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Tell us about yourself.

I am a Geospatial Analyst and have been applying geospatial data and technology to a wide range of issues in the international development field for over 12 years. Currently, with the Land and Urban Office within USAID’s Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment (E3), I focus on integrating geospatial data, analysis, and technology to support evidence-based decision-making across land governance and urban programming. I also lead the Land and Urban Office’s gender equality and women’s empowerment work related to land governance and property rights.

Why is land important to USAID?

Land is a critical economic asset, allowing people to live a more secure and productive life. Secure land and property rights lead to economic growth and provide incentives for investment and sustainable resource management. Less secure tenure, on the other hand, can lead to conflicts, instability, and the exclusion of vulnerable populations, especially women. USAID’s mission is to end extreme poverty, promote resilient societies, and end the need for foreign assistance; therefore, addressing the issue of weak land tenure and property rights is essential for achieving Agency’s development objectives.

How can spatial data help USAID understand and strengthen land tenure and property rights?

USAID uses spatial data to demarcate parcels and to map and clarify different land and resource uses for collectively managed land. This can help resolve land conflicts between neighbors as well as clarify overlapping interests. Simply knowing the boundary of one’s own parcel increases landholders’ perception of secure property rights, especially if the process of mapping the parcel’s boundary leads to some form of documented land rights – a certificate of occupancy or land use rights, for example.

The power of geospatial data is that relevant information can be collected and linked to geographic features. For example, along with actual boundaries, we can collect additional information on the type of ownership or occupancy, gender, use rights, crop type, and yield productivity and fertilizer use. This information, linked to the boundary data, can be displayed and analyzed in a spatial way to help local people, communities, traditional leaders, and governments understand and better manage their resources.

At USAID, we have developed and successfully piloted a flexible and participatory Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST) approach, which links an easy-to-use mobile phone application and a data management platform to help communities map, record, and document their land and resources. Geospatial data is a key component of this approach.

We recently launched a new program, Land Technology Solutions (LTS), focusing on the application of technology and geospatial data to address challenges in the land and resource governance sector.

Leveraging the power of geospatial data and analysis also allows USAID to evaluate impacts of land tenure interventions, identify gaps, and inform decisions regarding future investments in the land sector. For example, our office is using data collected through a series of rigorous impact evaluations to incorporate spatial data and visualization as a tool for making high evidence-based investment programming.

What is the role of USAID’s E3/Land and Urban Office?

The main role of USAID’s Land and Urban Office is providing high quality technical assistance to USAID missions to address land and resource rights in an effort to build resilient societies. We also invest in innovative technology solutions and partnerships to mobilize local resources and identify practices that provide long-term sustainability on our investment to reduce donor dependency across developing world. Given the cross-cutting nature of land tenure and property rights, the Land and Urban Office is consistently building the Agency’s technical awareness and capacity by creating and sharing knowledge and evidence.

What are some of your biggest accomplishments in the land sector?

Working together with local communities to find and implement solutions that improve their lives is what attracted me to the international field 12 years ago.

USAID’s Land and Urban Office has emphasized using participatory approaches to map, document and manage land resources, which has proven to be cost-effective, efficient, and flexible across different contexts. For example, I manage the coastal spatial planning and mangrove management activity under the Tenure and Global Climate Change (TGCC) program, which has piloted an innovative, highly participatory approach to develop a sustainable coastal and mangrove management approach in three communities in Vietnam. The process was driven by the communes, who jointly collected spatial data and conducted surveys, discussed overlapping resource uses, and decided on a plan for future management of coastal resources. The spatial data and maps help them better understand the current conditions of their resource and to make informed decision on their future management.

It is exciting to see the dedication to this activity from the local government and the interest by the provincial and central governments generated by the pilot. But the most exciting and satisfying aspect for me is to see the enthusiasm of the communes’ members, who took the idea of using tablets to map and understand conditions of their coastal resources and ran with it, with the hope of a better and brighter future.

Final thoughts?

