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Q&A with the Mayor of Santander de Quilichao, Cauca

In the last four years, the Municipal Land Office (MLO) of Santander de Quilichao has facilitated the titling of more than 700 parcels. Several of these are public parcels like parks or health centers, or have to do with improving the municipality’s roads. The land office has become a key tool for land use planning and property formalization, and with it, the administration has mobilized more than COP $50,000 million (USD $13.5 million) in public investments.

In this interview, the current mayor of Santander de Quilichao, Eduardo Grijalba, who was recently re-elected, talks about the role of the MLO and the goals of his government.

Twelve years ago, you held the first discussions with USAID about creating a Municipal Land Office. What impressions has the work of the MLO given you since then?

Yes, 12 years ago we created the MLO in our municipality. Today, the land office is a point of reference for the entire country, and influences land use and urban planning. Without land and property administration we could not mobilize public resources to invest in the municipality. In the beginning, that was the main objective, but now I see that the work of the MLO is much broader, and it works with every secretary within the municipal administration. Additionally, it provides information to the community about land formalization.

How has the MLO changed operations?

The MLO has resulted in big changes in the way we operate in the municipality. Before, projects were submitted to public entities to request financing, but when we came upon the question of ownership, the parcel either had no title or it did not belong to the municipality. Many projects could not come to fruition because of that. Now, we start all investment projects at the MLO, and before we submit them, we make sure the parcel is surveyed and titled in the name of the municipality. We also look at the land use issues for each parcel, whether a large tract of land needs to be divided, and if they are connected to public services. Having the MLO under the Secretary of Planning is a big advantage when it comes to mobilizing resources.

What are some examples of how the MLO has unlocked public investments?

According to the latest reports, we can say that thanks to the MLO the municipality has mobilized more than COP $50,000 million (USD $13.5 million). We are talking about impactful projects such as building roads, like the Niza road, and communal spaces such as the Plaza de Toros and the Corona Real park. We also bought the parcels for the Santander de Quilichao Hospital, which has mobilized more than COP $35 million (USD $8,750), and the regional campus for the SENA, which resulted in COP $49 million (USD $12,250). The Villa Maria housing project has mobilized COP $10,000 million (USD $2.5 million) and will provide housing for 400 vulnerable families. For Villa Maria, the MLO helped us with the purchase and division of the parcel. In December we already delivered the first 100 property titles.

Apart from education and infrastructure, the MLO is creating safer space for public entities that provide legal services in the region.

Yes, through the MLO we divided a parcel and titled it to benefit two key government entities: the District Attorney’s Office and the Medical Examiner and Coroner’s Office. The new parcels are on the outskirts of the city, close to the hospital, and having the entities together makes their jobs easier. The current Coroner’s Office receives bodies from eight municipalities, and it is just too small and has to send bodies to Cali. We want to ensure the coroner is well equipped and capable of handling autopsies to provide grieving families better services. The current District Attorney’s Office is paying rent for a privately owned bunker located in a residential area, which increases the risk of violence for the community around it.

What are the objectives and goals of the land office for your administration in the next four years?

We are going to try to obtain as many titles as possible and meet our goal of 500 property titles. In addition, we have goals with two main roads: La Cañera and Calle Séptima. There are properties in the middle that now belong to private owners, and we are in the process of obtaining them and creating two-laned roads to join two large sectors of the municipality. We also have projects like the hospital and the marketplace. The land office also plays a role in the implementation of our municipal Land Management Plan.

Today, a Rural Property and Land Administration Plan (POSPR) is being implemented in Santander de Quilichao to formalize thousands of rural properties. What challenges have you identified?

Yes, the parcel sweep in our municipality is being supported by USAID in coordination with the National Land Agency. We hope to be able to deliver more than 3,000 property titles for rural families that are currently living informally. With all its years of experience, the MLO is playing an important role in understanding the territory and reaching rural communities. The challenges are huge and some of them have to do with the security conditions and others with convincing the communities to be part of the process. Because of what the parcel sweep represents to our community: Afro-Colombians, indigenous communities and farmers; it should be considered the most important land project in the country.

How have these actions to improve land administration changed the people’s behavior in your municipality?

