Introduction and Background
The Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) task order under the Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights II (STARR II) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract provides support to the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Land and Urban Office in the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment (E3/LU). ILRG develops and implements targeted interventions in select USAID countries, providing technical assistance to improve land and resource governance, strengthen property rights, and build resilient livelihoods as the foundation for stability, resilience, and strong economic growth. The task order has four primary objectives:
- To increase inclusive economic growth, resilience, and food security;
- To provide a foundation for sustainable natural resource management and biodiversity conservation;
- To promote good governance, conflict mitigation, and disaster mitigation and relief; and,
- To empower women and other vulnerable populations.
To achieve this, the task order works through four inter-related components with diverse stakeholders:
- Component 1: Support the development of inclusive land and property rights laws and policies;
- Component 2: Assist law and policy implementation, including clarifying, documenting, registering, and administering rights to land and resources;
- Component 3: Support the capacity of local institutions to administer and secure equitable land and resource governance; and
- Component 4: Facilitate responsible land-based investment that creates optimized outcomes for communities, investors, and the public.
The ILRG contract has two mechanisms for providing support on land and natural resource governance: 1) term activities; and 2) completion activities. Under the term portion of the contract, the project implements technical assistance in Mozambique and Zambia. Work in Mozambique focuses on clarifying, documenting, registering, and administering rights to land and resources through collaboration on responsible land-based investment, while work in Zambia includes support to land policy, customary land administration and service delivery, as well as natural resource governance and tenure around protected areas. Under the completion portion of the contract, USAID missions, bureaus, and offices can support additional field scopes of work in locations to be determined. Activities pursued under this portion of the contract include: 1) support around USAID’s draft Policy on Promoting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; 2) support to deforestation-free cocoa in Ghana through the creation of a sustainably-financed farm rehabilitation and land tenure strengthening model; 3) collaboration with PepsiCo on gender and women’s empowerment within the potato value chain in West Bengal, India; 4) support for completion of Customary Land Protection Program activities in approximately 35 communities in Liberia; 5) a land tenure and property rights assessment in Indonesia; and 6) activities related to the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative (W-GDP).
ILRG was awarded on July 27, 2018 and the task order has a three-year base period (through July 2021) and two one-year option periods.