My final thoughts are focused on women’s land rights. Many people think that land tenure is a complicated issue and it can be addressed only through large and expensive land registration efforts. USAID’s land tenure work has demonstrated evidence that working at small scales with local communities and addressing different elements of complex land tenure and property rights issues has greater impact on local communities’ livelihoods. For example, providing women with secure rights to land by building awareness about women’s legal rights to inheritance and property, or simply adding a line on land certificate forms to include the name of the wife (not just the husband) during the land documentation process can have a powerful impact on women’s lives, food security, and economic opportunities. Women with secure land tenure and property rights are more likely to invest in agricultural inputs, apply sustainable agriculture practices, and undertake economic opportunities, leading to improved food security and economic benefits to the entire household. Strengthening women’s land rights is central to USAID’s Land and Urban office objectives and contributes to USAID’s women’s empowerment programming strategy.

USAID is strengthening the capacity of Central African Republic (CAR) government institutions to reduce long-standing tensions and conflicts in diamond mining areas such as Berberati.

Violent conflict in the southwestern Berberati region of the Central African Republic from 2013 to 2015 undermined the integrity of the diamond economy and sparked divisions leading to the erosion of trust between religious and ethnic groups, as well as between miners, farmers, and pastoralists. Rather than fueling local economic development, diamonds became a source of revenue for armed groups, who seized diamond mines and smuggled diamonds across borders in exchange for arms and ammunition.

In May 2015, the Bangui Forum, a national consultation, produced a peace accord calling for disarmament and reconciliation. In November 2017, the President of the Central African Republic, the honorable Faustin Archange Touadera, formally launched Peace and Reconciliation Committees in Berberati, an important milestone in translating this peace accord into concrete action in this diamond producing area.

A joint initiative by the Ministry of Social Affairs and National Reconciliation and the Ministry of Mines and Geology, these Peace and Reconciliation Committees will mediate disputes and forge agreements, or local pacts, to govern the use of coveted natural resources, like diamonds. USAID’s Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development Project (PRADD II) is assisting the government of CAR to develop a framework to guide this village-level peace and reconciliation process and is equipping these Peace Committees with the necessary skills to effectively mediate disputes between individuals and groups across ethnic and religious divides.

As a signatory to the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme, CAR is committed to reducing the flow of conflict diamonds. The peace and stability created through these pacts is critical to the country’s continued compliance with the Kimberley Process. By adhering to this international certification scheme, CAR can enjoy the economic benefits stemming from legally exported, conflict-free diamonds. Berberati is designated as a conflict-free mining zone, allowing the young men and women who depend on the mining to continue to mine and export diamonds legally. With USAID’s assistance, a region formerly known as a source for conflict is becoming a model for peace and the return of harmonious co-existence of peoples of different ethnicities, livelihoods, and religions.

November 12, 2017, the 6^th meeting of the Inter-agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators (IAEG-SDGs) reached a major decision to reclassify tenure security Indicator 1.4.2 from Tier III to II in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain. This decision marks the beginning of a global journey to monitor tenure security for all, using comparable land indicators for globally comparable data. This decision followed a review by the IAEG-SDGs of progress made by the custodian agencies, UN-Habitat and World Bank, in the development of a robust, global methodology for monitoring the tenure security indicator 1.4.2, within the framework of SDGs. News of this decision was communicated by the IAEG-SDGs during its plenary session on 13^th November, 2017 attended by representatives from countries, international and regional agencies and entities, and other stakeholders.

The IAEG-SDGs was established by the Statistical Commission at its 46th session to develop an indicator framework for the monitoring of the Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development at the global level, and to support its implementation.

Indicator 1.4.2: “Proportion of total adult population with secure tenure rights to land, with legally recognized documentation and who perceive their rights to land as secure, by sex and by type of tenure”.

The proposed methodology for monitoring this indicator was developed through a rigorous and intensive consultation process involving the National Statistical Organisations (NSOs), National Land Agencies, data agencies (DHS, MICS, LSMS), regional statistics and land organisations, Civil Society Organisations and International Non-Governmental Organisations, private sector, the Global Donor Working Group on Land, UN agencies, and other stakeholders.

