The purpose of the Ethiopia Land Administration to Nurture Development (LAND) program is to expand and extend two previously successful projects—Ethiopia Strengthening Land Tenure and Land Administration Program (ELTAP) implemented in 2005-2008 and Ethiopia Strengthening Land Administration Program (ELAP) implemented in 2008-2013 – financed by The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Ethiopia Mission and implemented by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and six regional states with technical assistance provided by Tetra Tech ARD. These projects helped strengthen rural land tenure security and women’s land use rights; encourage efficient land transactions; build capacity of federal and regional land administration agencies to improve service delivery and pilot cadastral surveying and certification methodologies to recognize and document rural land use rights.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
During the reporting period, LAND continued to make significant progress on most of the project components.
Under Component 1 (Improved legal and policy frameworks at national and local levels)
Hawassa University submitted the draft of the SNNP land law implementation assessment which is currently being reviewed by the LAND Team. Mekelle University commenced the assessment for Tigray NRS during the reporting quarter. LAND subcontractor “The Amhara Design and Supervision Works Enterprise” submitted draft guidelines for pastoral communal land expropriation, valuation and compensation in Afar NRS. The draft is being reviewed by the LAND technical team. The draft amendments to Federal Proclamation No. 456/2005 were further reviewed in close consultation with relevant stakeholders in the Amhara, Oromia and SNNP NRS.
LAND successfully conducted a national workshop to inform stakeholders on the importance of an overarching and comprehensive national land utilization policy to guide government land use planning. The workshop was conducted from 20-21 October 2015 at Adama town. The workshop served to provide participants with a better understanding of the need for a national land utilization policy and obtain their support to coordinate their efforts with assistance from LAND to prepare the draft policy.
Under Component 2 (Strengthened capacity in national, regional, and local land administration and use planning)
The expert local consultant contracted by LAND provided technical assistance to the Ethiopian Mapping Agency (EMA) to resolve telecommunication and power supply issues that were hampering the proper functioning of the four EMA Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) and to make the CORS fully functional. The consultant also completed the design of CORS network to provide Real Time Kinematic (RTK) and On-line Positioning User (OPU) services. Preparation of the final proposal on densification and collaborative arrangement of stakeholders that will manage the CORS stations is also in its final stage.LAND continued its efforts to build
LAND continued its efforts to build capacity of federal and regional land administration and land use (LALU) professionals in land use planning and GIS and remote sensing. The training delivered by LAND is designed to support the efforts of Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MOANR) to produce national and regional master land use plans and local level land use plans as envisioned in the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) for Ethiopia. During the reporting period, a total of 82 federal and regional staff were trained to then cascade training down to land administration officials at staff at the woreda level to help ensure the sustainability of USAID/Ethiopia’s capacity building investments.The universities of Bahir Dar, Haramaya, Hawassa and Mekelle delivered the final versions of the training manuals commissioned by LAND that will be used to build
The universities of Bahir Dar, Haramaya, Hawassa and Mekelle delivered the final versions of the training manuals commissioned by LAND that will be used to build capacity of local land administration officials to implement applicable Land Administration and Land Use (LALU) legislation to improve service delivery and strengthen land rights of rural Ethiopians. LAND then began to support cascaded trainings to local land administration officials using the manuals.
Under Component 3 (Strengthened capacity of Ethiopian universities to engage in policy analysis and research related to land tenure and train land administration and land use professionals)
The first batch of (41) students enrolled in the Institute of Land Administration of Bahir Dar University’s (ILA/BDU) M.Sc. program embarked on thesis research work in their respective regions and agencies. The second group of 41 students has also completed their first session at the ILA/BDU. The students were tasked to complete take home assignments that they will complete in parallel with performing their duties in their respective land administration bureaus. The take home assignments are to be completed and submitted to ILA/BDU before the start of the next summer session in June 2016.
The grantees selected under the LAND’s competitive grant scheme made satisfactory progress to towards completing field research. LAND has closely monitored performance in the field and confirmed grantees are performing research in accordance with the terms of their respective grant agreements. It is expected the grantees will submit the first draft of the findings of their research to LAND in the coming quarter for review and comment. The reports will then be finalized, presented and disseminated through the Ethiopian Land Research and Development Network (ETHIOLANDNET) research forum to be held in the third or fourth quarter of FY 2016.
LAND has been instrumental in the establishment of the ETHIOLANDNET) hosted by Bahir Dar University. LAND is currently supporting the Network to establish a national repository and searchable website at ILA/BDU that will enable the systematic collection, storage, and management of spatial data, statistical data as well as research papers and books on a range of topics related to land administration and international best practices. , Upon the request of ILA/BDU, LAND is facilitating a competitive procurement process to procure a server to make the repository and website fully functional. It is expected the server will be installed, configured and made fully functional in the next quarter. Additionally, the ETHIOLANDNET strategic plan for 2016-2021 is being developed and will be finalized in the next quarter.
Under Component 4 (Strengthened community land rights in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas to facilitate market linkages and economic growth)
LAND organized consultation meetings in the pastoral and agro-pastoral woredas in Borana and Guji zones of the Oromia NRS to discuss the unit of pastoral landholding registration and certification. Representatives of the pastoral communities requested these units to be the dheedas while participants from the local government offices favored boundaries that align with administrative boundaries of kebeles.
The LAND technical team conducted a rapid assessment of the customary land administration and natural resource management rules, norms and practices in Chifra woreda of the Afar NRS to better understand how customary institutions manage the community’s rangelands and natural resources.
LAND promoted the rights of women to access and use land by engaging the Women’s National Land Rights Taskforce (established with support from LAND) to hold stakeholder consultations and produce recommendations to help strengthen protections provided to women by draft amendments to Federal Proclamation |No. 456/2005. Recommendations identified the need to sensitize kebele level land administration committees to enable women to exercise their rights to use land and to ensure fair representation of women in each committee. The Taskforce also agreed to work on raising the awareness of members of the Women and Children’s Affairs Standing Committees of the Parliament before the draft amendments to the Proclamation are presented to the Council of Ministers.
The LAND Gender Specialist gathered information from different community members of Chifra woreda to assess the customary organizational structure, the representation of women within the structure, accessibility of the customary system for women and vulnerable groups and the gender-sensitivity of the customary laws. The assessment includes the perception of women, men and the community at large about women’s land rights.