Now, with the parcel sweep, land issues are being promoted. The land office has been a source of information for everybody, in terms of providing advice. The MLO is like our guide, and little by little, people understand better the culture of formal land ownership that we are promoting. People are not frustrated anymore with having to contact Bogotá or a lawyer to ask for information on land or property formalization. We have a population with more opportunities and knowledge, and the MLO has given our residents many solutions.

“For our Afro-Colombians and indigenous communities the parcel sweep represents the most important land project in the country.”
– Eduardo Grijalba, Mayor of Santander de Quilichao (Cauca) 2024-2027

Cross-posted from USAID Exposure

Cauca’s Regional Land Office is supporting eight municipalities with land formalization and ensuring continuity with the incoming administration.

Nobody in Caldono’s Planning Department was surprised to learn that half of City Hall was sitting on a property with no land title. In the municipality of Caldono, six out of 10 parcels are informally owned, and this also applies to schools, health clinics, and municipal assets.

“We don´t have a land title for the Municipal Council Meeting Hall. We have a whole list of municipal properties that are informal: schools, community centers, recreation complexes, basically all the properties that are most important to the community’s wellbeing,” explains Ivan Melo, public administrator in Caldono.

Caldono is a small municipality in the mountains of Northern Cauca and does not have the resources to finance a full-fledged land office that can attend to its everyday property needs. The creation of Cauca’s Regional Land Office (RLO) has given Caldono a valuable opportunity to review its assets, create a plan to legalize its properties, and reach the public with information about land formalization and property rights.

Cauca’s RLO is based in Popayán, the departmental capital, and supports eight municipalities in Northern Cauca. The office regularly sends a small group of topographers and land experts to isolated municipalities to work with local leaders and focus on land formalization, public outreach, and institutional coordination.

So far, the Regional Land Office has helped Caldono title 100 private parcels in urban areas and 13 public properties, including the municipal government building, schools, and recreation facilities.

Through its support, the municipality has already leveraged 410 million pesos (USD $100,000) in investments for schools and parks. One project includes the improvement of Caldono’s Reconciliation Park, a public space that allows residents to reflect on building peace following generations of conflict and violence.

“For years, the Reconciliation Park wasn’t suitable for children to run and play. Thanks to the formalization of the land, not only will we have the deed in the name of the municipality, but it will become a place for all of the community to come and enjoy,” says Melo.

Ensuring a Future

 

Envision a world in which climate action is equitable and propels us towards a resilient, low-carbon future. Enter climate finance, a promising emerging pathway to help achieve a just transition for all people. However, a critical piece of the puzzle for achieving this future is missing–existing climate finance efforts have overlooked the essential roles and unique needs of women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals.

Research shows these populations are more vulnerable to climate impacts and face an additional risk of discrimination in their communities. But they also have unique knowledge and skills that are key to unlocking effective climate solutions.

Climate change impacts differ across genders; so should approaches to climate finance.

How to Improve Gender-Responsive Climate Finance

International development practitioners working in climate finance, including private sector actors, can adopt direct financing mechanisms and strengthen the enabling environment to enhance equitable access to finance.

Convene for Direct Financing

USAID activities currently support several methods of direct financing that have proven to be effective at reaching women and girls, offering lessons learned for future efforts:

Use small grants and local-level financing to provide accessible solutions for community organizations, local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and gender equality groups. For example, take the Climate Gender Equity Fund (CGEF), a public-private partnership launched by USAID and Amazon with initial conceptualization support from the USAID Integrated Natural Resource Management Activity. The CGEF aims to increase access to climate finance for gender-responsive, women-led, and women-benefiting organizations that address climate change. The fund harnesses USAID’s convening power to bridge the gender-climate finance gap. Amazon, Reckitt, Visa Foundation, and UPS Foundation are founding members, and 2X Global manages the grantmaking process.

Link local NGOs and community organizations to special funding opportunities provided by global climate finance institutions. USAID is expanding partnerships with local organizations to better support climate actions that consider the needs and roles of women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals. The growing list of global leaders in gender-responsive climate finance now includes: U.S. International Development Finance Corporation’s 2X Women’s Initiative, Global Affairs Canada’s Gender-Responsive Climate Finance Design Funding Window, UN Women, and UN Capital Development Fund’s Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility (LoCAL).

