Document Type: 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.

HIGHLIGHT OF SECOND QUARTER EVENTS

Ownership Verification and Titling

Despite the delays experienced this quarter, INRA ratified their commitment to achieve the targets included in the annual FARA, resulting in an adjustment of the personnel and equipment required to do the work. Accordingly, BLTP procured and rented additional equipment to facilitate INRA’s work, including personal use items for the field staff such as tents, sleeping bags, vests and water proof clothing, among others. Additional activities that BLTP undertook to ameloriate the impact of the delays and to facilitate the quick start- up of activities once the hiring was completed include:

• Contracting INRA’s ex-functionaries directly to organize and systematize the technical, juridical and graphic information included in the files in order to facilitate the field work.
• Setting up a training series to improve the understanding, ability and skills of the newly hired staff, as they were incorporated. This targeted training included the juridical, technical and administrative aspects of the job as well as tropical disease prevention and first aid, among others.
• Re-initiated 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.
• Re-activated coordination with the Oficina Agraria de la Presidencia and the Superintendencia Agraria. The project contracted one person to work exclusively on INRA’s requests dealing with the Cochabamba Tropics.
• Procured necessary equipment to match the increase in the number of brigades and field personnel
• Started a public outreach campaign, using mass media (mainly radio and printed publications), to promote and educate residents on the importance of ownership verification and titling.
• Set-up a bi-lingual outreach window where clients can access to information on the status of their titles and obtain responses to any question related to the regularization process.

Institutional Strengthening

BLTP continues to contribute significantly to the institutional strengthening of INRA at the national level. The current National INRA Director is in effect using the BLTP tools and methodologies developed as a model to make changes throughout the organization and the way in which it carries out the regularization process. Among the most significant are:

• Moving all post field operations and 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 National focus only on the titling activities in the process. Per this plan, all staff formerly housed in the departmental office and some in the national office have been transferred to the Cochabamba Tropics (Villa Tunari). This decision is not only for the Cochabamba Tropics effort, but for all regularization activities throughout the country by inclusion in the new National Land Titling Plan.
• BLTP made all the technological arrangements for field implementation with the SIST, also as a pilot process. These are important developments in INRA modus operandi that should eliminate the old practice of bouncing documentation between the field, departmental and national offices for corrections/additions. All work will be done in the field, leaving quality control and final processing of the titles at the national level.
• In meetings with INRA’s National Director and INRA’s Executive team, it was agreed that BLT P will support the modernization of the SIST’s web platform to facilitate remote access to the system via internet. The goal is to finalize this upgrade by December 2007.

Municipal Cadaster

Amendment six re-introduced into the contract the task of installing a municipal cadastre. Second quarter BLTP activities related to the installation of the first integrated municipal cadastre in the country include:

• An official request for support in the installation of the first integrated municipal cadastre in the country by the Villa Tunari Mayor Feliciano Mamani and the Municipal Council, INRA and the Vice Ministry of Housing and Urban Development
• Early in the quarter, BLTP Consultants Kevin Barthel and Jorge Otero undertook an assignment to assess the feasibility and design a formal proposal for the pilot rural cadastre in the Villa Tunari municipality
• In the latter part of the quarter, BLTP started implementation of the first integarted Municipal Cadastre by visiting parties involved in the Municipal Cadaster (USAID, INRA, VMVU, GMVT) to ratify their participation and commitment with this activity and their compromise to have a
  functioning cadastre before the end of the project.
• BLTP team prepared the terms of reference for the personnel that will participate in the Municipal Cadaster and signed a FARA with the Municipality of Villa Tunari to provide financing of the cadaster activities for this municipality.
• BLTP reformulated the budget for this activity to optmize the relation tasks/costs taking into account the logistic support provided by the Villa Tunari office and updated the work plan of activities.
• Consultant Jorge Otero returned to the project to start the implementation of the Cadaster and insure that all elements are in place for a successful operation.

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.

THIRD QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

OWNERSHIP VERIFICATION AND TITLING

During the reporting period BLTP achieved several significant advances. First, President Evo Morales Ayma signed 3,088 titles of agrarian property that had completed the regularization process with BLTP support. The owners received the titles symbolically in an act that took place on August 2, 2007, Agrarian Reform Day. These titles were then registered in the office of Derechos Reales. 1,185 additional property titles will be registered and will be presented to their owners in the next quarter.