The now approved methodology gives equal value for legally documented tenure rights and perception of tenure security. This will advance the paradigm shift that aims to ensure over 2 billion people living in urban informality and indigenous communities’ territories will have their rights documented, accounted, and monitored for evidence-based policy decisions on the governance of their land.

The Formula: Monitoring Indicator 1.4.2

Towards Tier 1 Reclassification by 2019 Through Enhanced Local Action for Aata Collection: Country Capacity Challenge for Land Data Collection, Analysis, and Reporting

The next milestone now is to have at least 50% of all countries in all regions collect data and report regularly on Indicator. 1.4.2, which is a requirement by IAEG-SDGs for Tier I classification. With the Tier II reclassification, Custodian agencies can now move with speed to support country data generation initiatives towards this milestone. This will sustainably enhance countries’ capacity to collect and track progress on tenure security and measure progress on SDG 1 on Poverty Eradication under Target 1.4.

Based on the findings of a capacity assessment of 17 countries conducted by GLII / GLTN and UN-Habitat on NSOs preparedness to report on Indicator 1.4.2, data collection and reporting at scale is feasible and needs to integrate essential questions in existing national survey conducted by NSOs, standardization of data collection and reporting protocols for administrative data is also required. Since survey and administrative data are complementary, every country will collect the two data sets to monitor progress on this indicator.

As co-custodian agencies, UN-Habitat and the World Bank have developed several capacity development and awareness raising materials to support NSOs and National Land Agencies to realize this objective. Capacity strengthening for national and regional agencies in data collection, especially for developing countries, is expected to ‘leap-frog’ their ability to generate data and regularly report progress on this indicator to the UN Statistical Commission and to the UN High Level Political Forum.

The Funding Challenge

The reclassification of Indicator 1.4.2 confirms the global acceptability of the proposed methodology for data collection, analysis, and tracking of progress on tenure security at country level. This data will be generated and reported by the NSOs to the custodian agencies and UN Statistical Commission in collaboration with National Land Agencies and other stakeholders. The investment made by UN-Habitat and World Bank, the Global Donor Working Group on Land and GLTN through GLII with funding support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, has not been in vain.

Technical and financial resources will be required to enable effective and efficient capacity building efforts at country level. While the reclassification decision is welcome, the lack of earmarked funding from to custodians and supporting entities like GLII is expected to challenge responsive planning for addressing capacity need from NSOs, National Land Agencies, CSOs, and other stakeholders. Joint strategy for capacity strengthening for Indicators 1.4.2 and 5.a.1 are being explored by the custodians, in collaboration with UNFAO, as a way to promote harmonization of these indicators, foster synergy, and apply a joint data collection questionnaire to generate survey data for these indicators.

The joint approach to capacity building and data collection for these two indicators is yet to be explored, and will certainly be a costly venture. Political goodwill and increased financial commitment from national governments to prioritize and support national efforts in land data generation and reporting will unlock great potential to achieve and surpass the 50% target of all countries by regions to achieve Tier I classification by end of 2019.

The role of private sector and donor community in supporting capacity development initiatives, data collection, new data technology transfer, awareness raising, and the convening of national and regional consultative meetings for sharing best practices in monitoring tenure security will enhance the level of success. Promotion of sustainable and country-led data initiatives will be key in fostering learning and building a knowledge based to support such efforts.

The Civil Society Organizations are also expected to play their key role in advocacy, awareness, and supporting local and national process for data generation by NSOs and National Land Agencies, while playing the watchdog’ role to ensure inclusivity; robustness of processes for data collection, including gender mainstreaming; and that no one is left behind.

Role of GLII in Supporting and Coordinating Land Governance Monitoring, Including the SDGs

For GLII platform members and partners, reclassification of Indicator 1.4.2 from Tier III to II is a well won outcome from months of lobbying, advocacy, collaboration, and intensive consultation. GLII platform members have fully supported and accompanied the custodian agencies in the development of the methodology for measuring tenure security, and view this reclassification as a great step in advancing GLII’s mission to achieve global monitoring of land governance at scale.

