During this quarter ERC continued work on IE baseline reports, drafted new pre-analysis plans and accompanying data collection tools, prepared the new USAID LandLinks website for launch, planned activities for the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) 2.0 (to launch in January 2017), completed one pilot project, supported the National Land Observatory (Observatoire National du Foncier, ONF) as it adapts the Mobile Application to Secure Tenure (MAST) for use in Burkina Faso, and received and reviewed concept papers from participants in the Responsible Land-Based Investment pilot project (Pilot 3). This represents progress in line with ERC’s Year 4 work plan (May 2016-April 2017).
Under Task 2, ERC submitted a draft policy brief on mutually beneficial contracting in large-scale land acquisitions (LSLA). ERC continued work on three ongoing evaluations, and launched activities for a new IE of the Sustainable Ecosystems Advanced (SEA) project in Indonesia. A Baseline Report was submitted for the Land Administration to Nurture Development (LAND) Afar IE, the Tenure and Global Climate Change (TGCC) IE draft Pre-Analysis Plan was submitted, and TGCC IE endline survey instruments were updated. For the Community Land Protection Program (CLPP) performance evaluation, endline instruments were revised, pre-analysis planning occurred, and ERC supported a brief trip to Liberia. For the SEA project, ERC conducted a scoping trip to Indonesia and drafted a Concept Note detailing potential design options and proposed implementation processes for the evaluation.
Under Task 3, ERC continued to work closely with sub-contractor Bixal to re-design the USAID Land Tenure internet portal to improve content organization, functionality and user experience in preparation for launch of the new site. ERC also continued to craft strategic communications goals and procedures as part of the Year 4 work planning process. Throughout the quarter ERC supported efforts to develop a series of new fact sheets and to update country profiles. These will be promoted through focused activities and campaigns in the next quarter. In line with Year 4 work planning ERC supported a well-attended webinar on the topic of “Legitimate Land Rights.” Finally, ERC also supported ad hoc requests to develop a Gender Analysis for the Urban Team at USAID and began initial research into a new project on Gender-Based Violence and Land Tenure.
Activities under Task 4 were relatively light this quarter but will ramp up next quarter as ERC prepares to launch MOOC 2.0. During the quarter ERC worked with USAID’s Geospatial Analysts Ioana Bouvier and Silvia Petrova to develop an outline and learning objectives for a new Geospatial module. ERC also worked with Dr. Cynthia Caron to develop an outline for a new module on Customary Tenure. Finally, ERC completed planning to film and edit new modules and also reviewed course readings, reviewed module questions, and answers to develop quizzed and added questions as needed, and produced a new FAQ document for MOOC 2.0.
Under Task 5, ERC closed out MAST pilot project by supporting efforts at the District Land Office (DLO) in Iringa, Tanzania to print and record land rights documents for Kitayawa (village 3) and by providing materials to assist with a transition to the Feed the Future Land Tenure Activity (LTA) project. Also during this quarter, ERC conducted a TDY to analyze how best to support the Government of Burkina Faso and the ONF in a new project that will adapt and implement the MAST technology. Finally, ERC conducted a co-creation workshop with Pilot 3 participants and supported the development of Concept Papers that were reviewed in September by a panel of Independent Scientific Experts.