The Bolivian Government completed work on the regulations governing the new Agrarian Reform Law ( Law3545 Reconducción Comunitaria de la Reforma Agraria). The regulations shortens the time and cost of processing a land title in the entire country. The regulations incorporate three key methodologies and processes developed by BLTP in the Tropics of Cochabamba:

• “Saneamiento interno” whereby the community comes to an agreement of property boundaries both of individual land owners and of the community itself before INRA starts the task of delimiting and measuring each property
• Use of the “Without More Paperwork” (“Sin más trámite”) ownership verification procedures, which reduces the steps and processing time
• Elimination of dispute time frames when property owners agree on the ownership of a particular property. This avoids several unnecessary legal steps.

Another noteworthy change in the regularization process is the transfer of the valuation of property function, which applies to small properties and is pre-established in the Law, from the Agrarian Superintendent to INRA. This change further accelerates the process and lowers the cost of regularization by eliminating a step that could take weeks to complete.

During the reporting period BLTP also promoted several activities to counter the impact of delays in the titling process caused by bottlenecks in the President’s Office. These activities included:

• Contracting three additional judicial staff at the office of Derechos Reales in Sacaba in anticipation of the increase in registration activities during the present and upcoming periods
• Reorganizing the INRA field teams to increase efficiency and maximize resources
• Maintaining an ongoing outreach campaign to inform the communities of the status of the regularization process, to emphasize the importance of having a legally registered title, and to highlight the installation of the first integrated municipal cadastre in Villa Tunari
• Maintaining the outreach window in the INRA office in Villa Tunari that offers information in Quechua and Spanish about the process and status of each title. This is a small but strategic activity for the project.

INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING

In response to the new legislation and in order to speed up its implementation, BLTP supported INRA in the development of new instruments for ownership verification and titling to be used in field and office activities.

The products developed as a result of this collaboration include:

• Technical and juridical forms designed to gather information from the field and a manual for filling in the forms.
• A system for calculating the value of rural properties
• Templates for the production of the ownership verification final resolutions and for the adaptation of the Sistema Integrado de Saneamiento y Titulación (SIST) to the new Regulation

After these instruments were developed, BLTP supported the training of 150 INRA staff on the contents of the new law and its regulations and the use of the forms for gathering technical and juridical data. Also all the staff received copies of the new regulations.

Using these new formats, INRA personnel re-processed 150 final resolutions of ownership verification at the end of September, which should be signed by the President in the next quarter.

The project also identified coordination and relationship problems among the INRA personnel. In order to address these issues, BLTP organized a teamwork and motivation workshop (Taller de Motivación, Integración y Trabajo en Equipo) with the INRA staff, led by Vicente Delle Piane, an
experienced human resources facilitator.

MUNICIPAL CADASTRE

Amendment Six to the contract between Chemonics International and USAID re-introduced into the contract the task of installing a municipal cadastre. Third quarter BLTP activities related to the installation of the first integrated municipal cadastre (urban – rural) in the country included:

• Supporting a multidisciplinary and multi-institutional technical team with personnel from INRA Nacional and the Viceministry of Housing and Urban Development (Viceministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo), and the Municipality of Villa Tunari charged with developing the regulations and procedures for the transfer of information needed to develop the municipal cadastre from INRA to a municipal government
• Modifying the existing FARA with the municipality to include the incorporation of rural property information (provided by INRA) into the urban cadastre and the regularization of urban property in ten small urban centers. Training municipal and INRA personnel in the Cadastre software and management of land measuring equipment.
• Updating and improving existing geographical information. BLTP signed an agreement with F57, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, in order to obtain satellite images (IKONOS) of all of the Tropic of Cochabamba from previous years and aerial photos from September 2007 which are to be shared with the municipality and INRA.
• Organizing the Seminar on the Integrated Municipal Cadastre (Seminario sobre Catastro Integrado) in La Paz, with the participation of INRA, the Ministry of Public Works, the Ministry of Development Planning, the Vice Ministry of Land, the municipal government of Villa Tunari, the National Institute of Statistics, the Prefect of La Paz, the Agrarian Superintendent, the College of Geographic Engineers and others interested in learning about the on-going cadastre installation in Villa Tunari.

