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Property ownership represents a basic right and a foundational basis for economic growth.  But in Kosovo, the right to property ownership is not always guaranteed, especially for women. For the past five years, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has supported robust legal reforms and behavior change to significantly advance land and property rights in Kosovo through USAID’s Property Rights Program (PRP), which concluded in June.

USAID’s Property Rights Program was far-reaching in scope and impact. Through this program USAID supported  the development of the first-ever National Strategy on Property Rights in Kosovo. The program reduced the time for disposition of civil cases, including property cases, by 29 percent. The time to schedule the first court appearance decreased by 72 percent.  The program also launched a national behavior change campaign, which together with the amended legislation, in three years, resulted in a positive behavior shift: the percentage of women who initiate inheritance proceedings rose from 0.3 percent in 2015 to 14 percent in 2018.  Citizens’ access to municipal property services also improved with electronic issuance of property rights certificates and property tax documents.

USAID and the Government of Kosovo clarify the rules of the game

Layers of contradictory law from past regimes (Yugoslavia, Serbia, and then the UN Mission in Kosovo), inconsistent judicial decisions, long delays in case processing, discrimination against women and minorities, and informal and complicated procedures resulted in a chaotic property rights situation. Informal transactions, failure to transfer titles from the deceased — sometimes for generations — intentional disregard of female heirs, and lack of proper notifications have interfered with the proper functioning of Kosovo’s property rights system. It is estimated that 40 -50 percent of land parcels are owned informally.  Without clear titles, property cannot be transacted, used as collateral, invested into, or inherited.

USAID started to address some of these issues in 2014 by bringing together the Government of Kosovo, civil society, and the private sector in a working group to develop the first-ever National Strategy on Property Rights. The strategy provided a framework for interventions and outlined the responsibilities for every actor in the government and society. USAID and other working group members collaborated closely with the Government and the Assembly of Kosovo to amend and develop the necessary legislation. As a result, Kosovo adopted seven laws recommended in the Strategy and drafted nine additional laws.

USAID also helped the Government develop modern notification procedures for property rights proceedings. The Official Gazette, an existing e-government platform, was upgraded to provide online notifications to parties. The Government, with USAID support, also instituted legal safeguards for women in inheritance proceedings, where judges and notaries have the role of ensuring all heirs are present and are not acting in duress.

Improving Case Management, Speeding Up Non-Contested Case Resolution

Property cases in Kosovo courts suffered from long delays due to poor case management and inconsistent and unpredictable decisions in property rights cases. USAID worked with three courts to pilot a case management system for property rights cases. USAID through the project provided mentoring for judges and training for legal associates to take over more tasks related to processing cases. As a result, the time for initial preparation of a case before the first court hearing decreased by 72 percent, from 1,058 to 297 days. The time to complete property cases decreased by 29 percent, from 1,220 to 872 days. To promote standardized procedures in all Kosovo courts, USAID produced a manual on civil litigation that includes specific guidance for property cases. To improve the quality and consistency of decisions, USAID and Kosovo’s Supreme Court produced guidelines for lower courts on property rights practices.

During its work in courts, USAID found that a large number of cases are considered “non-contested,” where parties were only seeking to formalize their rights (through formal recognition of rights, registration, etc.). To speed resolution of these relatively uncomplicated cases, a USAID proposal which was included in the draft law, allowed for the creation of a simplified mechanism to resolve non-contested property requests.

Women’s Property Ownership Increases

In Kosovo, the cultural traditions of informality and patriarchy have created multiple challenges to women’s property rights.  Read the blog “Increasing women’s property ownership” to learn how USAID’s Property Rights Program tripled women’s property ownership in Kosovo.

Building capacity at the municipal level

Since property rights are often a gateway to essential municipal services, Kosovo citizens often seek documentation at the municipal level. USAID worked with Municipal cadastral offices to streamline steps for citizens’ access to services. In many municipalities, USAID helped eliminate the municipal transaction tax and the requirement to pay property tax prior to receiving a property certificate, thus removing one of the disincentives for registering property. USAID also introduced modern, electronic access to some property documents in seven Kosovo municipalities. USAID and select municipalities upgraded e-kiosks to issue property certificates and property tax documents, making it easier for citizens to obtain official documents.

Next steps on USAID’s engagement in land rights

The work on land and property rights advancement remains critical for Kosovo’s social and economic development.  With the close in June of USAID’s first Property Rights Program in Kosovo, USAID continues to work on improving case processing and management through its other judicial-system activities. With the adoption of laws foreseen in the National Strategy for Property Rights, the key to success remains the proper and timely implementation of laws for all Kosovo citizens regardless of ethnic background. USAID is continuing to urge for Government of Kosovo leadership in the further execution of the National Strategy and for civil society organizations to advocate for and monitor the implementation of property-related laws.

By Land and Rural Development Program in Colombia

Individualization of Collectively Held Lands To deliver individual land titles to rural families

What is the Context?

Between 1996 and 2000, the Colombian government awarded collective land titles to approximately 150 families in the municipality of Fuentedeoro (Meta), under the condition that they would become members of community-run agricultural businesses.

