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Bolivia Land Titling Program (BLTP) Quarterly Report: April – June 2005

March 8, 2018

Progress Reports

The Bolivia Land Titling Program (BLTP) helped Bolivia’s National Agrarian Reform Institute and its Property Registry System to develop a low-cost model to title and register more than 470,000 hectares containing more than 25,000 properties. The activity improved security of property rights and to expanded individual access to land markets and the full benefits of land assets. The project developed and validated a massive low-cost titling process — the results of which are accessible on the Internet — that can be applied throughout the country. Land titling fostered by the project helps farmers receive loans and encourages them to abandon illicit crops, while strengthening government institutions at all levels.

In this section we report on the specific achievements and activities during the quarter for each of the four strategic objectives. The project has four strategic objectives: 1) Develop and Strengthen INRA’s Institutional Capacity; 2) Develop and Strengthen DDRR’s Institutional Capacity; 3) Develop and Implement an Outreach Dissemination Program; and 4) Develop and Strengthen the Municipalities’ Capacity

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REVIEW: STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN INRA’S INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

While the INRA Cochabamba office is experiencing a change in its work culture, and has developed significant capacity to process titles through the ownership verification phase, the La Paz office that must complete the titling and registration phase continues to resist change, and continues to fall behind the goals specified in the FARAs. The BLTP has informed the INRA La Paz office that it will not pay salaries it does not deliver results as specified in the FARA. After much discussion, at end of the quarter ended, the BLTP and INRA reached an understanding that a new FARA will be signed with the La Paz office on the condition of the completion previous period results without additional resources.

INRA Cochabamba

During the quarter the BLTP made changes in the configuration of its staff in response to the work requirements as the titling documentation moves from one step to the next. The most significant of the changes in BLTP staffing are the replacement of Mr. Jose Luis Delgado with Mr. Rafael Beltran as the BLTP technical manager posted in the Villa Tunari office. While INRA personnel have become technically proficient thanks to Mr. Delgado’s work, management skills are stills inadequate. Mr. Delgado’s work was successfully completed. Mr. Beltran’s mission is to strengthen managerial skills and improve work quality, so that titling documentation are free of errors and thus accelerate the process further. In addition, and to remedy serious quality problems in the documentation of titles, the BLTP hired a team of 5 quality control specialists. Lack of consistency, lack of attention to detail and errors in the documentation of titles are a major cause of delays. These errors are usually caught in the final inspection before the President’s signature and sent back to Cochabamba for correction.

INRA La Paz

As mentioned before, change and capacity development in the La Paz INRA office has proven to be harder to achieve. Despite the commitment of INRA Director, the staff assigned to work with the BLTP continues to resist changing work habits and culture. Working to produce concrete results in specified time schedules is slowly being accepted and only because we have linked producing results to salary payment.

INRA Nacional

One important step in building INRA’s institutional capacity was the delegation of several functions by the National Office to the Cochabamba Departmental Office. The Departmental office was given the authority to deal directly with the Agrarian Superintendence to obtain land prices. This development speeds up the titling process by cutting down the time it took to go through the Nacional office to obtain the land price determinations required by law.

Plan I and Plan II

As previously explained the FARA contains specific goals for each month of the quarter.

In a linear progression where one step leads to the next, any delays affect all following steps. As we reported in our previous report, the Superintendencia Agraria moved to Santa Cruz and has taken longer than anticipated to start operations. The key ingredient they provide to the process is the value of the property, allowing for the determination of the final resolution after which there is a public presentation of findings — the final step before the issuance of the deed (title).

INRA failed to meet its goal of 25 final resolutions because of errors in the titling documentation and had to start a process to correct them. This particular batch of titles underwent the early stages of ownership verification prior to April 2004. The discovery of errors in the last step of the process highlighted serious quality problems at all levels in INRA. This is a problem that the BLTP is working to correct with the introduction of a quality control unit to make sure no errors are overlooked in any of the steps of the tilting process.

Plan IIb and Plan IV

Plan IIb covers an area of over 12,000 hectares and contains 1,027 properties. This area was added to BLT’s work load so that the target of 5,000 properties and 100,000 hectares could be met.

Because of the geographic proximity of the areas under Plans IIb and IV, we will report progress on both plans jointly in this section.

While some targets were easily exceeded as shown in the table above, others were not met pointing out bottlenecks that need to be resolved. It should also be noted that the later stages of the titling process are the ones falling short of even modest targets. These steps are the responsibility of the La Paz office which resists being held accountable for results they have committed to achieve. The BLTP’s policy is that it will not pay the salaries of INRA staff that fail to meet their targets without a valid explanation. This policy has worked well in the Cochabamba INRA office and we feel confident that it is having an impact in the La Paz office.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN DERECHOS REALES (DDRR’S) INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

DDRR (Derechos Reales) currently has the capacity to process large numbers of titles. However, until INRA starts producing significant numbers of titles, BLTP support is limited to maintaining the installed capacity. For this reason the second FARA with DDRR was extended until the end of the year without major modifications. It should be noted that the installed capacity in the DDRR office is not idle. The DDRR office of Sacaba has become a model of efficiency in handling all matters it attends in a vast area that includes the Tropics

On June 25th, INRA delivered 719 property titles in the Chapare. The titles were registered in Derechos Reales and they belong to 22 communities (colonia or sindicato).

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3: OUTREACH DISSEMINATION PROGRAM

The communication strategy was modified to adapt to the changes in the distribution of tasks among the donors and the fact that the BLTP is now working in new areas, areas that have traditionally been opposed to titling for political reasons. Due to high political sensitivities in the region, BLTP/INRA communications directed to communities and local organizations are mostly carried out community by community. The communications campaign is being implemented by a group of INRA technicians trained by BLTP. In addition, based on results, and to promote more interest in titling in general and in Plan IV in particular, INRA’s outreach and communications unit started a radio campaign in early June to inform the public, on a weekly basis, what INRA is doing, where, and how much was achieved.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 4: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN MUNICIPALITIES CAPACITY

No activities were undertaken under this objective. The contract was modified to reflect the fact that under the current legal and institutional framework, municipalities have neither interest nor incentive to set up a rural cadastre, simply because they can not collect taxes from the majority of the rural property owners.

BLTP work in this area will be limited to carrying out an assessment of the legal, institutional and policy frameworks that govern for municipal cadastres and make recommendations. The assessment will start in mid October.

Bolivia Land Titling Program (BLTP) Quarterly Report: July – September 2005

March 8, 2018

Progress Reports

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REVIEW: STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN INRA’S INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

In this quarter, there have been significant changes in the INRA’s attitude and willingness associated with the establishment of numerical targets and towards building institutional capacity. This is especially true in the Cochabamba office under the direction of its new Director. The La Paz and Cochabamba INRA staff working directly with the BLTP seem to be adopting a results driven approach to their work. Titles are now being produced on a regular basis, rather than on an exceptional basis.

Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria (INRA)

A change in INRA’s leadership, with the naming of new national and departmental directors, occurred during the quarter. Mr. Roberto Torrez replaced Alcides Vadillo as INRA’s Nacional Director and Mr. Mauricio Zabalaga replaced Luis Arratia as the Cochabamba Departamental.

Fortunately for BLTP, Mr. Torrez seems to support the work BLPT is doing with the institution and re-affirmed the emphasis BLTP places on results; something that the INRA La Paz staff had resisted in the past. He has also made it possible to deliver the signature machine, used to expedite the title signing process, to the office of the president. The use of the machine should eliminate one of the most intractable bottle necks; the insistence that the president sign every title manually.

INRA Cochabamba

As mentioned before, Mr. Mauricio Zabalaga assumed the position of Cochabamba Departmental Director. Under his leadership, INRA Cochabamba is working very productively. Mr. Zabalaga has successfully eliminated numerous bottle necks which previously stifled the productivity of INRA staff. This change has provided the flexibility needed for increased synergy and improved effectiveness of staff working with BLTP. Under Mr. Zabalaga’s leadership, INRA implemented Decreto Supremo 28148 which establishes a streamlined procedure for ownership verification and titling. This, in turn, has made it possible to implement Plan IV at an unprecedented pace.

Another salient accomplishment of this past quarter was the successful transfer of title information from the antiquated Instituto de Colonizacion to the modern and automated Ownership and Tiling System (SYST). Having the data stored in an electronic format results in improved information management and prompt access to information. The availability of reliable and accessible information will undoubtedly improve institutional capacity by providing INRA staff with the tools for increased responsive and better overall delivery of services. After a year long waiting period, INRA will now have the opportunity to reap the benefits associated with having access to automated information, like the potential for increased public credibility in
the institution’s ability to efficiently manage the titling efforts. While the previous INRA La Paz and Cochabamba directors opposed transition to an electronic filing system insisting that the work be done manually, the current directors are demonstrating that these remarkable achievements are possible by maintaining an open mind towards innovation and change.

1.2. INRA Nacional

BLTP invested considerable resources by working closely with Mr. Vadillo in the re-engineering of INRA. Regrettably, Mr. Torrez has not expressed any interest in pursuing the previously crafted reorganization plan. It remains unclear, what impact Mr. Torrez will have during his tenure, which is expected to last until December or January.

There was, however, a positive turn regarding BLTP’s results. INRA staff, whose salaries had been withheld because of a failure in meeting their established targets, ultimately followed through with their commitment and not only reached the missed targets but also achieved the new targets established in a new FARA. This notable accomplishment points to the effectiveness of the FARA mechanism. Once the BLTP communicated to INRA staff that salary payments would not be processed until the stipulated targets were met, the staff promptly reacted by delivering the agreed upon results. This represents an important victory for the BLTP and serves to show that accepting accountability on the par of INRA employees is a big step forward.

It should be noted that mid level staff member of INRA, who from the start have maintained INRA and not the contractor should manage the money remain hostile and may try to persuade the new Director to confront BLTP on issue of control and administration of the money.

Plan I and Plan II

As previously mentioned, the FARA contains specific goals for each month of the quarter.

Satisfactory progress was made in all indicators except one: the issuance of the final resolution in the titling phase. This is due to the fact that the majority of the titles still being processed contain errors or missing documentation. Although INRA is working hard to fix the errors and or fill in the missing documentation, it is unclear whether the majority of these titles will be finalized in the time remaining.

Plan IIb and Plan IV

Plan IIb covers an area of over 12,487 hectares and contains 1,024 properties. This area was added to the BLTP’s scope of work so that the target of 5,000 properties could be met. In order to meet the Plan IV targets it is necessary to proceed with the verification of ownership and titling of an additional 25,000 hectares.

Because of the geographic proximity of the areas under Plans IIb and IV, we chose to report the progress on both plans jointly in this section.

All targets were met or exceeded, except for the registration of titles in DDRR. Tiles were held up in the Presidents office when his staff decided to prioritize titles from Chuquisaca over titles from the Chapare for signature

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN DERECHOS REALES (DDRR’S) INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

Titles are being registered as soon as they are issued. As of September 2005, 2,291 titles have been registered. DDRR (Derechos Reales) currently has the capacity to process large numbers of titles.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3: OUTREACH DISSEMINATION PROGRAM

Between May and August of 2005, 13 radio programs with INRA news were broadcasted by the four radio stations of the tropics. Broadcast of further program of this kind is pending an evaluation of impact by INRA.

The four radio stations are used to notify communities and interested persons of dates and places where ownership verification activities are talking place and where and when titles will be delivered.

Other outreach and dissemination activities included the elaboration of new public dissemination material to educate the public on the INRA law and the procedures used to carry out the titling process, and the installation of a stand in two agricultural products fairs in Shinahota and villa Tunari.

Starting in October, INRA will publish adds in the newspapers of Cochabamba informing the public of the activities it is carrying out in the Chapare with USAID financing.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 4: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN MUNICIPALITIES CAPACITY

The contract was modified to reflect the fact that under the current legal and institutional framework, municipalities have neither interest nor incentive to set up a rural cadastre, simply because they can not collect taxes from the majority of the rural property owners. BLTP task is to carry out an assessment of the legal and institutional frameworks that govern rural cadastre.

Four firms were invited to submit proposals to carry out the rural cadastre study. The selection of the winner will be made until October 15 and a contract signed hopefully before the end of the month. The cadastre study should be completed before December 15.

Bolivia Land Titling Program (BLTP) Quarterly Report: October – December 2005

March 8, 2018

Progress Reports

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REVIEW: STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN INRA’S INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

The changes in INRA’s attitude and willingness to work for results, noted in the previous report, is best reflected in their achievement of targets as specified in the FARAs. All offices involved in the titling process have developed sufficient capacity to meet or exceed most of their targets. Unmet targets were generally due to political decisions and not to performance. These included INRA/Nacional Director’s decision to prioritize titling work in other regions at the expense of the Chapare region, as well as the decision by the President’s Office first to prioritize the signing of titles from Chuquisaca and second to suspend issuing final resolutions as the December Presidential elections approached. The process was also halted for a few weeks in an attempt to force an increase in the salaries of personnel in the President’s Agrarian Affairs Office. This request was denied because it was outside the government salary norms and of the signed FARAs.

An important achievement is the fact that an entire polygon was titled in four months. This time would have been reduced even further in the remaining 22 polygons if the President’s and Director’s offices had not decided to stop processing titles from the Chapare and prioritized other areas in December. It is obvious to every one involved that titles can be processed in a rapid and lower cost manner, if all involved perform their jobs as expected. The highlighting of this fact shows that the Cochabamba office had reached a milestone and established itself as a leader in land titling in Bolivia. The Bolivia Land Titling Project plans to sponsor a national conference where the Cochabamba INRA office can present the rapid and massive titling procedure achieved with USAID support. The plan will be presented to the new administration, as soon as it is possible.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN DERECHOS REALES (DDRR’S) INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

Derechos Reales continues to function well and without problems. It has been able to handle easily the increased title registrations over the quarter.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3: OUTREACH DISSEMINATION PROGRAM

INRA has been using effectively the low key outreach approach adopted in 2004. Moreover, the results obtained under Plan IV are generating increasing interest and demand for INRA’s services. The speed with which INRA can now title properties is proving to be the most effective outreach program. Producing titles in three months or less seems to be restoring INRA’s credibility and the legalization of property rights. Thanks to the increasing demand for INRA’ services, the mass media communications (spots) are no longer necessary.