It is important to note that among the outcomes of the Seminar are an operational interinstitutional agreement between the municipality, the Vice Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, and INRA to develop and implement an information transfer system among institutions for the formation of the Cadastre, and the procedures for delimiting the urban radius of population centers. This is an agreement that transcends the municipality and has national impact.

The seminar also served to rekindle the idea of formulating a new Cadastre Law. Supporting the development of the first integrated municipal cadastre is not accidental but proposed as part of a strategy, formulated after the exhaustive study BLTP carried out in 2005 to assess the adequacy of the current legal and institutional frameworks that govern the current cadastre system in Bolivia. The basic conclusion and recommendation was that a new law should be developed from the bottom up, that is, start at the municipal level and use that experience to catalyze the revision of the current legislation.

The Land Governance Support Activity (LGSA) supports the establishment of more effective land governance systems, ready to implement comprehensive reforms to improve equitable access to land and security of tenure, so as to facilitate inclusive sustained growth and development, ensure peace and security, and provide sustainable management of the environment. Tetra Tech and partners Landesa, Namati, Collaborative Decision Resources Associates (CDR), Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), and Parley form a collaborative team providing technical and organizational assistance to the Government of Liberia (GOL), civil society, and communities in their land rights reform process.

The year two project work plan continues to support USAID’s engagement in the sector. While the Liberia Land Authority Act passed the legislature and was signed into law by the President in early October no appointments of Commissioners nor of a Transition Committee were made by the end of the quarter.

Nonetheless LGSA continued to implement components of its year two work plan focusing on the two broad Activity objectives: the land governance structure (i.e. establishing and operationalizing the Liberia Land Authority [LLA]) and the development and testing of a methodology for implementation of the Land Rights Policy (Law), specifically around the recognition of customary tenure.

Working within this broad framework of the Liberia Land Authority Act, the LGSA Land Governance Advisor and Land Administration Specialist developed a draft organizational structure which delineates the functions of each department and unit under that department as well as staffing requirements. This draft organizational structure, including staff structure and functions of departments and sub units was completed during this quarter. LGSA has also finalized an implementation strategy for the transition team during this quarter which will become a working document for the Transition Committee once it is established and will be revised accordingly.

During the first year of LGSA the project developed a set of research topics to inform the process for the recognition of customary land. Seven broad research topics were identified and research was undertaken on six of the seven. LGSA hosted a two day workshop in early November focused on research findings and the next steps for LGSA activities around the process for recognition of customary land. LGSA partners presented findings of studies on boundary identification and negotiations, current land dispute resolution models, models for community land governance, women’s land rights, definition of community membership, and the political ecology of land and agriculture concessions in Liberia. A number of these research activities are ongoing, having been broadened into
other geographical areas to ensure the ability to generalize findings for future pilot site selection.

LGSA concluded its regional media training program for broadcast journalists as well as hosted the first National Media Conference on Land. Public information is a critical component of the land reform agenda and feedback from all workshops indicated the enormity of the task ahead.

LGSA also continued its support for the Women’s Land Rights Task Force and its engagement with government agencies and members of the civil society and non-governmental organization communities.

The Land Governance Support Activity (LGSA) supports the establishment of more effective land governance systems, ready to implement comprehensive reforms to improve equitable access to land and security of tenure, so as to facilitate inclusive sustained growth and development, ensure peace and security, and provide sustainable management of the environment. Tetra Tech and partners Landesa, Namati, Collaborative Decision Resources Associates (CDR), Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), and Parley form a collaborative team providing technical and organizational assistance to the Government of Liberia (GOL), civil society, and communities in their land rights reform process.

The Year 2 project work plan continues to support USAID’s engagement in the sector. The Liberia Land Authority Act passed the Legislature and was signed into law by the President in October 2016, and in the last quarter, a third commissioner was appointed to and confirmed on the Liberia Land Authority (LLA), so as to form a quorum of commissioners, which the LLA was waiting for to further advance its implementation. Shortly after the Senate confirmed the third commissioner, the LLA hired its Executive Director.