Develop innovative financial products, like climate insurance. These products can be designed in ways that support inclusive access and address gender issues and systemic barriers in finance. Investing in intermediaries that have direct ties to local women’s groups is one effective strategy for tailoring financial products to the needs of women. For example, the InsuResilience Investment Fund, a blended finance fund that provides climate insurance, has worked with the Kashf Foundation in Pakistan to provide climate-linked cattle insurance loans to women farmers whose livestock were affected by extreme climate shocks.

Strengthen the Enabling Environment

Strengthening the enabling environment means supporting the governance, policy, and institutional conditions to help make gender-responsive climate finance more feasible and accessible to women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals. Specific actions to strengthen the enabling environment for inclusive climate finance include:

Create stronger networks among local gender-focused organizations and accredited entities to bolster accredited entities’ ability to directly finance gender-focused organizations that meet the needs of local individuals. Explore USAID’s list of local gender-focused partners and a list of Green Climate Fund Accredited Entities.

Engage local women and gender-diverse individuals as decision makers and key consultants. Aligning climate finance activities with local needs and priorities can make them more inclusive and effective.

At a higher level, advocate for equal gender representation and leadership within global financial institutions, which can lead to better addressing the needs of more diverse populations and drive meaningful, lasting change. Resources to support women and gender-diverse individuals as leaders, such as leadership training and development programs, will help achieve this goal.

Finally, eliminate gender biases in government budget decisions and in the allocation of funds. This action will require promoting gender equality within governing bodies involved in climate financing, and making sure finance decisions consider the needs and interests of women and gender-diverse individuals.

Some of the practical steps and examples shared above can also be found in USAID’s Gender Equality and Climate Finance Technical Brief.

USAID Gender Equality and Climate Finance in Action

USAID’s global reach, national- and local-level partnerships, and leading climate and gender expertise help create and sustain equitable climate action, like gender-responsive climate finance.

The Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Environments (RISE) grants challenge is a groundbreaking initiative aimed at addressing gender-based violence in the environment and climate sectors. Through a call for proposals, USAID and the International Union for Conservation of Nature select RISE grantees, promote their work at this intersection, and provide technical assistance to support the proposed activity in achieving measurable results. RISE builds capacities, cross-sector cooperation, and learnings on promising strategies to contribute to global learning and advocacy through its peer-learning community.

Meanwhile, the CGEF, mentioned above, is part of USAID’s Climate Finance for Development Accelerator (CFDA), which mobilizes investments for climate change mitigation and adaptation activities. The fund is also a flagship program under the new U.S. Government-led Women in the Sustainable Economy (WISE) Initiative, launched by Vice President Harris in November 2023. The WISE Initiative aims to increase women’s access to employment, training, leadership roles, and financial resources in the industries critical to our future and the future of our planet. In August 2022, USAID announced the selection of the CGEF Grant Manager, 2X Global. 2X Global is globally recognized as a thought leader at the nexus of gender and climate and will manage CGEF’s portfolio of grants focused on increasing access to finance for women and girls on the front lines of climate mitigation and adaptation.

Another notable USAID-supported program in gender-responsive climate finance is INVEST, which mobilizes private capital to drive inclusive development and focuses on women’s economic empowerment.

Connect with USAID Gender and Environment Experts

Get in touch with the following USAID experts to continue the discussion:

Corinne Hart 📧

Corinne Hart is a Senior Gender Advisor for Energy, Environment, and Climate with USAID’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Hub

 

Read Corinne’s article on investing in women-led climate solutions.

 

Madison Allen 📧

Madison Allen is a Gender and Climate Program Analyst with USAID’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Hub.

 

 

 

Georgia Hartman 📧

Georgia is a Senior Gender Advisor for Environment and Climate and former AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow with USAID’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Hub.

Read Georgia’s blog on harnessing data to empower women and girls as change agents in climate change.

 

 

Sashi Jayatileke 📧

Sashi is a Senior Climate Finance Advisor with USAID’s Center for Environment, Energy, and Infrastructure. Read Sashi’s blog on USAID’s efforts to close the climate funding gap.

 

 

This blog was originally published by Climatelinks.

