Much of ERC’s work during this quarter of Year 3 focused on preparing research and communications materials which were presented at the 2016 Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty (WBC). This included developing and finalizing four papers, supporting three master classes, staffing the main USAID booth and supporting the USAID MAST booth at the Innovation Fair. In addition, ERC began data collection for the Ethiopia Land Administration to Nurture Development project (LAND) IE in the Afar region. A webinar on Land Rights and Technology was held in February with over 300 in-person and on-line participants. Other efforts focused on continuing support to ERC’s two pilot projects: the Mobile Application to Secure Tenure (MAST) project in Tanzania and the National Land Observatory (NLO) in Burkina Faso. During this quarter ERC supported E3/Land as it issued a Call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) to engage in the co-creation of Public-Private Partnerships to support Responsible Land-Based Investments.
Through these, and other activities, ERC helps E3/Land to achieve the goals identified as important for this Task Order:
- Supporting continued thought leadership;
- Creating new public goods related to the evidence base for land tenure and resource governance programming;
- Expanding and improving communications efforts;
- Expanding training using new platforms and approaches; and
- Scaling pilot activities.
Under Task 1, ERC worked to incorporate comments from external reviewers and completed revisions to the Ethiopia Strengthening Land Tenure and Administration Program (ELTAP) / Ethiopia Land Administration Program (ELAP) IE Endline Report. A final, ready-for-public-consumption version of the report will be submitted early in the next quarter. Endline dataset packages were submitted for DDL clearance and public posting and a 2-page briefer was produced. Task 1 activities will come to a close next quarter.
Under Task 2, ERC made significant progress on baseline report drafting and on developing data packages for DDL clearance and public posting. ERC submitted the Community-based Forest Management Program (CFP) IE Baseline Report and dataset package for review. The Community Land Protection Program (CLPP) Baseline Report was also submitted for review. The LAND/Oromia IE Baseline Report and data package for public posting were finalized. ERC made good progress on finalizing the Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development II (PRADD) IE Baseline Report and data package for public posting; these will be submitted in early Year 4. DDL metadata submissions were prepared for LAND/Oromia and LAND/Afar. In addition, the LAND/Afar IE baseline data collection was successfully launched. Finally, ERC presented four research papers during the 2016 WBC, in addition to developing two Master Classes on IEs.
Under Task 3, ERC efforts focused on three events: the Land Rights and Technology event/webinar which was held in February; the USAID Environment Officers’ Conference in February, and the WBC in March. ERC also began the process of updating the USAID Land Tenure Portal (www.usaidlandtenure.net); continued with updates to 10 country profiles; finalized a new Issue Brief on Energy Infrastructure, and engaged in a social media campaign for International Women’s Day.
Under Task 4, ERC’s training activities focused on evaluating the results of the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on LTPR that concluded on January 2 and on supporting E3/Land’s participation in the 2016 WBC.
Finally, during this quarter, ERC continue to support E3/Land’s two on-going pilot projects: MAST in Tanzania and the NLO. ERC staff traveled to Tanzania to review progress in pilot village 2 (Itagutwa), to support the kick-off meeting of the new Land Tenure Assistance activity (LTA) and to supervise communications efforts that captured photographs and video from Itagutwa. Outreach and training in pilot village 3 (Kitawaya) was also started.
ERC staff and USAID staff both visited the NLO during this quarter. These visits enabled the teams to review NLO accomplishments and progress to date; identify program and technical needs; provide technical training on database management and analysis; identify activities for implementation under the Land Transparency Initiative, and review options to use mobile technology solutions in the country. The NLO also published the fourth edition of its newsletter, Zoom sur le frontier.
Finally, ERC provided support to E3/Land as it released a Call for Expression of Interest (EOI) for a Public-Private Partnership to support Responsible Land-Based Investment. Responses were collected and materials prepared for Contracting Officer (CO) approval of the proposed approach.