Background 

The Artisanal Mining and Property Rights Task Order (TO) supports the USAID Land and Urban Office’s goal to improve land and resource governance and strengthen property rights for all members of society, especially women. Its purpose is to address land and resource governance challenges in the ASM sector, using a multidisciplinary approach and incorporating appropriate and applicable evidence, tools, and approaches. The 3-year project, which began in September 2018 and consists of two additional Option Years, is implemented primarily in the Central African Republic. Over the course of implementation USAID AMPR will:

• Serve as USAID’s flagship project for addressing complex development challenges around the ASM sector in CAR with a primary focus on diamonds and a secondary focus on gold.
• Promote legal, responsible supply chains and strengthen social cohesion in mining areas.
• Build on PRADD I and II to solidify progress achieved in CAR to date.
• Provide on-demand short-term technical assistance (STTA) on development challenges associated with ASM to various USAID OUs around the globe.

USAID AMPR is structured around four objectives:

• Objective 1: Assist GoCAR to improve compliance with KP requirements to promote licit economic opportunities.
• Objective 2: Strengthen community resilience, social cohesion, and response to violent conflict in CAR.
• Objective 3: Increase awareness and understanding of the opportunities and challenges of establishing responsible gold supply chains in CAR.
• Objective 4: Improve USAID programming through increased understanding of linkages between ASM and key development issues.

Ten Intermediate Results (IR) further define activity areas under each Objective. These activity areas are defined in the USAID AMPR contract.

Process of Workplan Preparation 

The USAID AMPR contract is detailed and prescriptive with respect to activities and deliverables to be achieved for each Intermediate Result. As part of the project’s Inception Phase, the team first translated these activities into French and shared them with local technical staff and government partners. During the first week of November, the Project Manager and Technical Deputy participated in two workshops in Bangui. The first presented the project to key government stakeholders. The second was a technical session to discuss specific activities for the first annual work plan.

The Project Manager also met with the Minister of Mines and Geology, U.S. Embassy and senior official from the Ministry of Humanitarian Action and National Reconciliation. This iterative process allowed the team to present the contract framework to the government, elicit feedback, propose specific first-year activities, elicit more feedback, and finally integrate key information on government policies and priorities. The Technical Deputy also worked with the team to develop a provisional GANTT chart and a list of project performance indicators. Finally, the early November workshops benefitted from the participation of the USAID AMPR COP and Administrative and Finance Manager, who are slated to begin in January 2019. As such they were able to meet with the teams and participate in the initial work planning sessions, including discussions on operational issues such as the location of offices and staffing/procedures issues.

At the end of November, the USAID AMPR team participated in the launch ceremonies and workshops in Bangui, attended by the USAID COR and representatives from the USAID DRC Mission and the US Embassy in Bangui. Ahead of these ceremonies, USAID AMPR shared a preliminary list of activities and indicators with USAID Washington and Kinshasa. On the sidelines of the launch events, the COR and DRC Mission representatives worked with the Project Manager and Technical Deputy to discuss each activity in detail and also to review the preliminary list of performance indicators.

Based on these consultations and feedback from the government and USAID, USAID AMPR then proceeded to draft the annual work plan and associated annexes, as well as the Performance and Monitoring Plan (PMP).

Organization of Workplan 

The work plan is organized around the Objectives, Intermediate Results and Activities as described in the USAID AMPR contract. For each activity, the following aspects are presented: a description of the overall activity context and aims, a description of specific activities to be carried out in the first year, a summary of roles and responsibilities, the indicative timeline for implementation, and key outputs/deliverables. The work plan also includes a GANTT chart in Annex 1. Importantly, the GANTT chart lists only the specific activities foreseen in the first year work plan, organized by Intermediate Result rather than contract Activity. This allows for a clear view of the timeline for implementing only those activities for the first year.

The work plan also includes additional annexes:

• Performance Indicators. A table summarizes key performance indicators. The Performance and Monitoring Plan (PMP), to be submitted concurrently, goes into greater detail on the MEL framework and details on data collection and quality assurance.
• List of Communications Materials. USAID AMPR will prepare a detailed Communications Plan in early 2019. However, as per the contract, the work plan will include a preliminary list of communications materials.
• List of Anticipated International Travel. USAID AMPR has compiled an indicative list of international travel for key experts and consultants during the course of the first year.
• Environmental Monitoring and Management Plan (EMMP). As per the contract, the EMMP outlines actions to address conditions set forth in the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE). The IEE included negative determinations with conditions or categorical exclusions for most activities. However, for economic activities targeting women, the IEE issued a deferral. USAID AMPR will, therefore, submit a list of activities to USAID after the Gender Action Plan is completed in April or May, following which both the IEE and the EMMP will require updating.