With the support of USAID and the government, the National Federation of Coffee Growers is supporting the titling of 300 coffee farms in Cauca.

The end of the year brought good news for coffee growers in Northern Cauca. Seven families from Caldono received property titles to their coffee farms. Some of the families had initiated proceedings 10 years ago and had given up hope of ever obtaining a registered land title.

USAID’s Land for Prosperity Activity launched the initiative with support from the National Land Agency and in partnership with the National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC). The partnership marks a milestone in Northern Cauca as the first time that a private sector stakeholder invests in the formalization of rural property. The strategy is expected to reach 300 families in Caldono who lack a land title to their coffee farms.

The FNC has committed more than $30,000 USD in investment and is providing workspace, logistical support, and valuable knowledge of the municipality.

Coffee growers who own farms with legal certainty are more likely to invest their own resources in improving coffee production and processing. Above all, secure land tenure reduces tension around land in Cauca, a region where for years, land conflicts have delayed rural development and the delivery of state services.

“The most important thing that we can do for our coffee growers is protect their property. My recommendation is to move forward with companies and the government, seeking policies that facilitate land formalization through taxes. Coffee growers pay taxes, with this strategy, we can find several actors that can help.”

-Gerardo Montenegro, Technical Manager of the National Federation of Coffee Growers.

In addition to strengthening the farmer’s connection to their land, a registered land title reduces the chances of forced displacement and influences the decision to continue to grow coffee as the main economic activity and contribute to Cauca’s economic development.

The facilitation of private sector investments in clarifying and documenting rural property is an innovative strategy to strengthen land rights and rural value chains like coffee. The strategy is aimed at companies and organizations with corporate social responsibility objectives or specific interests in key value chains. The strategy requires stakeholders to co-invest a minimum of 15 percent of the project cost and raises awareness about the role of land tenure in rural development.

Coffee in Cauca

In Cauca, over 380,000 people representing 94,000 families depend on the coffee sector for their livelihood. In Caldono, an estimated 5,000 families cultivate coffee on 4,700 hectares and produce 8,000 tons of coffee per year. For these coffee growers, which include Misak and Nasa indigenous communities, coffee is more than an economic activity, it is a livelihood.

In Caldono, 66 percent of parcels are informally owned, indicating that some 1,900 coffee-growing families do not have a property title. Alba Ituyán and Ameiro Mosquera are coffee growers who started the land titling process almost ten years ago. Thanks to USAID and the National Coffee Federation, in 2023, they received a joint land title to their coffee farm.

“In 2014, we started a titling process. Thanks to USAID’s Land for Prosperity Activity, we obtained the land title in two months and this farm is officially ours.” said Ameiro Mosquera, a coffee grower from Caldono.

At the title delivery event, Colombia’s Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Jhenifer Mojica, reminded the audience of the government’s responsibility to boost sustainable agricultural development.

“With the Agrarian Reform we will apply instruments of land administration and put productive land to work,” she said.

Cross-posted from USAID Exposure

 

USAID is developing capacity in land administration to strengthen land rights in underfunded municipalities across Colombia.

Piece by Piece

Q&A with the Subdirector of the National Land Agency in Colombia, Andrea Silva

Since signing the 2016 Peace Accords, the government of Colombia has transformed rural land administration by adopting a model that puts the onus of formalizing rural property on government land agencies like the National Land Agency (ANT). With the support of USAID’s Land for Prosperity Activity, the ANT is streamlining processes and simplifying the steps needed to deliver land titles. In this interview, the Technical Subdirector of the ANT, Andrea Silva, talks about how the Agency has taken advantage of USAID’s experience and is embracing an evolving approach to securing land rights.

What are the biggest challenges that the ANT faces during the formalization processes?

The main situation that affects our progress is that we need people to move land processes forward, and there are not a lot of skilled people with experience in land. It is not easy to find cadastral engineers or topographers with experience in rural land surveying. Therefore, we have to find new methodologies that allow us to collect physical and legal information, which is why we are making a big effort to move from direct to indirect methods. This paradigm change sometimes generates resistance, but it is necessary to make progress, because with parcel-to-parcel visits, we are not going to achieve comprehensive rural reform.

Has this changed how the government faces land informality?