However, many of the groups were unable to make the cooperatives work to build sustainable enterprises, and today, collective ownership has become a major source of frustration. For example, it has led to conflicts among the joint landholders, known as parceleros, disputes over the boundaries of communal areas, and liens that affect all parceleros when just one of them fails to pay taxes, thus inhibiting everyone’s ability to access credit and other financial tools to make their land more productive.

To remedy this, USAID collaborated with the municipal government of Fuentedeoro to design and implement an individualization methodology. The objective is for the National Land Agency to replicate this methodology for tens of thousands of families living on collectively owned parcels throughout Colombia.

Who is involved?

Long Term Impacts

Legal security of land: Property titles for people living on collectively held parcels for more than two decades

Land governance: Empowers the local administrators to improve land management planning and increases the possibility of collecting taxes.

Rural development: Enable rural farmers to make autonomous decisions over their property and gives them property that can be used to access financial services.

Inclusion of Women: Create guarantees for rural women to access property and land.

By Land and Rural Development Program in Colombia

The Ovejas pilot is facilitating property rights for around 2,900 campesinos, more than half of whom are rural women, while simultaneously updating the cadaster information for 5,600 land parcels.

Colombian President Iván Duque attended a historic event to witness the delivery of 1,058 land titles to rural landowners from the municipality of Ovejas (Sucre), the majority of whom are women.

Myriam Martínez, Director of Colombia’s National Land Agency, was on hand to celebrate the achievement in massive land formalization while reiterating the importance of women and their leadership in land titling and administration.

The titles, which are the result of a massive land formalization pilot designed by USAID, clearly show the “utter importance” of rural women, according to Martínez. More than half of the land titles delivered went to women-led households.

“Today we have 474 women-led households and an additional 154 women as part of joint land titles with their husbands. We are asserting the rights of women and recognizing that through their labor as heads of families as well as laborers and growers, they too, can be landowners.” 

-Myriam Martínez, Director of the National Land Agency.

The Rural Woman

According to statistics from the National Land Agency, the rural women of Ovejas have played an important role in the titling process, taking into account that of the 763 adjudicated government-owned parcels (known as baldíos), 627 (82%) were titled in the name of women-led households or joint titles.

In addition, of the 295 formalized private parcels, 140 (47%) were titled in the name of women-led households. In total, the government ajudicated 1,395 hectares of Ovejas municipality, and this was the first time the government has delivered this many titles in one municipality.

The Ovejas pilot was designed by USAID with input from the National Land Agency and Colombia’s other land-related entities, and for the last 18 months has collected property data across the entire municipality, resolved land conflicts, and pioneered a path through the confusion and intricacies of land formalization in Colombia. The pilot is proving that a massive approach that combines titling and cadaster, reduces redundancy. And when government entities work together, it also reduces costs by 60% and the time it takes to formalize a property and update the rural cadaster.

A look at the public expositions and the final steps of Colombia’s first massive land formalization program

By Land and Rural Development Program in Colombia

At 6 a.m., Gloria Esperanza is already out back in the kitchen, stoking the fire. It’s Tuesday morning, her daughter-in-law is up, and it has been raining since 3 a.m. Gloria is an energetic 70-year-old woman who shares her homestead with her five grown children and their families. She has lived on the corner of 2nd Street and Main in the village of Flor de Monte for as long as she can remember, but she has never received a land title or any other documentation that says the land is hers.

After sips of coffee, Gloria and one of her sons walk down the street to the town’s main square, where a downpour has created a momentary torrent. The village has no paved roads, no cemented sports center, and no sewage system. Here, where mud is the norm in May’s rainy season, Colombia’s land titling authority, the National Land Agency, has already set up tents for the day’s activity: public exposition of land titles.

The exposition is the first time the government has ever come to Gloria’s village to administer land and property. Over the last 1.5 years, the government—supported by USAID—has applied a massive land formalization pilot to the entire municipality of Ovejas in order to test an innovative methodology to improve land titling and property in Colombia.

“The best thing about this pilot is that we don’t have to travel long distances just to learn how to do the paperwork and processes,” says Gloria. “Now the government is here and doing all the work with us in our homes.”

Demand-driven

With USAID’s support, the government is also paying for the entire process. The public exposition is one of the final steps before people like Gloria receive a land title. Each landowner walks through the “exposition” process with representatives from the National Land Agency, confirming the information about his or her property, including the size and the neighboring landowners. The exposition is a final opportunity for landowners to raise issues, complaints, doubts, or opposition to the massive titling process.

“In my family, we don’t have the money to pay for the process of land title,” says Gloria.

After registering, Gloria sits down in the waiting tent, among 20 other landowners from Flor de Monte. Each person wears a nametag; some visibly clutch an identity card, which for many of Colombia’s poor is the only government-issued document they own. Here the National Land Agency’s exposition leaders give a short speech about the meaning behind the expositions and the expected results. Today, the agency is attempting to finalize 118 land titles, more than it has ever done in one day.