LGSA provided technical support to the LLA, in its development of a logo, organizational structure and staffing chart, Year 1 budget, five-year work plan and budget, legal and regulatory reform processes, conceptual design for a Regional Land Governance Office (RLGO) and transition plan, now that a Transition Committee has been appointed by the President.

Support for the passage of the Land Rights Act (LRA) continued this quarter, with LGSA providing editorial support for language contained in the LRA as well as facilitating a public hearing on May 22, 2017. The LRA has subsequently been published in the newspaper and more consultations are anticipated in Quarter 4.

LGSA partners SDI and Parley and the GOL continue to work to improve community-based procedures for and conduct public outreach on customary land recognition based on their existing process as well as the findings of the research conducted by LGSA. The focus of both Parley and SDI’s efforts has been on issues surrounding boundary identification, boundary harmonization, and testing mobile mapping tools, in their respective areas and communities. LGSA also worked with a Land Rights Advisor to review the Tenure Facility’s community self-identification methodology, USAID’s PROSPER project and other Tetra Tech experiences to best learn from programs focused on community land rights and forestry.

LGSA and its partner, Landesa, conducted research for an upcoming report on Women’s Land Rights. The research team traveled to Grand Bassa, Nimba, and Maryland counties in April and May 2017. The Women’s Land Rights Taskforce (WLRTF) and Civil Society Working Group used some of these findings to inform priorities to present at the public hearing of the LRA. In addition, a key finding – the strong majority of marriages upcountry are presumptive marriages – informed the WLRTF collaboration with the Governance Commission, and presumptive marriage will be part of a constitutional amendment in the upcoming constitutional referendum.

LGSA conducted a nationwide media campaign this quarter that reached 14 of 15 counties, with activities in the final county, Montserrado, to conclude early next quarter. The focus of the campaign was on raising awareness on the Criminal Conveyance Act and the benefits of passing the LRA. LGSA developed eight new materials and conducted 74 activities over the course of the campaign. LGSA also supported the Press Union of Liberia’s Media Awards in June 2017 by providing prizes for exceptional reporting on the Land Sector.

LGSA hosted a variety of stakeholders in a two-day strategic planning session in support of developing a valuer and appraiser entity that will be responsible for ensuring standards and methods of regulatory organizations. This eventual valuer and appraiser entity will contain a Board of Accreditation and Certification that will be responsible for maintaining standards and methods.

The Land Governance Support Activity (LGSA) supports the establishment of more effective land governance systems, ready to implement comprehensive reforms to improve equitable access to land and security of tenure, so as to facilitate inclusive sustained growth and development, ensure peace and security, and provide sustainable management of the environment. Tetra Tech and partners Landesa, Namati, Collaborative Decision Resources Associates (CDR), Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), and Parley form a collaborative team providing technical and organizational assistance to the Government of Liberia (GOL), civil society, and communities in their land rights reform process.

The Year 2 project work plan continues to support USAID’s engagement in the sector. The Liberia Land Authority Act passed the Legislature and was signed into law by the President in October 2016, and in the last quarter, two commissioners were appointed to and confirmed on the Liberia Land Authority (LLA) and another three are anticipated to be confirmed in the coming quarter.

LGSA provided technical support to the LLA, in its development of an organizational structure and staffing chart, Year 1 budget, five-year work plan and budget, legal and regulatory reform processes, and transition plan for the LLA once all commissioners are confirmed. Though the exact mechanism/locations for decentralization have yet to be decided, LGSA supported the LLA’s eventual decentralization process, over the quarter, by creating criteria necessary to establish pilot regional land offices. Further refinement of the criteria is anticipated next quarter. Finally with respect to the support to the LLA, LGSA drafted terms of reference for the establishment of and activities to be implemented by a Data Standards Committee.

LGSA partners SDI and Parley and the GOL continue to work to improve community-based procedures for and conduct public outreach on customary land recognition based on their existing process as well as the findings of the research conducted by LGSA. The focus of both Parley and SDI’s efforts has been on issues surrounding boundary identification, boundary harmonization, and testing mobile mapping tools, in their respective areas and communities.