Everything we do is useful for the cadastral authority, but that does not necessarily mean that we have to survey the entire municipality. So a big change in order to optimize time and resources is completing municipal parcel sweeps by intervention units. In this regard, an intervention unit is surveyed and the information is delivered to the ANT for validation. While the first unit is going through the ANT’s internal process, in the field, the second unit is already being surveyed. Through analysis, we know which units are the most informal, and so when we arrive, we already have a more accurate and clearer objective.

Is this new adaptation going to be used in the Santander de Quilichao parcel sweep?

We have already used it, for example in the units that LFP delivered in Fuentedeoro and Puerto Lleras, we have already delivered land titles. In Santander de Quilichao we are going to identify the people and parcels that need to be formalized, that need land administration or legal tenure. We are going to make the processes quicker, more consistent, and especially produce results faster. What we aspire to is to avoid what happened to us in previous parcel sweeps, which were very long processes, too long for a single municipality, so we can gradually make progress.

What role do new technologies play in simplifying processes?

Strengthening information systems and data collection systems is very important to the ANT. We are increasingly moving towards the improved use of technology, even though in rural environments this is difficult. In the countryside, people do not feel comfortable signing digital documents, on a tablet, for example. They like using pen and paper, having a hard copy of the document to take home with them. It is necessary to move towards technology in a gradual way, so that the communities continue to trust us.

Have the recommendations made by LFP increased the efficiency of the ANT and other public entities like IGAC?

Yes, we have implemented many changes, not only in the processes but also in simplifying forms, consolidating information collection tools, and issuing guidelines that are clear, not just for ANT employees but also for the parcel sweep operators. For example, before the ANT had 32 attention routes for land formalization, and we simplified the processes to 24 routes. Everything LFP has done to support the ANT with Rural Property and Land Use Planning translates to the possibility for a dignified life for rural Colombians.

Are these changes strengthening how the ANT achieves comprehensive rural reform?

The comprehensive rural reform goes beyond delivering land titles. Of course, the title is the first step for people to access institutional services, for them to have a guarantee when requesting a low-interest loan from a bank, or to access a subsidy. The ANT looks for the people and parcels that are subject to formalization in a way that permits them to access all institutional services. Delivering a property title is delivering hope, delivering possibilities, it means that the life projects of these rural communities can be given certainty.

Cross-posted from USAID Exposure

USAID promotes the participation of women in agricultural production in Montes de María.

Luz Mery Valdez is an iconic woman, who is defying gender stereotypes through her work as a cassava and yam farmer in the Montes de María region of Colombia. She works with the Association of United Women of San Isidro (AMUSI) in the municipality of El Carmen de Bolívar.

USAID, through its Land for Prosperity Activity, is supporting the departments of Bolívar and Sucre in the Montes de María with land tenure programming and rural development initiatives. The Activity established a series of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in the sesame, honey, yam and cassava value chains to shore up investments in agribusiness, improve yields, and bring more women into the value chain. So far, almost 400 rural women have benefited from the PPPs.

How has your experience growing cassava and yam been, since you joined the Public-Private Partnership?

LM: My experience has been great, as we have been able to regain the recognition that women can also participate in agriculture activities, which is something that had been lost.

What was the reaction of the men around you, when you joined this agribusiness?

LM: At the beginning when we started growing yam, the men found it unusual. To see women growing yam and cassava in the countryside is just not very common in our region. Then we started to get more involved in all of the process, to learn more about the business. We are reclaiming a space for women that we deserve.

What have been the most visible changes since women have participated in farming activities?

LM: The vision that women have today is very different to the one we had a few years ago. Now we think about agriculture production, about generating income for our families, and about strengthening our cultural bonds as women.

How do the men of your community see you now?

LM: Men see us in a different way, I think, at least when it comes to our farmers association, the Association of United Women of San Isidro, which sees itself as a women’s association that strives to increase income for its members. Thanks to USAID programs, we can achieve this, specializing in the production of cassava and yam.

What would you say to other women?

LM: I would tell them that they have to believe, believe in themselves, have goals, and achieve them. It was not easy when we started, because women see things from a different point of view than men. It may be difficult to participate in farming, but it is not impossible. What we have to do is believe and have goals with objectives so we can achieve them.