GLII’s work goes beyond the monitoring of land indicators in the SDGs to facilitate the integration of comprehensive and comparable land indicators for monitoring land governance at national, regional, and global monitoring efforts and programmes by various players. GLII will continue to support country, regional, and global capacity development initiatives on overall land governance monitoring, developing land indicators, methodology, and data protocols needed to support land governance monitoring. Read more about GLII on https://gltn.net/global-land-indicators-initiative-glii/

Blog submitted by: Everlyne Nairesiae, Coordinator, Global Land Indicators Initiative (GLII) Land and GLTN Unit at UN-Habitat.

Last month, USAID launched the Land Investor Survey, which intends to establish and analyze a database on private sector perceptions of land tenure risks and costs. The project will reach out to potential survey respondents that might have land-based investments by facilitating two phases of data collection. The first phase is open and will be used to identify qualified companies or investors that meet the general screening criteria. All investors are invited to complete the initial 10-minute survey by November 30, 2017.

Clear, enforceable land rights are essential for land-based investments. Nonetheless, developing land-based projects in many parts of the world is often challenging because of uncertain land rights – for instance, even when a developer holds the legal right to develop a project on a certain piece of land, local people may be using that land for agriculture, pasture, shelter, water sources, etc. Their rights are rooted in customary tenure systems, and they may protest development of the energy project.

Through participation in this new investor survey on land, help us build the case that: (1) clear, secure land rights are paramount for land-based investments; (2) substantial sums are left on the table when investors don’t pursue projects because of uncertain land rights; and (3) investors incur significant costs if protest, conflict or other project delays or abandonment because of land issues arise. Also, (4) help us shine a light on successful investments that benefit local landholders.

Investors, please share your experience by completing our initial 10-minute survey by November 30, 2017. To access this survey, please click here or copy and paste the URL below into your internet browser: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/LandInvestorSurvey.

Your individual responses are confidential and used solely for this project. The final report will report data in an aggregate form, with all identifiable information removed. The dataset will not be shared with the public.

If you have any questions, please contact survey@indufor-na.com. Thank you in advance for your participation!

USAID LandLinks hosted a webinar on “The Business Case for Land Rights: Private Sector Perspectives on Responsible Land-Based Investment” on November 2, 2017. Due to the high level of interest, there were more questions from the audience than we were able to answer. Our panelists, Jeff King (Hershey’s) and Olga Gormalova (ECOM Agroindustrial), took the time to answer some of the most interesting questions, which we share here:

Question: How do your approaches to land tenure affect women in cocoa communities—not only female-headed households, but women providing labor?

JEFF: We would advocate that these land-right changes would apply equally to both men and women, as women’s empowerment is a key tenant of CocoaAction. Many of the income diversification opportunities we help bring to these communities are targeted towards women.

Question: What concerns are women in cocoa communities voicing related to land tenure?

OLGA: Women face even more constraints when it comes to land ownership, many work on either plots that belong to their husband or husband’s family—hence in instances when the husband dies, the family of the husband can take over the farm without any benefit being passed on to the wife. There are various community based organizations that encourage husbands to legally assign a plot to the wife—if adopted, this would improve women’s land ownership rights.

Question: Do you know how many cocoa farms in Ghana do not have proper land tenure?

JEFF: This is very hard to estimate, as we are still collecting the data across our supply chain on the different types of land ownership to truly know the breakdown between owners of land and other forms of tenure. However, as discussed in the pilot documents, the laws are not favorable towards anyone trying to secure new land and are complicated should someone wish to sell land to another person. Additionally, the tree tenure laws (that the farmer does not actually have ownership of timber on their farm), act as a disincentive for farmers to plant shade trees which can help mitigate climate change, improves the yield of cocoa, and could act as a future revenue source for farmer.