During the quarter, LGSA maintained contact with and provided technical support to journalists who were trained in the previous quarter on reporting on the land sector. The LLA and Parley, with support from the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), held four one-day regional awareness trainings on the Liberia Land Authority Act and Land Rights Bill among various stakeholders, along with a total of 40 previously-trained land sector journalists. LGSA staff also met with female chiefs and elders in five counties to encourage communities to engage their respective law makers to pass the Land Rights Bill into law. Similarly, LGSA-trained deejays aired land specific content on 16 radio stations across 11 counties, with much of it focused on the importance of passing the Land Rights Bill.

LGSA continued its support to the Women’s Land Rights Taskforce (WLRTF) and Civil Society Working Group, particularly through a joint review of the Land Rights Bill and subsequent presentation to the LLA on areas of concern and recommended changes. LGSA also provided assistance to the WLRTF in developing a concept note and budget, so that the taskforce can sustain itself.

Forty-nine private and public land surveyors received training this quarter via two courses – Processional Practice for Land Surveyors and Establishing a Private Practice in Surveying and Mapping – in Bomi and Margibi. These trainings had the added benefit of starting the development of a Code of Ethics/Conduct for the Association of Public Land Surveyors of Liberia (APLSUL) and private surveyors.

As part of the Feed the Future (FTF) initiative, USAID has invested in several agricultural projects in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) and is seeking to develop focused land tenure programming to support USAID’s existing and planned investments in the region.

The Land Tenure Assistance (LTA) activity seeks to clarify and document land rights, support land use planning efforts, and increase local understanding of land use and land rights. It is anticipated that the interventions will reduce land tenure-related risks and lay the groundwork for sustainable agricultural investment for both smallholders and commercial investors throughout the corridor and in the value chains of focus for Tanzania’s FTF program.

Local sustainability is a critical component of the LTA activity. The goal of this activity is to empower district and village land institutions in the districts targeted by the LTA to carry forward the capacity building and land administration process independently (and with little or no outside financial support or assistance) when LTA concludes.

In carrying out its activities, LTA collaborates and coordinates with the Government of Tanzania and other donor programs to produce complementary programming that is timely, cost-effective, and sustainable.

LTA also coordinates closely with, and utilizes lessons learned from, the USAID Mobile Application to Secure Tenure (MAST) pilot project, which tested an approach for the mapping of land parcels, adjudication, and delivery of Certificates of Customary Right of Occupancy (CCROs) using an open source mobile application.

The Land Tenure Assistance (LTA) program works in the Districts of Iringa and Mbeya to provide assistance to local level authorities in the delivery of land tenure services under the Village Land Act No.5, 1999 and the Land Use Planning Act No.6, 2007.

LTA provides support to the implementation of land tenure regularization and first issuance and registration of CCROs and Village Land Use Plans (VLUP) in 41 selected villages (36 villages in Iringa District and 5 villages in Mbeya District). In addition to these key activities, support is also being provided to capacity building at both District and Village levels. Years 1 and 2 and 3 are focusing on the main task of building capacity in Iringa District. Capacity building activities will then be extended to Mbeya District Council through the District Land Office commencing in Year 3 and through Year 4. LTA work is undertaken under four activities re-stated here as follows:

Activity 1: Assist villages and District administrations leaders and institutions in completing the land use planning process and delivering CCROs in selected villages within districts of Iringa and Mbeya.

Activity 2: Educate and build capacity of village land governance institutions and individual villagers to complete the land use planning and CCRO process, effectively manage land resources, respect women’s, youth and pastoralist’s land rights and build agriculture-related business skills.

Activity 3: Educate and build capacity of district-level land governance institutions in Mbeya District to complete the land use planning and CCRO process (to be conducted Y3 ’18).

Activity 4: Build capacity to use the MAST application throughout the SAGCOT and nationally.