“To rural women I would say that it might be difficult but not impossible. Every day you have to get up thinking that you can do it, to move forward.”

Luz Mery Valdez, cassava and yam producer.

Cross-posted from USAID Exposure

USAID is echoing the voices of women asserting their rights to land.

As part of the 16 days of activism to end violence against women and girls, LFP talked to Judith Rodríguez, a member of AFROMUVARAS, an association of afro-Colombian women who farm cacao in the Rescate Las Varas Community Council in Tumaco, Nariño.

Despite violence against women in her municipality and community, people are changing their mentality. Women, in particular, are becoming aware of their rights to land and the importance of their contributions to the productive development of their collective territories and the care of their families.

In 2021, USAID’s Land for Prosperity Activity created a public-private partnership in the cacao value chain in Tumaco, which seeks to strengthen farmer associations like AFROMUVARAS so they can improve the quality of their cacao and access new markets. The cacao association was founded in 2017 and has 367 members.

What has the experience of having a collective land title for AFROMUVARAS been like?

JR: For us women, the collective land title means we are taking back what once was ours. As women, we are always forced to depend on men. Lately, there has been a lot of progress, and we are very thankful for it. In AFROMUVARAS it has been a wonderful experience to be part of this big group of women who want to develop their territory and improve the quality of life for women in rural areas. We want to make progress collectively, to be the voice of women in these regions, to take a chance on peace, on the wellbeing of our children, on the growth of our territory, as well as to generate employment opportunities and grow as a business.

In the Community Council, you share the land between members. Do you think the women who own land individually or jointly with their partners are as protected as you?

JR: Yes, I think working with men or living with their partners and their children, if they have a title they are protected. I mean, we are betting every day on personal and territorial growth, this is the foundation. Working hand in hand, every day, with our families.

AFROMUVARAS knows of cases of economic violence against women in Tumaco?

JR: You can’t see it, but you can feel the economic violence, because women always depend on men or their partners. They expect the man to be the one that provides, and when he gets home he decides what everyone can do. It is harder for women to generate our own income and provide because usually, they do not have the same education or economic opportunities. And the men take advantage of this to exert economic violence, because there are fewer employment opportunities for women in Tumaco. Men always get the opportunity to work first.

There are laws to stop men from selling common properties without the consent of their partners. Do you think there is a need to talk about these laws more widely? 

JR: Yes, we need more outreach, so that women know these laws. So they can feel empowered enough around these issues to be sure that they are important. Land and property are their rights.

In AFROMUVARAS, do you think the way rural men and women think is changing? Is violence against women diminishing? How?

JR: Yes, things are changing. And I am very proud to answer this and it makes me smile, to see how women are taking part in many collective processes, participating in spaces where we are invited. We are raising our voices and protesting. These processes are empowering women, but there is still a lot of work to do. It is a long and difficult process. For example, today the President of our Community Council is a woman.

Why should the women of Tumaco have hope?

JR: We can be hopeful, very hopeful. If we work together, if we continue to be united as women, hand in hand, and continue to empower ourselves in social and educational issues, we can continue to grow in our territory.

How do you encourage other women to understand and recognize their rights?

JR: Today, from the rural areas of Tumaco, from our Community Council and our organization, as a member of AFROMUVARAS and also as a person, I tell women in neighboring areas that we are all women, we should all be empowered, we should work together, be strong and keep fighting. We can’t give up, we need to persist, be sisters and look for spaces where we can grow and be equal to men. We need to be present in those spaces to get what we want, because we can do it. We can participate in public spaces, social spaces, everywhere we want as women, we can grow and take a chance on peace.

Cross-posted from USAID Medium

Please note: USAID’s draft updated policy is no longer open for public comment.

Nature is in crisis. USAID’s updated Biodiversity Policy reflects the need for transformative change and envisions a future in which biodiversity is conserved so people and nature can thrive. A draft of the updated policy is available for public feedback from December 8, 2023 through January 10, 2024. If you wish to provide comments, please submit them here. USAID encourages input from diverse perspectives to meet the policy’s goal of advancing equitable and ambitious actions to confront the crisis of biodiversity loss, and we encourage you to share this opportunity widely.