The Bolivia Land Titling Project has supported INRA to be present with stands in two regional fairs (Feria del Achiote and Feria Expotropico). The stands emphasized titling progress by graphically showing maps over a period of time. Bolivia Land Titling Project also financed a publication (separata) in the Cochabamba newspaper Los Tiempos, highlighting its achievements in titling over the past year, both in the Chapare and elsewhere in the Department of Cochabamba.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 4: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN THE MUNICIPALITIES’ CAPACITY

The contract was modified to reflect the fact that under the current legal and institutional framework, municipalities have neither interest nor incentive to set up a rural cadastre, simply because they can not collect taxes from the majority of the rural property owners. The Bolivia Land Titling Project task was to carry out an assessment of the legal and institutional frameworks that govern rural cadastre.

An extensive cadastre study was completed by Mr. Jorge Cortes in December of 2005. Mr. Cortes’ detailed report containing the findings of the study was submitted in early January 2006. The study concludes that establishing municipal cadastre is unrealistic and counterproductive because of the chaotic and confused legal and institutional frameworks.

Bolivia Land Titling Program (BLTP) Quarterly Report: January – March 2006

March 8, 2018

Progress Reports

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REVIEW: STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN INRA’S INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

The presidential elections and subsequent transition to the Morales administration have affected implementation. BLTP activities were first affected by former President Rodriguez’s decision to stop signing titles two weeks prior to the elections and then by the outgoing INRA director’s order to freeze all hiring. The completion of about 1,000 titles was delayed until early January when the President started signing titles again. As a result of the INRA director’s order, BLTP was forced to postpone contracting INRA personnel under the FARA scheduled to start in January 2006. Nevertheless, the BLTP successfully lobbied INRA National executives for an exception to this directive, which was granted on January 12.

Additionally, the resignation of the INRA Cochabamba director, with whom BLTP had established a good working relationship, and the transition of Mr. Howard Arroyo, who had previously worked as INRA’s coordinator with the BLTP project as the new leader at the end of 2006 disrupted momentum. The leadership changes caused delays in meeting some of the project’s targets for the quarter.

Moreover, after the January 22nd inauguration of the Morales government, rumors of an imminent purge by the yet to-be-named new INRA director paralyzed all coordination and planning meetings for the new FARA. Fernando Salazar was named INRA director in March. BLTP met with the new director on April 1st, and to everyone’s surprise Mr. Salazar expressed keen interest in continuing all BLTP related activities. A new FARA extending from May until July was negotiated and approved.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN DERECHOS REALES (DDRR’S) INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

Derechos Reales continues to function well and without problems. Because of the delay in getting titles of the Presidents office, the volume of work for the quarter was low.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3: OUTREACH DISSEMINATION PROGRAM

A communications specialist was contracted to produce and disseminate information about the accomplishments of INRA Cochabamba and to help with the preparation of the final report. The two brochures produced during the quarter focused on highlighting INRA successes both in the delivery of titles and the change in work culture experienced among the staff contracted with BLTP funds and working in the field under difficult conditions.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 4: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN MUNICIPALITIES CAPACITY

The contract was modified to reflect the fact that under the current legal and institutional framework, municipalities have neither interest nor incentive to set up a rural cadastre, simply because they cannot collect taxes from the majority of the rural property owners. The BLTP was to carry out an assessment of the legal and institutional frameworks that govern rural cadastre.

The Cadastre assessment, which was completed last year, provides a thorough analysis of the fragmented, disorganized and chaotic legal and institutional frameworks for rural cadastre. The study emphasizes that until the legal and institutional frameworks are reformed, attempting municipal cadastres that include rural areas, may not be a cost effective use of financial resources.

During this quarter, the mayor of Villa Tunari requested GIS training for technical personal in the Land Planning (ordenamiento territorial) Department. Land use plans have been carried out by previous projects and are being used in this municipality.

Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) Quarterly Report: October – December 2005

March 6, 2018

Progress Reports

The Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) program was a component of the Caribbean Regional Program of USAID/Jamaica, designed to facilitate the transition of the region – in particular, Antigua, Barbuda and Dominica – to open trade, and to enable the countries to compete more successfully and sustainably in the global economy. Among other business enabling activities, the program supported the streamlining of land registration and administration procedures and capacity strengthening of land administration staff.

COTS completed a number of major activities during its first full quarter of contract implementation. Highlights include:

Fielding of the long term implementation team;
Establishing offices in Antigua and Dominica;
Submitting the Draft First Year Work Plan to USAID;
Submitting the Public Information, Public Outreach and Media Plan;
Submitting the draft
PMP;
Presenting activities from the Draft First Year Work Plan to Partners Working
Group members in Antigua/Barbuda and Dominica;
Completing bid documents for Business Service Providers for Antigua and
Dominica;
Submitting the COTS Draft Grants Manual; and
Implementing activities in all of the COTS components.

As part of the work planning and start up process, Chemonics fielded 23 short term people, in addition to the long term team, between early October and early November. This included home office assistance to establish temporary office space, open bank accounts, and establish telephone and internet communications. Short term technical people were fielded to participate in the rapid appraisal process, meeting with people in Antigua, Dominica, Barbados, and St. Lucia, including representatives from international and regional organizations. This culminated with preparing the work plan, the draft of which was submitted on November 15.

December also marked the completion of COTS’ first subcontract with Caribbean-Central American Action (CCAA), which provided financial support for their 29th annual regional conference.

In early December, the USG sent Diplomatic Notes to the respective counterpart governments (Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica). COTS will begin the registration process in both countries in early January.

COTS hired an Office Manager for the Dominica office, and an Office Manager, Administrative Assistant and Project Accountant for the Antigua office.

In early December Chemonics received the remaining approvals for long term TCN team member Earle Baccus, who will join the team in January 2006. USAID also provided approvals for Pol Klein, the new ‘Doing Business Component’ Team Leader who will join the team in January, and for Terence Slywka, who will replace Sutherland Miller III in mid-February as the Administrative Reform Specialist.

Per USAID’s request shortly after contract award, Chemonics is in the process of finalizing arrangements with a Risk Reduction specialist to work three-quarter time on COTS. Chemonics will work with USAID to review existing LOE and budget allocations in order to accommodate this position.

Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) Quarterly Report: January – March 2006

March 6, 2018

Progress Reports

Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) is a program funded by USAID/J-CAR to support achievement of USAID’s Regional Strategic Objective (RSO9) “Caribbean region positioned to succeed in an open trade environment.” Within the scope of RSO9, there are two Intermediate Results (IRs) that guide development and implementation of COTS activities. IR-1, “Market opportunities leveraged through open trade”, is further delineated into two lower level IR’s, which include IR-1.1, “Key regional impediments to open trade mitigated,” and IR-1.2, “Improved market access for target countries.” The second IR, IR-2, is “Natural assets and national investments protected.”

The COTS Team developed its work plan to incorporate a long term four year vision and overall intervention strategy for each of five components to guide implementation throughout the life of the program, and to achieve results in IR-1.1 and IR-1.2, and in IR-2. The five components, Governance, Doing Business, Public-Private Interface, Resilience to Natural Disasters, and Public Awareness, incorporate the Team’s understanding of the situation in each country, and specific interventions to rectify constraints and capitalize on opportunities in each of the component areas.

The Governance Component of COTS incorporates two activity areas: Trade Related Legal Reforms, and Improving the Business Climate through Reduction of Business Constraints and Clarity in Investment Rules. Activities within Trade Related Legal Reforms support IR1.1 and IR-1.2. Improving the Business Climate activities also support IR-1.1 and IR-1.2. COTS is implementing activities in its Doing Business Component to support IR-1.2. Activities in Public-Private Interface support IR-1.1 and IR-1.2. All of the activities within Resilience to Natural Disasters support IR-2. Finally, Public Awareness activities are fully cross-cutting, and support IR-1.1 and 1.2, as well as IR-2. It is within the scope of these components and the approved First Year Work Plan that COTS implemented activities during the quarter January 1, 2006 through March 31, 2006.

The quarter January through March 2006 represents the first full quarter of program implementation activities in all of the COTS components.

COTS implemented a number of activities during the quarter to improve the ability of the public and private sectors to understand international trade issues; become compliant with regional and international trade and treaty obligations; support public awareness about CSME; and improve the administrative environment for business.

To improve understanding of international trade issues, public and private representatives from Dominica, and a public sector representative from Antigua, participated in segments of an international trade policy course sponsored by the Centre for International Services at the University of the West Indies (UWI) campus in Barbados.

In Antigua, COTS financed the printing of a journal published by the government that addresses the opportunities that CSME offers to citizens and the private sector. COTS supplemented this public awareness effort by funding a local radio station to air a live ‘town hall’ style radio broadcast that had local and regional panelists responding to live audience questions about what CSME means for Antigua.

To support compliance with regional and international treaty obligations in Dominica, COTS executed a contract with UWI in Barbados for UWI to provide a full time legislative draftsperson for a one year period to work with the Solicitor General to draft a range of needed legislation. Drafting will begin in April.

In support of this same effort in Antigua, COTS is finalizing a contract with UWI to provide short term assistance for a one year period in legislative drafting, and a separate one year contract to ‘scrub’ existing legislation in both Antigua and Dominica to amend and/or eliminate legislation that is not compliant with CSME. This work will begin in April.

COTS efforts during the quarter to support administrative reform include support to Antigua’s tax reform efforts. COTS trained Inland Revenue Department (IRD) officials to improve their customer service to effectively explain to customers the registration, filing, and auditing requirements related to the new income tax regime that Antigua is implementing. COTS also prepared a new tax guide that outlines for
business the requirements on how to file corporate tax, withholding tax, sales tax, and statutory payroll tax. This draft guide is being reviewed by IRD and by a representative from CARTAC who is based at IRD. Once it is finalized, IRD will post this on its website, thereby making the guide easily accessible to the public.

In administrative reform in Dominica, during the quarter COTS worked closely with the government’s Reform Management Unit (RMU) to support improvement in the land tenure area. This initiative addresses both administrative reform and COTS public-private interface activities. At the request of the RMU, COTS is preparing to review and revise the system of land registration and management so that this process can be integrated and managed in one location, rather than being dispersed among a number of government agencies. COTS will implement this activity in conjunction with the RMU and the Dominica Land Tenure and Administration Task Force, a group that comprises public and private sector participants.

COTS public-private interface activities during the quarter in Antigua include completion of an economic analysis of the impact on including wheat and flour products on a list of protected items within the scope of the Treaty of Chaguaramas. Responding quickly to a request from the government, COTS completed the impact analysis, and the government is utilizing these results to negotiate better terms with regional partners to import lower cost flour. COTS is utilizing this action to reinvigorate the Business-Labour Advisory Committee to strengthen and regularize public-private dialogue.

COTS completed several major activities in competitiveness and is moving forward to improve the quality and breadth of services that business consulting companies offer. During the quarter, COTS completed its analysis of potential lead firms in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, assessing their commitment to grow and identifying the key problems that constrain their growth in order to develop practical, firm level solutions to remedy them. COTS will submit the team’s report in early April and begin implementation immediately.

Integrated with this activity are the services that business service providers (BSP) offer to clients. During the quarter, COTS completed the bid solicitation process in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, holding bidders conference in both countries, and receiving expressions of interest from throughout the Caribbean, and the United States. COTS expects to award the first BSP contract early next quarter, and integrate BSP activities with the firm level assistance program to improve competitiveness.

COTS responded to an urgent request from the Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association (DHTA) to assess the impact on tourism related businesses of the newly introduced VAT, and the impact of extremely high energy costs. The DHTA will use the results of this assessment to advocate a position with the government to improve the sector’s competitiveness based on factual analysis. This activity addresses several of the COTS implementation areas, including improving business competitiveness; strengthening the private sector’s ability to advocate on its behalf with government; and, improving the dialogue between the public and private sectors.

COTS is implementing public awareness activities to support the COTS components, and is working closely with regional organizations to integrate and leverage resources. In relation to the CSME, at the regional level COTS is working closely with the CSME Unit in Barbados, the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) in Barbados, and representatives from the OECS Secretariat to support their communication efforts to inform regional citizens about opportunities under CSME and other international trade agreements.

COTS is working with respective counterparts in Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda to develop CSME public awareness campaigns, and this includes developing appropriate messages in a user-friendly format to reach target audiences like youth. During the quarter COTS also confirmed its training for media workers in both Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda in April through the respective media workers unions in both countries. This activity will strengthen the media’s ability to understand and more accurately report on trade issues in the local media, thereby increasing the public’s understanding of regional and international trade issues. In order to measure the public’s change in perception towards regional integration, COTS is undertaking baseline surveys in both countries. The bidding process is complete, and the work will begin early in the next quarter.

Risk reduction has become a major focus for COTS. The team is working closely with Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) and Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and is strengthening its relationship with the OECS Secretariat. USAID has requested that COTS embark on a new regional risk reduction benchmarking activity. COTS provided USAID with a draft of some initial benchmarking measurements. Early in the next quarter COTS will work closely with CDB and move forward to develop this new tool.

COTS is working in Antigua to close the regulatory and operational gaps that exist in development policy and planning, and risk reduction and response. The first activity in this regard is the Integrated Development Planning Workshop, taking place in early April. COTS will advance this focus in the next quarter in Dominica.

