The Tenure and Global Climate Change (TGCC) program provides USAID with the opportunity to explore the relationship between the governance of agriculture, forests, and fisheries landscapes and achieving sustainable land use and resilient communities through technical analysis, field work, and policy engagement. During this quarter, activities included:
Zambia: The Petauke District Land Alliance (PDLA) focused on household land demarcation and claims processes across Sandwe Chiefdom. The Chipata District Land Alliance (CDLA) supported communities through the process of requesting changes to certificates, including division of parcels and documenting new parcels. TGCC held a customary land research symposium. TGCC coordinated closely with the Ministry of Lands and the land component of the World Bank (WB) Integrated Sustainable Forest Landscape (IFSL) program, which has led to partnership and movement on resettlement areas. TGCC also continued coordination with government on national land governance priorities. TGCC prepared methodologies for land conflict resolution and for land-use planning.
Burma: From the policy side, the TGCC Land Tenure Project (LTP) has continued to engage in donor coordination and, in particular, support to the Agriculture Policy Unit (APU). LTP developed an education and outreach plan as well as a social media kit that have been put into practice, alongside the finalization of a land governance stakeholder analysis and educational gap analysis. LTP finalized site selection and partnering with the last two civil society partners from Sagaing Region, and led trainings on tenure and gender assessments, spatial data collection and analysis. Field activities in the second pilot site were completed this quarter.
Vietnam, Mangroves, and Marine Tenure: In Vietnam, the field team completed Participatory Coastal Resource Assessments across the three participating communes in Tien Lang District. The resulting coastal profiles have been particularly well received, and present a solid stepping stone for upcoming spatial planning work. The Tanzania and Indonesia mangrove reports (full report and briefs) produced with the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) were submitted to USAID for review. TGCC finalized country assessments associated with marine tenure lessons and is consolidating lessons learned into a public summary.
TFA 2020: Activities in Ghana were launched with Winrock International (Winrock) through a series of baseline data surveys, preparation of training manuals on tenure and agroforestry training, and development of a financing model for cocoa rehabilitation. TGCC partner World Resources Institute (WRI) completed its preparations with local partners for documentation of community land claims in Paraguay as part of an engagement with the beef sector.
Challenges: TGCC established deliverable tracking tools to keep on schedule with over 90 products that are expected to be delivered to USAID during the last year of implementation. TGCC was largely able to both scale up activities (particularly in Ghana and Vietnam), while also keeping an eye on project close-out, with in-country activities ending in December 2017. TGCC re-evaluated participation in global outreach events following the news that project obligations will be ~$129,000 less than previously expected.
Priorities: In the coming quarter, TGCC will see a continued sustained activity implementation across all five countries. Field implementation will be prioritized to ensure that local partners are able to complete activities prior to December 2017. Templates for lessons learned and toolkit deliverables will be developed and validated with USAID and stakeholders.