January-March 2017 was an active period for ERC, with several project evaluations underway, a robust communications and training effort executed, and the completion of one pilot project and the startup or continuation of two others.
During the quarter ERC also began work planning for the fifth and final year of the contract (May 2017-April 2018).
Under Task 2, ERC launched the midline for the Community Land Protection Program (CLPP) performance evaluation (PE) in Liberia, completed two papers that were presented at the 2017 World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, and completed the Land Administration to Nurture Development Project (LAND) Afar IE Baseline Report, as well as LAND Afar baseline data package for public posting. Also under Task 2, ERC began exploratory analysis and literature reviews for two Year 4 research products, including a paper focused on women’s empowerment and a collaborative research paper on credit and land rental markets with E3/LU. Finally, ERC continued a series of preparation steps for the upcoming Tenure and Global Climate Change (TGCC) IE endline, which is scheduled for launch in June 2017.
Under Task 3, ERC communications this quarter focused on two primary events: the second launch of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) in January; and the World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty in March. In addition to providing communications support around these activities, ERC also sent out a quarterly newsletter in January and conducted an extensive QA/QC effort for the recently launched LandLinks website.
Under Task 4, training activities this quarter primarily focused on the launch of the second iteration of the USAID Land Tenure and Property Rights Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). ERC finalized new modules and launched the MOOC over the quarter.
Finally, under Task 5, during the quarter ERC’s support for the core operations of the National Land Observatory of Burkina Faso (ONF) ended, though the ONF subcontract to implement the Mobile Application to Secure Tenure (MAST) pilot project was extended for two additional months. The highlight of MAST was completion of the validation period for the land rights mapped under the pilot, and the award of the first land certificates at a public ceremony on February 27. For Pilot 3, ERC launched field activities for the Responsible Land Based Investment pilot project in Mozambique.