USAID’s Feed the Future Tanzania Land Tenure Assistance (LTA) has successfully completed project start-up and ten months of project implementation in FY2016. Under the technical leadership of Chief of Party Clive English, LTA is developing a comprehensive system for participatory, low-cost first registration/regularization of land tenure that will be replicable, scalable and sustainable for future implementation by the Tanzanian Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlement Development (MLHHSD). Starting from the basic software development and initial field results of the Mobile Application to Secure Tenure (MAST) Pilot, LTA has engaged DAI’s extensive expertise in international best practice for mass land registration and supporting technology, to develop a customized, community based, low cost, scalable solution that will enable not only first registration, but also long-term management of land transactions.

COP Clive English and GIS Application Developer Alexander Solovov, in close collaboration with the Iringa District Lands Office, provided the vision and roadmap for LTA to create a comprehensive system customized to the Tanzanian context. LTA has made significant progress in implementing that roadmap – including drafting a thorough set of procedures for first registration, creating the public outreach, communication, training and fieldwork materials needed to implement those procedures, conducting in-depth assessments of MAST and scoping the necessary improvements to upgrade this technology into a fully functional mobile mapping application that will be integrated with Tanzanian land law, regulation and procedures.

Close collaboration among USAID Tanzania and the LTA field and home office teams has achieved:

• An efficient project start-up
• Building strong relationships with the District Land Office and other key District stakeholders
• Creation of land administration procedures and public outreach materials for first registration/regularization of customary rights in compliance with Tanzanian law and regulation
• Completion of demarcation and adjudication in the first target village, with 838 parcels mapped
• Resolution of several unanticipated challenges regarding the transition from the prior USAID pilot project (MAST)
• Program adjustment to USAID’s direction to change target Districts
• Extensive coordination and program implementation adjustments for USAID’s Randomized Control Trial Impact Evaluation
• Working closely with USAID to develop two contract modifications that 1) incorporated new directives from the Government of Tanzania on LTA target Districts and 2) restructured LTA’s staffing pattern and realigned LTA’s budget to adjust to the new requirements following the transition from the MAST pilot project
• Completion of reporting requirements

Below is a snapshot of FY2016 in phases:

Operational and Technical Start-Up:

Start-up activities commenced in December 2015. Under the leadership of Acting Chief of Party Catherine Johnston and Start up Manager Chris Blatnik, DAI mobilized a start-up team in early January with field and home office backstopping to support staff recruitment, establish an office, set up bank accounts, procure vehicles, establish and train staff on DAI and USAID policies, procedures and systems in financial, administrative and project management, and complete all other administrative and management tasks associated with project start-up.

Key Personnel Chief of Party Clive English and Land Administration Specialist Alphonce Tiba finalized their employment agreements and mobilized to Tanzania in late January to participate in the LTA Kick-off Meeting and draft the Inception Report. LAS Alphonce Tiba then completed demobilization from his prior position and fully mobilized as LTTA on March 1.

The LTA contract defined the target Districts as Kilombero, Iringa and Mbeya. The contract directed that technical implementation begin in 26 identified villages in Kilombero District. However, in February, the MLHHSD informed USAID Tanzania that there was an overlap with the DFID LTRSP project in Kilombero District, and USAID Tanzania instructed DAI to eliminate work in Kilombero and to focus initial LTA activities in Iringa Rural District, with later work to be undertaken in Mbeya District as per contract. The contract was formally amended in July 2016 to reflect this change. This unanticipated change in target Districts created significant delays in implementation, as the process of village selection needed to be coordinated with Iringa Rural District government as well as the USAID Impact Evaluation. LTA worked with the Iringa Rural District Land Office to select six initial villages based on District Land Office priorities and LTA program requirements, and began collecting data and imagery necessary for field work implementation.

The elimination of the pre-determined Kilombero District villages enabled USAID to implement a Randomized Control Trial Impact Evaluation (IE). LTA provided extensive inputs into the design of the IE, facilitated field research by the IE team, and continues to collaborate in the RCT village selection process. Work in the six selected villages continues and will not be included in the IE.

MAST Handover and Improvements:

The LTA contract anticipated the handover of a fully functional Mobile Application to Secure Tenure that would require no modifications. The LTA team assumed that this fully functional application would be designed in accordance with and be accompanied by a set of land administration procedures for first registration/regularization of customary rights, including public outreach materials. The LTA contract also anticipated a rapid transition from the MAST Pilot Project within the first quarter of LTA implementation. Unanticipated challenges included the technical weaknesses of the application on mission critical features such as mapping accuracy, creating complete parcel index maps and recording correct unique claimant identification; the lack of integration of the application with Tanzanian land administration procedures; the lack of systematic procedures for implementation of first registration; and the absence of public outreach materials. In addition, the extension of the MAST Pilot period of performance resulted in a 6 month overlap and a long delay in the handover of the complete MAST application software and data produced by the pilot project.