Also in Dominica, COTS is implementing much needed coastal vulnerability and multihazard assessment work. The results from these activities will provide vital information to develop an informed national hazard mitigation policy and national hazard mitigation plan – the overarching framework – that is presently lacking in Dominica.

The Chemonics home office Project Management Unit strongly supported program implementation by completing a range of administrative activities to make the field offices in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica fully operational. During the quarter the field offices completed local program registration for COTS in both Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. Part of this effort includes the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) to ensure that field office staff and program commodities and information are protected in the event of natural disaster.

Chemonics completed substantial work during the quarter to populate and implement the Administrative Management Program (AMP). Per the task order requirement, AMP will provide USAID with 365 day, 24 hour, 7 calendar days a week access to an internal project website and reporting database. AMP should be fully operational early in the next quarter.

The Competitiveness Specialist (Pol Klein) and the Consulting Services and Association Development Specialist (Earle Baccus) were fielded on their long term assignments early in the quarter. Due to personal reasons, the Administrative and Regulatory Reform Specialist who was fielded (Terrence Slywka) returned to the United States. Chemonics expects that a new long term Administrative and Regulatory Reform Specialist will be fielded early in the next quarter.

In other personnel matters, the COTS Program Accountant (Sheridith Weston-Benta) and the Deputy Manager of the Strategic Activities Fund (Ruth Turner) also began work during the quarter. And, responding to USAID’s request to allocate more level of effort to risk reduction activities, Chemonics fielded Lead Risk Reduction Specialist Keith Ford late in the quarter. Mr. Ford is working on COTS on a three-quarter time basis.

USAID approved the COTS Grants Manual toward the end of this quarter, enabling COTS to utilize this mechanism to support program implementation activities. COTS expects to award its first grants in the next quarter to local private sector organizations in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica to support their development and to strengthen their ability to effectively represent their membership in dialogue with the public sector. Chemonics will be submitting a request to USAID to expand the type of grant mechanisms to be used so that COTS can also support a targeted range of activities in the public sector.

Chemonics has been working closely with USAID since February to make the necessary adjustments in the program budget to reflect the expected $8 million overall reduction in the life of project budget. COTS has delayed implementation on certain activities and anticipates reducing the scope and/or eliminating other activities pending final resolution with USAID of budget allocations and program priorities. Chemonics anticipates that USAID will finalize program priorities early in the next quarter so that Chemonics can finalize realignment of program activities, and work with USAID to complete a budget and program modification to reflect the changes. Chemonics understands that USAID will need to officially notify host country counterparts in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica of the reduced program budget and the realignment of program priorities.

Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) Quarterly Report: April – June 2006

March 6, 2018

Progress Reports

The USAID-funded Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) program’s main goal is to facilitate the transition of Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) countries to open trade and to enable these countries to become more competitive in the global economy. To achieve its very ambitious goals, in its third quarter, COTS focused on three broad, important initiatives:

Support the national governments of Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica in their efforts to improve the regulatory and business environment in their countries;
Respond to the private sector’s need to establish a better dialogue with government officials and to support their ability to compete more effectively within the scope of regional and international integration; and
In coordination with regional organizations, implement activities that result in quantifiable reductions in the countries’ exposures to natural disasters and support development that preserves the sensitive environmental resources of the region.

In order to provide a well-functioning system of governance, a country must have laws that govern its economic and social development. COTS is working closely with the University of the West Indies’ Center for International Services to provide technical assistance to enable Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica to meet legislative obligations within the scope of regional and international integration. In Antigua and Barbuda, COTS is providing a part-time legislative draftsperson to work closely with the attorney general and Ministry of Legal Affairs to draft critical legislation that must be enacted for the country to meet its obligations under CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and WTO. In Dominica, COTS is funding a short-term legislative draftsperson to support additional work that will begin with COTS funding in July. COTS provided additional support for Dominica’s solicitor general to attend a two-week intensive legislative drafting course with Tulane University’s International Legislative Drafting Institute. The solicitor general’s attendance at this course fulfills one of the activity goals of the first-year work plan: increase the pool of qualified legislative draftspersons in the Eastern Caribbean.

In order to enhance inter-ministerial communications in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, COTS interviewed all the permanent secretaries in both countries, as well as some of their staff, to identify targeted interventions for each country. In Antigua and Barbuda, COTS will work with host-country counterparts to establish a committee of permanent secretaries that will meet regularly to discuss matters requiring coordination across ministries or government agencies. In Dominica, COTS’ approach will focus on providing technical and material assistance to establish a central government Web site to promote communication and information sharing.

COTS greatly advanced its efforts to improve the business climate and remove barriers to investment during the past quarter. In Dominica, COTS is working closely with the World Bank and the European Union to assist with the restructuring of the National Development Corporation (NDC). In Antigua and Barbuda, COTS is awaiting passage of legislation to establish the Investment Promotion Authority, after which COTS will provide technical assistance to establish a new investment promotion agency in Antigua. COTS provided substantial input to the updated draft of the Antigua and Barbuda Investment Promotion Authority Act. COTS is a co-sponsor with the World Bank to include, for the first time, all six of the OECS countries in the Bank’s annual “Doing Business Survey.” This report, recognized internationally by investors and governments, benchmarks a country’s business and investment climate against countries around the world. It serves as an important tool to encourage administrative reform to improve the business operating environment.

In conjunction with the CSME Focal Points in each country, COTS supported activities to promote public awareness of the CSME to the general public. Working with the media worker associations in Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda, COTS supported a one-day dialogue with media workers to address the history of the regional integration movement, specific mechanics of the treaty, and provided an update as to where each country stood vis-à-vis their CSME obligations. The dialogue helped better define the role media workers play in educating the public on CSME issues. In Antigua and Barbuda, COTS helped develop a dissemination strategy to inform the public about activities the government sponsored during a week-long CSME awareness outreach program. COTS also held four “Public Outreach 101” workshops with public-sector agencies and private-sector associations, focusing on the mechanics of communicating trade issues to key stakeholders.

In addition, COTS funded Caribbean Vizion’s performances of “The Single Market Shop,” a theatrical presentation on CSME. Caribbean Vizion is a regional organization lobbying for cultural and economic cooperation between Caribbean people and their governments; they staged nine presentations in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. The dramatic presentation used humor, song, and dance to convey how the CSME can have a positive impact on peoples’ lives, and addressed many of the common concerns raised over regional integration, including crime, drugs, unemployment, and cultural identity. This was further enhanced by interaction between the cast, which hails from throughout the Caribbean, with the audience after each performance.

To support sustainable tourism development in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, COTS worked with the countries’ tourism associations to convene action-oriented workshops to prepare disaster business-recovery plans for businesses in the tourism industry. Both workshops were facilitated primarily by COTS’ risk reduction specialist, along with local disaster coordinators. The workshops fulfilled the objective to have key businesses in the major economic sectors of both countries better able to plan for, cope with, and manage the aftermath of natural disasters.

