The Land and Rural Development Program (LRDP) is a five-year task order funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights (STARR) Indefinite Quantity Contract. LRDP is intended to assist the government of Colombia to strengthen its institutional capacity to develop tools, systems, and skills that will enable it to fulfill its mandate to resolve land issues at the heart of Colombia’s decades-long internal conflict.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM Q1 2017
The Program reached 1,776 households in the period (life of project 3,697 households)
FORMALIZATION
- Set up Municipal Land Offices in Santander de Quilichao (Cauca) to tackle the formalization of 7,000+ informally owned parcels, and provided guidance to create Municipal Formalization Plans and strategies for working with the National Land Agency.
- Provided technical assistance to the Cadaster Statute, which acts as a road map for data collection in the field for productive infrastructure, land use, and land planning among other GOC policies in rural areas.
- Supported 232 families in Chaparral, Southern Tolima present formalization request to municipal judges, and coordinated with other USAID projects to officially marry 56 couples, bringing them one step closer to secure land tenure.
RESTITUTION
- Supported 421 families with their restitution cases in Montes de María (124) and Meta (297), putting them closer to getting their land back thanks to the support to the LRU.
- Partnered with the LRU to research and collect evidence for a land restitution claim for 121 ethnic Yukpa families in Cesar. This case is expected to reach a restitution judge by May 2017.
- Supported the local government of Santander de Quilichao to strengthen an inter-agency subcommittee to improve the municipality’s response to land restitution orders in their jurisdiction.
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT
- Continued support digitizing paper land files to make 20% of the Colombia’s land property registry files accessible through a digital National Registry database.
- LRDP’s information solutions model, the Land Node, won an award worth US$240,000 from Colombian innovation agency iNNpulsa to support the ongoing pilot of this information sharing system that will reduce processing times and increase access to data.
RESOURCE MOBILIZATION
- Mobilized US$ 12.5mn, including US$ 430,000 for improving the sugarcane value chain in Cesar for 36 families; US$ 1.7mn for the cacao value chain in Montes de María for 200 families; and $US10.3mn for compliance with restitution sentences in Tolima.
- Five irrigation district projects in Cesar neared completion and will give 135 families access to more than 300 hectares of irrigated land. The program is carrying out studies and designs for 8 additional irrigation projects in Cesar.
- Three out of 4 rural development projects funded with LRDP support are currently in implementation, including 6 plantain agricultural development projects worth US$ 2.6mn.
CAPACITY BUILDING
- Trained 123 cacao producers (10 of whom are in process of restitution) in Montes de María to improve productivity and quality as part of the PPP signed with 500+ producers and various commercial partners. Cacao farmers are aiming to increase production by 75% and plant 400 new hectares.
- 83 beekeepers from Cesar graduated from the region’s first honey keeping school. The school will train approximately 400 more beekeepers over the next four years. Colombian firm Apiagro signed a purchase agreement for 100% of their production.
- Trained 30 conciliators in Cauca to address conflict over land in the department.