These challenges resulted in significant delays in LTA technical activities, and significant unanticipated expenditures for identifying and proposing solutions to technical weaknesses. LTA has successfully overcome these challenges by developing from the ground up a set of comprehensive land administration procedures and public outreach materials for first registration/regularization of customary rights; by documenting and proposing solutions to software application weaknesses; and developing a budget modification to enable the implementation of these improvements.

Program Implementation and Field Work:

When LTA gained access to the MAST pilot software application, and the data and maps created during the pilot, it was clear that significant preparatory work was required before field work could begin. In addition, the acquisition of baseline data and imagery from the District Land Office and USAID LTRM was required to set up the initial six villages for field work.

As discussed above, the establishment of operational procedures that could be readily applied to first registration was completed in collaboration with the DLO between April and July 2016. This included the creation of public outreach materials and training packages for key stakeholders including the Village Council, Village Assembly, and volunteer village parasurveyors and adjudicators that would conduct the demarcation and adjudication in the villages. Special emphasis was put on key messages and training materials specifically targeting women and women’s land rights.

Simultaneously, LTA was assessing MAST and developing a comprehensive understanding of the improvements necessary to create a fully functional mobile application that supported low-cost participatory first registration procedures in compliance with Tanzanian law. This was done in close collaboration with the District Lands Office. Improvements necessary to achieve an acceptable level of functionality (such as accurate and consistent capture of claimant identification) were completed by LTA’s IT/GIS Application Designer. This made it possible for field work to begin in the first village, Kinywang’anga, in July 2016. Field work began with program introductions to village authorities, followed by outreach and awareness raising about the LTA program with the entire village, in-depth trainings for Village Council members, and targeted education/training sessions at the hamlet level and with women’s groups. DLO staff played an important role in assisting with all of the field work. Para-surveyors and adjudicators were trained and supervised carefully in demarcation and adjudication of parcels.

Mapping and adjudication of 838 parcel claims by 359 unique claimants was completed in September 2016. Seven parcels were recorded as in dispute. The average number of parcels per claimant was 2.5, but the range included individuals claiming up to twelve parcels. 55 percent of all claims were from female claimants, and of those claimants 68% claimed single tenancy for their parcels. 21 percent of all claimants were younger than 35 years.

As part of project implementation, LTA also submitted all required reports including the Inception Report, Annual Workplan, Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, Gender and Vulnerable Groups Plan, monthly reports, and quarterly reports. LTA also worked closely with USAID Tanzania to develop and submit two contract modifications. The first was for the change in target Districts (described above) and was approved in July 2016. The second was for a budget modification including a realignment and ceiling increase to facilitate the necessary MAST improvements and to establish a staffing profile better aligned with LTA’s current technical needs.

As part of the Feed the Future (FTF) initiative, USAID has invested in several agricultural projects in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) and is seeking to develop focused land tenure programming to support USAID’s existing and planned investments in the region.

The Land Tenure Assistance (LTA) activity seeks to clarify and document land ownership, support land use planning efforts, and increase local understanding of land use and land rights. It is anticipated that the interventions will reduce land tenure-related risks and lay the groundwork for sustainable agricultural investment for both smallholders and commercial investors throughout the corridor and in the value chains of focus for Tanzania’s FTF program.

Local sustainability is a critical component of the LTA activity. The goal of this activity is to empower district and village land institutions in the districts targeted by the LTA to carry forward the capacity building and land administration process independently (and with little or no outside financial support or assistance) when LTA concludes.

In carrying out its activities, LTA collaborates and coordinates with the Government of Tanzania and other donor programs to produce complementary programming that is timely, cost-effective, and sustainable.