In support of international donor, government, and private-sector initiatives to implement risk reduction measures throughout the region, COTS began to develop a new tool, the Disaster Risk Management Benchmarking Tool (DRMBT), that countries will use to identify and quantify their exposure to a variety of natural hazards. The DRMBT provides a unique approach to address hazard mitigation in that it enables a country to proactively assess its position at the national and local levels across a spectrum of areas and then proactively implement measures to reduce the country’s exposure before a natural disaster occurs. This tool has the potential to offer enormous positive impact. It will enable governments and donors to assess how well a country is doing to improve its disaster risk profile. Governments can use the tool to garner resources to implement specific activities to reduce the country’s exposure to future natural hazards. Donors can use the tool to allocate resources in future development programs. In order to promote implementation of the DRMBT throughout the region, and to ensure sustainability after COTS ends, the OECS secretariat will spearhead the implementation of this new mechanism throughout the region. USAID and COTS are working closely with international organizations including CDERA, CDB, CIDA, UNDP, the World Bank, and CARICAD in this landmark activity. COTS expects that the DRMBT will be ready for use in early September and will work with Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda to implement it.

Finally, but very importantly, there have been two key issues that have had a significant impact on the program during the past quarter. The first issue was formal notification by USAID that COTS will experience a significant cut in funding, representing approximately 30 percent of the total program budget. The size of the cut itself, as well as several months of uncertainty about it, had two serious repercussions. The first is that the program delayed, and in some cases cancelled, a number of activities awaiting the outcome of budget discussions with USAID to detail the scope of the budget reduction and USAID priorities. Secondly, it became far more difficult to fully meet stakeholder expectations, which were raised when COTS began its start-up and initial implementation activities.

The nature of the COTS program — several distinct areas brought together in one programmatic package — has made it difficult to immediately reduce the long-term staff base since skills and resources in one area are not easily transferable to another. While a smaller team structure will be put in place over the course of the coming year, in the short term, COTS has to accept a thematically broad program with a significantly reduced depth of operational capacity.

A sub-issue related to the reduced budget is the variety of budgetary earmarks that comprise COTS’ funding. Specifically, the biodiversity earmark comprises 15.5 percent of funds currently obligated under the task order for the year, and 16.4 percent of expected obligations in July 2006. Activities funded by biodiversity earmarks have strict qualification requirements. As such, the COTS team, including Chemonics’ home office staff in Washington, D.C., has invested significant effort to fully understand the biodiversity code requirements and to properly interpret them in the context of an open-trade program. This included substantial coordination with USAID Mission staff and the USAID consultant currently undertaking a biodiversity threats analysis in the region.

COTS understands the importance that biodiversity plays in sustaining economic growth, in particular within the scope of a program whose main objective is to promote private-sector competitiveness through open trade. With this understanding in mind, COTS will ensure that program activities duly incorporate responses to specific threats faced by Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica’s bio-diverse environments while working to accomplish overall COTS program objectives.

Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) Quarterly Report: July – September 2006

March 6, 2018

Progress Reports

The USAID funded program Caribbean Open Trade Support – known as COTS – focused on implementing its second work plan that became effective on July 1, 2006, and supports activities through September 30, 2007. Reflecting a more strategic focus based on reduced funding that became effective during the current reporting period, COTS aggressively implemented activities in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and in strategic regional venues, and in all of its program areas – Doing Business; Governance; Reducing Risk; and Public Awareness.

During the quarter, COTS’ Doing Business team conducted the induction workshop for the new business service provider (BSP) in Dominica to support firm level assistance activities there. The BSP signed six memoranda of understanding (MOU) for these private sector firms to receive assistance during the next quarter. Sales results during the next twelve month period from these initial interventions are expected to exceed US$500,000. In Antigua and Barbuda, the team conducted diagnostics on twenty-eight firms, and completed the first two MOU’s. One of these clients will be establishing operations in Dominica and the other client has operations in Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia and Barbados. Sales results from this assistance are expected to reach more than US$250,000 over the next twelve month period.

COTS’ private sector capacity building work during the quarter is resulting in the establishment of alliances between four private sector associations in Antigua and Barbuda, and a separate alliance between four private sector associations in Dominica. This phenomenon is quite unique for the Eastern Caribbean and will support the associations’ ability to prepare policy agendas that will be used to engage their national policy makers and to promote dialogue on trade and economic policy issues. The private sector groups will use these policy agendas in regional private sector discussions.

COTS Governance activities made great strides in both legislative reform and administrative reform. COTS completed key pieces of legislation during the quarter, among them the Financial Services Act. This Act will enable Dominica to meet the requirements of the Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank pertaining to the establishment of a single regulatory unit for the regulation of offshore financial services and also meet its international obligations under the OECD’s Financial Action Task Force. Completion by COTS of the Draft Metrology Bill for Antigua and Barbuda supports the competitiveness of Antigua and Barbuda’s exports to Europe.

COTS completed the restructuring plan for the Statistics Division of Antigua and Barbuda’s Ministry of Finance and the Economy. The ministry utilized this plan as its supporting documentation to request a loan from the Caribbean Development Bank to finance a manager to implement the COTS restructuring plan. Working with Dominica’s Reform Management Unit and Land Administration Task Force, COTS’ assistance to reform the land administration and management process in Dominica began during the period. The results of this work are expected to reduce administrative barriers to acquiring, transferring and registering land for private sector development, and improve land use planning decisions, which should contribute to reducing population and structural exposure to natural hazards.

The Disaster Risk Management Benchmarking Tool (Btool) reached its draft final stage. Working with the OECS Secretariat’s Environment and Sustainable Development Unit, the tool was desk-tested in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In conjunction with the national disaster office coordinators, the team brought together a broad spectrum of public and private sector stakeholders to review the Btool before it becomes operational in the wider OECS. To ensure that the Btool is seen as an economic development planning tool rather than simply a disaster planning tool, the team conducted targeted sessions for permanent secretaries and senior policy makers to demonstrate how national governments can use the tool to improve the country’s position prior to a natural hazard event, which is far less costly than cleaning up in the aftermath.

Public Awareness activities continued to strongly support the implementation of other COTS components. Beginning in July, COTS funded a major public awareness campaign to support COTS’ IPR legislative activities in Dominica. Post-campaign survey results are due shortly. The baseline survey of the public sector, the private sector, and media workers got underway in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. Working with regional partners including the CRNM and the CSME Unit, COTS will utilize the results to develop additional training activities to better prepare public and private sector constituencies to participate in regional and international trade dialogue.

COTS has already begun working with the private sector associations in both countries to identify the policy analyst who will work with each of the groups to analyze trade issues and prepare position papers. This activity will get underway in the next quarter. Firm level assistance activities will continue and additional MOUs will be signed, resulting in additional sales for the program.

As a result of the passage of the long awaited Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority Act in July, in the coming quarter COTS will provide assistance in response to a request from the Minister of Finance and the Economy to assist the government to establish the new agency. In addition to ongoing work in land administration reform in Dominica, COTS assistance to restructure Dominica’s NDC and activities to improve customs will commence. COTS finalized preparations to support the launch of the World Bank’s OECS Doing Business Survey that will take place in St. Lucia in October. As a result of COTS funding, all six independent OECS countries appear in this important international assessment tool. Results from the World Bank Doing Business launch may result in identifying additional areas of intervention in administrative reform.

