting increased job creation; and (2) effective and inclusive governance catalyzed through reform and greater accountability. The LRA presents a natural opportunity to advance these objectives, especially as the Act demonstrates a commitment to invest authority in local communities to govern the use of their own land through Community Land Development and Management Committees (CLDMCs). By focusing on CLDMC development, USAID will be investing in the Liberian government’s vision of local governance while giving communities tools to serve their own interests. LMA presents an opportunity to build on past USAID investments to assist Liberian communities to achieve effective and inclusive governance of their land and resources, with a focus on the following four objectives:

1. Communities obtain deeds to their communal land;
2. Communities plan and manage communal land for productive use;
3. Women, youth, and other marginalized groups participate in and benefit from communal land management; and
4. Communities utilize Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to resolve land disputes and grievances.

The LRA outlines a six-step process for formalizing community land rights (Figure 1), resulting in a deed being issued to the communities, who have gained a better understanding of their land rights, how they are shared among all community members, and who in the community works to effectively and equitably govern and manage their land. The LRA also includes provisions for establishing CLDMCs, inclusive governance bodies charged with making communal land decisions and developing sustainable Land Use Plans (LUPs):

1. Community Self-Identification
2. Governance By-laws and Structures
3. Community Land Identification and Mapping
4. Boundary Harmonization
5. LLA Confirmatory Survey
6. Deed Issuance and Registration

The CLRF process is lengthy and complex, and few communities can navigate it alone. With the support of international donors, Liberian civil society organizations (CSOs) have worked to help communities through the process and meet requirements associated with each step to ultimately secure land deeds.

Introduction

The purpose of the Integrated Land and Resource Governance II (ILRG II) Task Order is to provide support to the Land and Resource Governance (LRG) Division in the Center for Natural Environment in the Bureau of Resilience, Environment and Food Security (REFS) at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to develop, implement, assess and evaluate interventions that secure land tenure and resource rights and strengthen LRG systems. ILRG II will help identify constraints and barriers to secure land and resource governance to support multiple development objectives, including combating climate change, promoting food security, supporting biodiversity conservation, enabling gender equality, women’s empowerment and social inclusion, engaging with the private sector, preventing and mitigating conflict, supporting sustainable urbanization and enabling localization, among others. ILRG II will provide technical assistance services to strengthen and secure the land tenure and resource rights of women, men, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, youth, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized and underrepresented populations in USAID-presence countries. It aims to improve the LRG systems that are responsible for implementing these rights, as well as strengthen the capacity of stakeholders to better advocate for their own rights. It will support rigorous research and analysis to improve understanding of what works and does not work to achieve these outcomes, including the linkages between land and resource governance and other development outcomes. Through this work, USAID seeks to promote development of equitable and resilient societies where land and resource governance rights are respected and utilized to create broad-based growth for all.

To secure the land tenure and resource rights of local people and communities and strengthen LRG systems, ILRG II seeks to achieve the following four objectives:

1. Strengthen enabling environments to promote inclusive legal and policy frameworks for land and resource governance in formal and customary settings;
2. Enhance the capacity of key stakeholders and partners in government, civil society, local communities and the private sector to implement inclusive land and resource governance laws and practices;
3. Build innovative partnerships with the private sector that enable responsible land-based investing to promote resilience; and
4. Support robust monitoring, evaluation, research and learning activities to improve land and resource governance programming.

ILRG II is a five-year contract that was awarded in September 2023. This second quarterly report covers January to March 2024. During this quarter, ILRG II began in-country implementation work on the mid-term evaluation of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance for Rights and Development (IPARD) program in Panama and Honduras and continued to provide technical and capacity strengthening support to key non-governmental and governmental stakeholders in the women’s land rights, wildlife, and natural resource space in Zambia, building on relationships established under the ILRG program. Scoping work continued for the Gender Equality and Cocoa Climate Activity (GECCA) to promote women’s empowerment and sustainable agroforestry in Ghana with funding from the Gender Equity and Equality Action (GEEA) Incentive Fund at USAID, as well as the Washington funded Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment (GEWE) Cocoa activities in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. ILRG II developed terms of reference for the Environmental Defenders grant program, and held initial discussions on the Green Cities/Adaptation work stream, which may support peri-urban land use planning in Malawi. ILRG II also supported a number of smaller research tasks.

The launch of ILRG II during this past quarter was primarily focused on clarifying project objectives, advancing early contract deliverables, and carrying out initial engagements with project partners, while the core team associated with ILRG II (both within Tetra Tech and USAID) finished completing close out tasks under the predecessor ILRG contract. As ILRG II considered multiple, multi-year activity development and start-up ideas for the coming six months, ILRG II and USAID communicated frequently to ensure common prioritization. During this quarter, ILRG II’s contracting office (CO) management moved to the Office of Acquisition and Assistance division that supports the Bureau for Resilience, Environment and Food Security, and a dedicated CO has not yet been assigned to the contract.

By the end of the quarter, ILRG II had initiated implementation of the IPARD evaluation, as well as confirmed two countries for long-term implementation (with progress on a third). The ILRG II team was able to meet with each of its core subcontractors who were actively engaged in two start-up workshops with USAID and work planning. The primary challenge of this quarter was associated with starting up ILRG II while completing final deliverables and close out tasks under ILRG.

Introduction

United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Ethiopia contracted Tetra Tech as the prime contractor to implement the five-year Feed the Future Ethiopia Land Governance Activity (LGA) Task Order under the Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights II (STARR II) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract. Tetra Tech will implement the LGA over a five-year period from May 2019 to May 2024. This Quarterly Report No. 15 summarizes implementation progress made during the period of October 1 – December 31, 2022 (Quarter 1, FY 2023).

LGA’s purpose is to support the Government of Ethiopia (GOE), its regions, and citizens to strengthen land governance, increase incomes, reduce conflict, and support well-planned urbanization, thereby contributing to the country’s Ten-Year Development Plan. To help achieve these goals, LGA is implementing interventions under two components:

Component 1: Strengthening the land governance system

1. Facilitate policy reforms and strengthen land administration and land use institutions by promoting structural reforms of rural and urban institutions and the land information system.
2. Improve technical capacity for suitable land administration and land use planning activities to address emerging issues, such as urbanization, industrialization, and youth.
3. Conduct policy-oriented research on land governance and provide scalable solutions to improve land governance.

Component 2: Expanding communal land tenure security in pastoral areas

1. Expand communal land tenure security in pastoral areas through improved policy and legal reform.
2. For pastoral community lands, develop a scalable approach for land demarcation, registration, and certification in collaboration with community institutions.