LTA also coordinates closely with, and utilizes lessons learned from, the USAID Mobile Application to Secure Tenure (MAST) pilot project, which tested an approach for the mapping of land parcels, adjudication, and delivery of Certificates of Customary Right of Occupancy (CCROs) using an open source mobile application.

The Land Tenure Assistance (LTA) program works in the Districts of Iringa and Mbeya to provide assistance to local level authorities in the delivery of land tenure services under the Village Land Act No.5, 1999 and the Land Use Planning Act No.6, 2007.

LTA provides support to the implementation of land tenure regularization and first issuance and registration of CCROs and Village Land Use Plans (VLUP) in 41 selected villages (36 villages in Iringa District and 5 villages in Mbeya District). In addition to these key activities, support is also being provided to capacity building at both District and Village levels. Years 1 and 2 and 3 are focusing on the main task of building capacity in Iringa District. Capacity building activities will then be extended to Mbeya District Council through the District Land Office commencing in Year 3 and through Year 4. LTA work is undertaken under four activities re-stated here as follows:

• Activity 1: Assist villages and District administrations leaders and institutions in completing the land use planning process and delivering CCROs in selected villages within districts of Iringa and Mbeya.
• Activity 2: Educate and build capacity of village land governance institutions and individual villagers to complete the land use planning and CCRO process, effectively manage land resources, respect women’s, youth and pastoralist’s land rights and build agriculture-related business skills.
• Activity 3: Educate and build capacity of district-level land governance institutions in Mbeya District to complete the land use planning and CCRO process.
• Activity 4: Build capacity to use the MAST application throughout the SAGCOT and Nationally.

As part of the Feed the Future (FTF) initiative, USAID has invested in several agricultural projects in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) and is seeking to develop focused land tenure programming to support USAID’s existing and planned investments in the region.

The Land Tenure Assistance (LTA) activity seeks to clarify and document land ownership, support land use planning efforts and increase local understanding of land use and land rights. It is envisioned that the interventions will reduce land tenure-related risks and lay the groundwork for sustainable agricultural investment for both small holders and commercial investors throughout the corridor and in the value chains of focus for Tanzania’s FTF program.

Local sustainability is a critical component of the LTA activity. The goal of this activity is to empower district and village land institutions in the districts targeted by LTA to carry forward the capacity-building and land administration process independently (and with little or no outside financial support) once LTA concludes.

In carrying out the LTA activity, Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) will collaborate and coordinate with the GOT and other donor programs in order to produce complementary programming that is timely, cost effective and sustainable. DAI will coordinate closely with the land tenure programming of other bilateral donors, most notably the Land Tenure Support Programme for Tanzania (ODI) program funded by the UK Department of International Development (DFID), Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

DAI will also coordinate closely with, and utilize lessons learned from the USAID Mobile Application to Support Tenure pilot project, which aims to test an innovative approach of mapping land and delivering Certificates of Customary Right of Occupancy using an open source mobile application.

As part of the Feed the Future (FTF) initiative, USAID has invested in several agricultural projects in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) and is seeking to develop focused land tenure programming to support USAID’s existing and planned investments in the region.

The Land Tenure Assistance (LTA) activity seeks to clarify and document land ownership, support land use planning efforts and increase local understanding of land use and land rights. It is envisioned that the interventions will reduce land tenure-related risks and lay the groundwork for sustainable agricultural investment for both small holders and commercial investors throughout the corridor and in the value chains of focus for Tanzania’s FTF program.

Local sustainability is a critical component of the LTA activity. The goal of this activity is to empower district and village land institutions in the districts targeted by the LTA to carry forward the capacity-building and land administration process independently (and with little or no outside financial support or assistance) when LTA concludes.

In carrying out the LTA activity, Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI) will collaborate and coordinate with the Government of Tanzania and other donor programs in order to produce complementary programming that is timely, cost effective and sustainable. DAI will coordinate closely with the land tenure programming of other bilateral donors, most notably the and Tenure Support Program for Tanzania (ODI) program funded by the UK Department of International Development (DFID), Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) and Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

DAI will also coordinate closely with, and utilize lessons learned from the USAID Mobile Application to Secure Tenure pilot project, which aims to test an approach for the mapping of land parcels, adjudication and delivery of Certificates of Customary Right of Occupancy using an open source mobile application.