In addition to finalizing the Btool, COTS’ risk reduction activities will include work with private sector associations and their clients in both countries to prepare disaster preparedness and business continuity plans. COTS support to integrate and modernize the OECS Secretariat’s disaster preparedness library to make it accessible on line will also begin in the next quarter.

Working with the CRNM’s private sector unit, COTS public awareness and doing business teams will sponsor trade briefings for the private sector in Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda to enable constituents to both participate more effectively in trade dialogue and take better advantage of new opportunities within the open trade environment. COTS will commence its work with UWI’s Caribbean School of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) to develop a certificate level training course on reporting of trade issues targeted at media workers. Though COTS’ support will fund participants from Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, once developed the course will be open to other participants throughout the region.

COTS began implementation of its realigned work plan during this quarter. The new work plan, which was prepared in light of a 30% overall life of project funding reduction, incorporates activities to reflect the reduced funding level. In the next quarter COTS anticipates receiving the modification from USAID that will reflect this reduced funding and will prepare a revised technical scope of work. In July, COTS also submitted its draft Performance Management Plan (PMP), which it developed in accord with the realigned work plan. The outcome of the revised technical scope may require the PMP to be revised accordingly. During the quarter the program was advised of a further reduction in funds. Although the reduction did not come to fruition, they did cause further uncertainty in regard to proceeding with activities during the reporting period.

The program continues to work closely with USAID to obtain approval for specific COTS activities in order to qualify them as meeting the biodiversity earmark requirements. Once this determination is made, COTS will know if it needs to make changes or additions to program activities in order to comply with biodiversity funding requirements. This could have implications for activities throughout the overall program.

In light of the overall reduction in funds, COTS has begun to implement difficult but necessary changes in staffing to ensure that maximum resources are allocated to implementation activities. During the coming period, COTS will continue to realign as necessary, ensuring that program implementation proceeds smoothly.

Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) Quarterly Report: October – December 2006

March 6, 2018

Progress Reports

Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) met or exceeded all of its targets for this first quarter of the new program year. COTS’ Doing Business component surpassed all of its targets in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica for its demand driven growth initiatives. COTS surveyed close to thirty businesses during the quarter, and signed Memoranda of Understanding with 7 firms based on adjusted sales potential return on investment. COTS achieved 516% of its quarterly sales targets in Antigua and Barbuda, and in Dominica achieved 147% of its quarterly targets. COTS expects that the new interventions alone will result in more than US $1 million in sales over the life of the project.

COTS is finalizing its technical assistance to provide policy analysts to each of the new business alliances in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. Beginning early in the new year, the analysts will work with each of the alliances to establish a prioritized economic and trade policy agenda, coming out of which will be policy papers to inform a dialogue between the alliances and their respective public sector counterparts. This approach is a major step forward for the private sectors in both Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica to work together in their respective countries on policy issues that are of mutual concern to the wide range of private sector organizations that exist. This step is also welcomed by public sector colleagues, who often comment that they get little or no informed response or input from the private sector on important economic and trade policy issues.

COTS largely completed its work on legislative drafting to support the countries’ compliance with regional and international treaties and trade agreements. In Dominica, some legislative items were substituted for new items in order to move beyond delays resulting from policy decisions not yet taken by senior law makers. In spite of this substitution, COTS achieved 117% of its target in Dominica, and 300% of its legislative drafting target in Antigua and Barbuda. Important items completed during the quarter include revised draft bills to replace the existing National Development Corporation in Dominica with the new investment promotion agency, InvestDominica and new tourism agency, DiscoverDominica. In Antigua and Barbuda COTS completed important legislative drafting work on draft patent regulations. COTS expects that both governments will likely require some limited additional assistance to complete several outstanding legislative items in the next quarter, particularly in the area of standards.

Responding to a request from the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, COTS prepared a National Trade Policy Framework for Antigua and Barbuda. The framework provides the government with alternatives to establish a more effective public sector mechanism to support trade policy development and implementation, along with an assessment of sectors that offer more potential for economic growth in line with Antigua and Barbuda’s competitive advantages. The Minister of Finance and the Economy is expected to implement the recommendations as early as January 2007.

Working with the World Bank and the OECS Secretariat, COTS spearheaded the regional launch of the first Doing Business report for the OECS region. More than one hundred people, including representatives from all 6 OECS independent states, attended this landmark event in St. Lucia. The report provided the first opportunity for all 6 OECS countries to be benchmarked using this important and internationally recognized tool that assesses the ease of doing business in various countries. With Antigua and Barbuda’s overall ranking at 33, and Dominica’s overall ranking at 72, COTS is working with both countries to improve administrative processes such that each country’s ranking is expected to improve in the coming year. Also resulting from this work is a request from St. Kitts and Nevis that COTS support administrative reform efforts early in the next quarter to improve its ranking in the next Doing Business report.

During this quarter COTS provided important technical assistance to establish the Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority (ABIA). COTS prepared a corporate plan for the new agency, which proposes an organization structure, personnel functions, and marketing strategy, among other important recommendations. This is a major step forward to attract investment, ease business start-up, and improve transparency and timeliness in obtaining investment incentives. The government plans to open the new agency very early in the next quarter, and COTS anticipates providing additional technical assistance to ensure that the ABIA functions smoothly. In conjunction with this work, early in the next quarter COTS will also assist the Company Registrar in Antigua and Barbuda to improve the company registration process.

COTS completed the first phase of its technical assistance to support customs reform in Dominica by completing the human resource capacity assessment of Dominica’s Customs Agency. Resulting from this work, COTS expects that it will support Dominica to establish an Intelligence Unit, an important administrative reform initiative that should substantially speed up the customs clearance process, thereby reducing the time and cost to the importer and exporter. The time and cost to clear goods through customs is an important measure on the World Bank Doing Business report, and one in which Dominica has room to substantially improve its position.

Another important administrative reform component that COTS completed during the quarter is its support to Dominica’s Land Reform Task Force to reform the land management and administration process. Based on COTS’ work, the Task Force will meet in January in order to put forward its approach to implement the recommendations provided that will reduce the number of agencies and the number of processes and length of time required to complete a land transaction. This work also supports COTS’ Reducing Risk work, as the new integrated process will support improved decision making regarding land development in accord with exposure to natural hazards.

Working with the OECS Secretariat and the national disaster offices in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, local stakeholders completed their first national level assessment using the Disaster Risk Management Benchmarking Tool (BTool). The OECS secretariat expects to prepare submissions to each Cabinet in January that will analyze the BTool results, and highlight areas for each country to focus on in order to reduce national level vulnerability. COTS will use the results to identify additional areas of program intervention in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. The outcome of the assistance will be to improve each country’s score on the next annual BTool assessment. The OECS Ministers of Environment overwhelmingly endorsed the use of the BTool at their annual meeting, and CDERA has indicated that it wants to work with COTS and the OECS Secretariat to ensure that countries throughout the Caribbean utilize the BTool. COTS will work with the OECS Secretariat and CDERA early in the next quarter to begin this roll out.