OLGA: One resource that might address this question is the USAID Assessment of Land Tenure-Related Constraints to Cocoa Productivity in Ghana, which notes on page five that, “Land tenure in Ghana is governed by a pluralistic legal system, in which customary and statutory tenure systems overlap. Approximately 20 percent of land in Ghana is owned by the State, and governed by statutory law. The rest, approximately 80 percent of all land, is governed through customary tenure arrangements and vested in chiefs or other customary authorities. The vast majority of cocoa is farmed on customary land.” This is not to say that all customary land arrangements are not clear or undocumented, but a large portion of these arrangements is oral—hence insecure.

Question: I am here with a group of students. We are finding it a bit counter-intuitive that these businesses that rely on a steady supply of cocoa are encouraging crop and income diversification. Could this be a bit more explored or explained?

JEFF: The ultimate objective is to ensure cocoa farming as a prosperous and long-term viable business for the farmer, thereby securing the future of cocoa—of which you rightly indicate we all want to see a steady supply. Diversification provides a more stable business for the cocoa farmers in three primary ways:

1. Steadier stream of income. Cocoa farmers get two harvests per year, one large and one small. This large period of time between harvests can create economic strain on the family. By having other sources of income, this revenue cycle is smoother between harvests.
2. Mitigate the natural price movement in crop prices. All crops have natural movement in prices, this is no different for West African cocoa farming, vs. US corn or dairy farmers. By having multiple sources of income, farmers are not over-reliant on a single crop and will be less impacted by these natural price fluctuations.
3. Greater participation by women in generating household income. Many of these income diversification opportunities are run by women. This increases the earning potential of the farming household, but also acts as a strong empowerment vehicle for the women in these communities.

Question: What were the insecurity issues and what are other lucrative income generating opportunities for farmers in this area of Ghana?

OLGA: The main issue is when the farmer knows that when he cuts down his aged cocoa farm, he will lose the right to that farm, or will have to renegotiate the arrangement, so many of the farmers opt not to cut the farm (40 percent of cocoa farms in Ghana are aged). There are opportunities for farmers in food crops like cabbage, tomatoes, rice and maize—but these are perishable crops and farmers need to look for markets (unlike cocoa which has a secure market—if you have cocoa beans then anyone can convert it into cash at any time).

Question: Could you please elaborate on what kind of adaptation/resilience plans Hershey’s is working on for cocoa farming and farmers in terms of changing climate?

JEFF: Hershey’s is working with the World Cocoa Foundation on the Climate Smart Cocoa program, which is a partnership between WCF members, USAID, and the governments of Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana, identifying and enabling methods to encourage farmers to utilize climate smart agricultural practices including zero deforestation. Additionally, Hershey’s is a signatory of the Cocoa & Forest Initiative, under which we are developing our company plans on how to support ensuring zero deforestation in cocoa including reforestation programs.

Question: What led to the shift from managing supply chains to managing farms and farmers? This presumably costs you more—are the benefits greater than the costs? Have you measured costs and benefits?

OLGA: ECOM has developed its new service of farm management and rehabilitation out of frustration that farmers were not adopting recommended practices we trained them on. So when we are questioned about impact (by our chocolate maker clients) it is very hard to show that adoption happens at farmer and farm level. The reasons why smallholders are not investing sufficiently in their existing plantations are varied and complex. The adoption issue is more complex than just lack of knowledge. One of the other key factors is limited ability of many smallholders to access credit (also due to lack of any land documentation). Chocolate makers are not traditionally used to financing these types of interventions, as they could instead be opportunities for businesses like micro-finance or agro-inputs dealers. Existing businesses do not seem to reach all the farmers, and since ECOM invested a long time in establishing a good primary procurement network, we wanted to use this as an opportunity—instead of just buying cocoa through the same channel, we developed various services for farmers.

At the beginning costs outweigh benefits, but over time if the business opportunities of working closer at the farm and farmer level is well developed—plus we tap into wealth of our knowledge—we believe our business will also be more sustainable and diversified.

Originally appeared on Exposure.

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