COTS completed its technical assistance to the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit (ESDU) of the OECS Secretariat to develop an e-library system in order to make available the large number of documents that ESDU has in the area of disaster preparedness and environmental resources. COTS enabled ESDU to implement a software program that is being used throughout the wider Caribbean region. This program will make it possible for OECS member states to access this information via the on-line system, and it will be operational early in the new year.

COTS worked with private and public sector counterparts in Antigua and Barbuda to prepare disaster business plans, and sector preparedness and recovery plans in Dominica. Resulting from this work, COTS revamped the training materials to address the needs of smaller businesses that require preparedness and recovery plans. COTS will host additional sessions in the next quarter to work with smaller businesses to implement preparedness and recovery plans using the revised training materials. The Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association has also appointed a task force to oversee the completion of the Tourism Sector Disaster Plan by March.

During the quarter, COTS completed its baseline survey work of the private sector, public sector and media workers in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica to evaluate their level of understanding of business opportunities available via regional integration and international trade mechanisms, such as the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. The survey results generally indicate that although there is some support for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, there is still little understanding of the benefits to the OECS sub-region and there is still little confidence in their countries’ ability to benefit from the CSME. COTS is sharing the survey results with public and private sector colleagues at the national and regional levels to support new and revised programming to address issues raised by the survey.

In response to this, COTS is presently working with the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) to finalize private sector trade briefings in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica that will take place early in the next quarter to focus specifically on businesses that have succeeded by taking advantage of new opportunities under the CSME. To further support improved information dissemination, COTS completed its consultations with the CSME Unit to define the CSME website upgrading requirements that COTS will support in the next quarter. And, to ensure that media workers are better trained to accurately report on regional and international trade and economic policy issues, COTS will be contracting with CARIMAC to implement a certificate level training program for representatives of the media and public sector public relations officers in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica.

Chemonics International submitted a technical and financial modification to USAID in response to USAID’s notification of an expected 31% reduction in life of project funding, and the need to fulfill requirements in accord with biodiversity within the scope of the task order. Chemonics’ submission proposed that a new long term position be established to develop and implement a biodiversity component that is fully compliant with these earmark requirements. The first phase of this activity would include preparation of this component’s work plan in line with the threats assessment that USAID completed in 2006. Chemonics anticipates that USAID will complete its review of Chemonics’ response early in the next quarter, and will advise of any outstanding issues prior to completing the modification.

COTS is working closely with USAID to implement the new operational plan process that USAID is undertaking on a world wide basis. COTS is developing new indicators and targets in accord with the standardized program areas and indicators that USAID has developed to manage all of its programs.

COTS’ Administrative Reform Specialist, Mr. Swinburne Lestrade, departed at the end of the quarter in response to Dominica’s Prime Minister requesting his support to implement a number of important initiatives that are delayed. COTS’ new Administrative Reform Specialist, Mrs. Deborah Hackshaw, began work during the quarter, ensuring a smooth transition in this important program area.

COTS has also identified a qualified candidate to become the COTS Doing Business team leader. Chemonics will submit this approval request to USAID early in the next quarter.

Bolivia Land Titling Program (BLTP) Quarterly Report: January – March 2007

March 6, 2018

Progress Reports

The objective of the activity is to significantly improve security of property rights and expand individual access to land markets and to the full benefits of their land assets. To achieve this objective, the project is supporting the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA) and the Property Registry System (DDRR) in their respective efforts to title and register properties in the Cochabamba Tropics. The project provides technical assistance to INRA Cochabamba and the technical office of Villa Tunari, INRA Nacional, and the Sacaba offices of DDRR to strengthen and develop their institutional capacity to issue and register property titles.

Given the significant delays experienced this quarter, INRA has expressed the intention to adjust the targets programmed for the current and upcoming period which will impact the number of brigades and equipment needs for implementation. The project is working to procure the necessary equipment for the INRA brigades.

The following is a summary of the most important events that took place during the first quarter of 2007:

In the framework of the new National Land Titling Plan, in the end of January, INRA’s Nacional Director, agreed to move the post field operations and the Sistema Integrado de Saneamiento y Titulación (SIST) to the Villa Tunari offices. This shift – changing the base of operations of all personnel to the implementation area – is a pilot program that aims to increase the efficiency of services and facilitate the process by resolving conflicts in the field, coordinating activities with the municipalities, and having INRA Nacional focus only on the titling activities in the process. The project has been taking the necessary steps to create favorable conditions for the smooth functioning of INRA’s operating units in Villa Tunari. Similarly, the project made all the technological arrangements for field implementation with the SIST, also as a pilot process.
After meeting with the mayor of the Villa Tunari municipality, Feliciano Mamani, and discussing the proposed construction of a rural cadastre – part of the National Land Titling Plan — the project received an official request for support with the regularization and titling of this zone on behalf of the municipality. The collaborative effort regarding the elaboration and transferal of the rural cadastre to the municipality will be developed as a pilot for use at a national level. In late March, Kevin Barthel and Jorge Otero undertook an assignment to evaluate and formalize the proposal for the pilot rural cadastre in the Villa Tunari municipality.
As part of the initiative overcome bottlenecks in the regularization and titling process, the Project has reinitiated support to the office of Derechos Reales in Sacaba by contracting three judicial functionaries given the anticipated increase in registration activities during the present and upcoming periods.
Coordination with the Oficina Agraria de la Presidencia and the Superintendencia Agraria was also reactivated this quarter for the similar reasons listed above. The project contracted one person to work exclusively on INRA’s requests dealing with the Tropic of Cochabamba.
In addition to the Otero and Barthel assignments, Walter Galindo also undertook an assignment this quarter to assess the feasibility of regularization activities in large areas and the transition of post-field activities to the areas of implementation. Mariana Mendoza was also contracted to determine the implications of the changes in the legal instruments related to regularization and titling in Bolivia with regard to the activities developed by the project.
Among the various visits hosted by the Project during the quarter, the visit from INRA Nacional functionaries accompanied by Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) personnel to learn about the project’s experiences and tools developed for the administration of resources in support of regularization and titling is of particular importance.
Another important high profile visit that took place during this quarter was that of the new director of Alternative Development in USAID/Bolivia, Mary Norris and Chemonics’ president, Richard Dreiman. Both traveled to BLTP’s offices in Villa Tunari and participated in the presentation and exposition of the project’s activities in the region.
Also as part of ARCo’s strategy to support the Vice ministry of Coca and Integral Development, the Unidad de Desarrollo Integral (UDI) was established in the Cochabamba Tropics with headquarters in Villa Tunari. Par of the units mandate is to provide follow up to projects implemented in the zone. As such, they have planned periodic coordination meetings to obtain timely information regarding the activities of the projects working in the area.